Dear Wise Ones, Today I spoke to a woman who attended my breastfeeding class and wants to breastfeed. She has agreed to have her case discussed in this forum and is wanting your expert advice. She has a history of fibrocystic breasts. Her first surgeon was performing frequent aspirations. Her current surgeon is watching and wanting her to have a breast reduction in the future. Her breasts have grown huge during the pregnancy and are still growning. Prior to pregnancy she was a DD before her period and a D after. She is in her 3rd trimester and is currently wearing a size I (the letter after H, not a one). Her left breast is obviously larger than the right. Her husband weighed them on a postal scale and the left weighs 13 lbs, the right weighs 7 lbs. This poor lady is in a lot of pain from the weight, says they are hot, has had the dr. look at the redness that sometimes occurs and says her nipples are cracked. The problem is that her surgeon and one of the OB's in the group she is seeing during the pregnancy has told her not to breastfeed, that if she has a problem during nursing, it will just be more difficult to handle. Her surgeon has also said that he is concerned that the cysts will get in the way of the milk flowing. As we were speaking, the OB in question happened to walk by and saw me talking to her. I asked him if he was concerned about her having to deal with her milk coming in anyway and the problems that could cause. He said he would rather her deal with a few days of soreness than possibly other problems down the road. I fully expect I'll be called down to the directors office again for questioning advice. The other OB's in the group have not discouraged her from nursing. She also mentioned that the other day she had a "wet spot" on the breast, near her armpit. She wiped it off and said it looked like there was fluid coming through the pores of the skin. She denies that the area appears like an extra nipple. Please help, I need support to encourage her to breastfeed. Would it be ok for her to use ice or cabbage leaves now for the swelling? Thanks in advance for your advice. Linda Goldberg, RN, CCE, aspiring LC Central Florida *********************************************** 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