Florida resident Lori S.* remembers one thing about the first time she put her infant daughter to her breast to nurse: pain. When she was pregnant, she was excited about the upcoming breastfeeding relationship. That excitement quickly turned to fear after the birth. Every time her daughter latched on, Lori S. experienced tremendous discomfort. It was so painful that she considered giving up the relationship she had once been so excited to have. Finally, with the help of a great lactation consultant, Lori S. and her daughter got into "the groove," and the pain stopped. They had a successful nursing relationship that lasted for over a year.

Five years later, Lori S. gave birth to her second daughter. She was scared about the pain returning, and wondered if she was "strong enough to handle it again." "I was so hesitant to even try to nurse ... because of the intense pain that I had with [my first daughter], but I knew breast is best, so I tried again," Lori S. says. "Surprisingly, I had no pain at all."

Lori S.'s story is one echoed by many women. "I did get sore nipples with my first when she was about 1 to 2 weeks old," says Jessica Riedmueller of Greenwood Lake, N.Y. "In fact, one nipple did crack and was very painful. It really hurt when she latched, and I pumped one side and only let her nurse on the non-painful side for a day or two. I also had to use Lanolin after every feeding and leaked really badly and had to wear nursing pads for the first 6 months."

When Riedmueller gave birth to her second child, a son, three years later, she did not experience any discomfort, did not have to use Lanolin or wear breast pads and did not have "the leaking problem." Riedmueller also prepared herself for her second nursing experience by reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League International (Plume; 7th rev. ed., 2004) before her son was born.

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