Hello Lactnuts!

This is my first time posting.  I've been lurking on the list for about a
2 months.    I am a tandem lactating (2 1/2 years and 5 months old),
newly accredited LLLLeader.  I got my first call yesterday. The baby is
almost two weeks old and  prefers the left breast over the right.  This
has resulted in the right breast being twice the size of the left..  The
mother has two questions.  The first was what to do about this extremely
engorged breast.  Of course I mentioned pumping or hand expressing to get
the size down, using heat compresses and cabbage leaves, etc.  Seems the
baby has had trouble latching on and never has taken the right breast.
The second question:  is the baby latching on incorrectly if he is
leaving an indentation on the areola, or a "ridge" as the mother
described it?  The mother also said that when he nurses she feels pain
deep inside the nipple, just as she did with her last baby, whom she
nursed for over 2 years.  This doesn't sound normal to me.  The baby
prefers the left nipple and breast because the left areola and nipple are
larger and more "pliable" as the mother put it.

On a deeper level, I know this mother quite personally since she is my
sister-in-law.  With her last baby she hardly got any block of sleep
longer than 2 hours because he was such a frequent night waker.  This
continued far into his second year of nursing.    I always wondered if
this was because he was not latched on correctly and had to nurse twice
as much to get the milk he needed.  Now with this baby I'm wondering if
this cycle is repeating.  The mother did not get "any sleep in seven
days" after this new baby was born because the pain was so intense she
could not lie down and nurse and fall asleep with baby.    Has anyone
heard of incorrect latch-on associated with frequent night waking?

I would appreciate any comments,
Thanks,
Celestia Shumway, BS, LLLL
Provo, UT

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]