WHen there is a combination of short frenulum and short jaw, the baby often bites the milk out of the breast. I believe that this cuts off blood flow to the nerves in the nipple and irritates them. This seems to cause the migraine like huge blood flow-clamping down of the arterioles-low blood flow = vasospasm. The IBCLC is right that there is no immediate easy answer. An extremely asymmetrical latch will help reduce the baby's need to clamp, treating the frenulum will be helpful too, but mom needs some relief NOW to keep from quitting. While she works on getting the positioning and latch just right, she can be encouraged to pump and give an occasional bottle, cup, fingerfeed, whatever, for relief. Usually by 12 weeks, this problem gets a lot better, but it can be very hard for mom to hang in there. Nifedipine (the calcium channel blocker) can reduce moms pain from the vasospasm, as can warming the nipple after breastfeeding. -- Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC New York City mailto:[log in to unmask] *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html