This mother's situation rings a bell with me.  It sounds much like
what happened to me in my first pregnancy & early months of nursing.
My breasts enlarged and became tender almost immediately in pregnancy
and remained very sensitive throughout.  Then when my son was born,
my nipples were quite sore for almost three months.  I was careful
about positioning and latch but that did not resolve the soreness.  I
cringed, bit my lip, stomped my foot, and even cried sometimes when
he latched on.  As a feeding progressed, the pain diminished. For up
to 1/2 hour after feedings, I experienced various kinds of pain:
aching, stinging, burning.  My breasts were extremely sensitive to
cold -- I dreaded the frozen-food aisle at the supermarket!  I did
not know at that time to look for a blanched nipple as an indicator
of vasospasm.  It was only later that I learned about nipple
vasospasm and said, "Aha!"  I don't know why my symptoms stopped
around 3 months.  My breasts are still sensitive to cold, but not so
acutely as before.  (And by the way, my son is "still" nursing at 32
months.  I'm so glad we persevered through the difficult times.)

I understand that applying warm compresses can ease vasospasm and
associated pain.

Margaret
LLLL in Longmont, Colorado


>I went the second time, and this time I observed that the attachment seemed
>fine, except a minor adjustments to the upper lip.  Other than that, there
>was nothing I could see physically, that was wrong with the attachment that
>would give her such pain.  She cringed when the baby latched.  And then,
>during the course of the conversation,  she mentioned that she experienced
>tremendous changes to her body during the first weeks of pregnancy- her
>breast changes came quickly,  she would react to cold and her breasts would
>throb and ached.  She remembered her mum having similar problems with the
>breasts   and feeling sensitive to the bras like they were sandpaper against
>her skin.


>Doris Fok, IBCLC in private practice in Singapore

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