Firstly I do want to say I am a positioning fanatic! Having had three painful starts in the early/mid eighties I felt like I was cheating with baby 4 and no pain at all (until he turned into my worst biter at 8 months!) However his older sister had just weaned a few weeks previously and after my most recent baby after an eight year break I did have hormonal tenderness and at times what looked like very dry areola skin. Both this expereince and past counselling have made me a lot more concious of not forgetting the old wisdom while practising the new eg the old LLL advice about keeping soap/detergents away from breast area, cotton next to the skin, not letting wet nursing pads just sit there. For mothers with sensitive skin washing any clothing/pads in contact with the breast in hot water/pure soap and air drying can actually make a difference to generalised tenderness. (In the first three months post partum I can tell if my bra has got caught up in the general wash versus the baby clothes one within half an hour of wearing it  ) Several years ago a local child health nurse told me of a fascinating presentation by a dermatologist about diaper rash hwere he cautioned against using normal laundry detergents as the residue in clothes actually can damage the very top layer of skin making it more sensitive particularly if it gets wet. Another common source of driness/irritation is bubble baths (looking after herself). While positioning is critical I think sometimes it is possible to underestimate the effect of underlying skin conditions even just generalised driness/sensitivity. A touch of something that moisturises a couple of times a day have made quite significant differences in comfort level for me and other mothers when all the other possibilities (positioning, thrush etc) for ongoing tenderness have been eliminated.

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