I just received a call from a former client who's second child is now 8 wks
old and nursing very well.  About 3 wks pp she started to develop joint pain
with associated redness and swelling of the joint.  It would be in one joint,
last a couple of days, then go away only to start in another joint.  She did
not have this problem during the 8 months she breastfed her first child.  But,
she did have joint pain after she weaned the baby that was diagnosed as
"bursitis".  It eventually went away with the only meds being an over the
counter anti-inflammatory.  She lives in Georgia and is in Chicago visiting
family.  She is currently experiencing a flare-up that is very acute and
becoming pretty debilitating with pain in her jaw, upper body joints and lower
extremities.  She is seeing an internist who is working her up for some kind
of arthritis- she couldn't remember all the medical lingo.  He is suggesting
that cortisone may be the drug of choice to see if they can get the symptoms
under control.  Her pediatrician in Georgia suggested that this may be related
to lactation as his wife also developed an inflammatory problem during
lactation and he did a lit search at that time.  Do any of you have any
insight into this?  Maybe steer me to some current literature so she has ammo
if the internist wants her to wean.

Thank you!

K Lipke, RN, BSN, IBCLC
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PS.  Just got back from the National Williams syndrome conference - my 1st
child has this syndrome.  These kids usually present with alot of feeding
problems early on, low muscle tone, failure to thrive, etc.  Well, sitting in
the lobby outside the child care room were several mom's breastfeeding their
babies!  So many of the mom's I talked to tried but failed to breastfeed due
to the babies problems.  But, out there somewhere are people helping more and
more of these mom's to be successful nursing their babies.  It was very
heartwarming to see.