Bad Boob Could Have Been Worse

[walkitout]

R. tells me a coworker related a story of such a bad boob as a result of a restless kid that unlatched and relatched constantly that the nipple cracked, bled, scabbed. Kid sucked the scabs off to get at the milk. Excruciating, needless to say. R., compassionate, thoughtful man that he is, refrained from asking the questions that might have elicited what she did and did not try to determine the cause of the restlessness. It is far too late now, and would be cruel.

Comments

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

Now that's what I call heroic. Most folks would've reached for the formula.

Pretty much my reaction

[walkitout]

Supplemented with great pride in R. for not suggesting that something else maybe could have been done, while at the same time realizing that _something else could have been done_! We should not need to be heroes, and, geek that I am, I truly believe that if we can create a culture of normalized breastfeeding, we'll better understand how to fix problems like these when they arise.

I suspect, tho, that along the way we'll be forced to modify a lot of other parenting choices (what babies and mamas wear, for example, so that we encourage skin-to-skin instead of requiring everyone to cover up in an effort to be "discreet" or "modest" and avoid offending others; where babies and mamas sleep, so that babies don't get too hungry and mamas don't get too engorged; how we handle baby pee and poop, so that babies who don't like to sit in it are given a chance to pee and poop when they signal so they aren't squirming trying to hold it in so as to avoid having to sit in it etc.). I'm increasingly suspicious that in order for this to work out at all, we're going to have to improve maternal/parental leave, create shared public spaces for new mothers to hang out during their leave where there are people to help them get their needs met -- breastfeeding support, new baby care information and assistance, social connection, meals cooked for them, a place to take a nap with their baby or someone else to hold the baby while they take a nap, ideally foot rubs, but hey, I know I'm dreaming here. And we'll also have to make it more possible for women to work with their babies on them or near them, if we can't make leave long enough. I figure a year long leave addresses most of the problems. A three month leave (which is what FMLA is, but unpaid, and not at all jobs) might be enough if the job permitted mom to wear her baby at work.

A whole lot of this shit could be made to entirely go away if babies were spaced out every four years, and each baby got a good solid two years of intense caretaking. Mama would be able to work at non-baby stuff about half of that portion of her life that she was making babies, and we'd have truly independent 2-4 year olds and up, instead of toddlers that take up more and more and more attention as the years go by (and are still in diapers as they near kindergarten). Unfortunately, it would be a lot cheaper, so the GDP would go down and we'd all regard it as a huge disaster, especially as it would put a huge chunk of the medical industry smack out of business.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd have recommended Soothies or Maternimates or whatever they're called now (gel disks that aid healing) and possibly antibiotic cream, *unless* the problem was yeast-related, in which case antibiotics would make it worse. I had a cracked nipple once that didn't heal for ages, even after a couple of courses of antibiotics for mastitis in that breast, and when I went in with a plugged duct and threatened mastitis on the same breast, the doctor said she'd give me a prescription to fill if it turned into mastitis, but suggested I try over-the-counter antibiotic ointment first to see if it turned around. It healed up pronto and never gave me any more trouble. I think it had been a vector for bacteria, as I never got mastitis when nursing my youngest at all (of course, I wasn't dealing with the ramifications of a double milk supply that time, either, and I was a much better judge of a latch during the newborn period).

Anyway, keep it in mind in case you ever get anything similar -- can't imagine that the ointment could bother your stomach, unless you ate it, of course.

Yeast patches in the child's mouth could have caused the restlessness, perhaps? in which case maybe gentian violet or some other antifungal treatment for both mother and baby would have been indicated.

Helen Schinske

Restlessness had two or more components

[walkitout]

I've taken to calling him Mr Wriggley when he does it, so I pay attention, but don't get too emotionally wrapped up in it. Since he's bigger, the Boppy doesn't work. I had been using a regular pillow, but even that is no longer working. He really wants to have his legs and hips lower than his torso, probably so the milk rolls downhill better. So positioning him differently makes a difference.

He needs to be burped during some feedings, even while on one breast. He'll try to work the burbles through on his own, wriggling to expedite things. Take him off, turn him upright, lean him forward, he belches and back to business.

If the wriggling starts after nursing for a few minutes, it's worth it to give him a chance on the potty. If he pees (and he often, but not always will), he'll usually settle in after that much more quietly. If he does not, and he's willing to sit on the potty for a while, he may (but only very occasionally, like once a week or so) actually poop, which tends to settle him down a lot.

He's not a high needs baby. He's just quite insistent about expressing his needs, and when I don't listen, my nipples pay.

Thanks for all the good advice, however. I'll look into those disks. I think I'm also going bra shopping on Friday so I have a better fitting bra for martial arts with a bit more support.