Jessica wrote:

<To throw another point into the pot, many of these mothers tell me their
nipple size has almost doubled by the time they get to their 10th + kid,
and obviously many seem to have kind of "stretched ducts" (for lack of a
better way to descibe it). >

We came across it not long ago in a mother of 5. She had nursed them all
for over a year or two. The first three are now pre=teens and teens.  She
said the nipple size had seemed to increase with her fourth child, now 2
1/2 years old. She had also been married a second time, so we wondered if
it had anything to do with that, but couldn't think of a diplomatic way
to ask.

We were shocked at the nipple size, which was nearly as big as a large
marshmallow. The breasts themselves were only an A to a B cup size, and
the milk reservoirs were the normal size, and fortunately, just at the
base of the nipple.

She came to our attention because her baby had not gained beyond his
birth weight by 7 weeks. The nipple was so large that he was unable to
reach the sinuses without gagging on the nipple. Fortunate for them both
that her MER was keeping some milk flowing into his mouth. We had to
intervene with breast compression at night and pumping and EBM by SNS
during waking hours.

I would like to hear if more people have noted this phenomenon.
I am amazed that we don't hear about it more often, given that more
mothers are nursing longer than several decades ago.

Jean
***************************************************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, Ohio USA

________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

             ***********************************************
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