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PBL Foundations


  • Are you receiving a lot of conflicting advice about breastfeeding?
  • Lactating breasts give you three kinds of warning pains or signals
  • COMMON BREASTFEEDING PROBLEM #1: nipple and breast tissue drag
  • COMMON BREASTFEEDING PROBLEM #2: not offering the breast frequently and flexibly enough
  • COMMON BREASTFEEDING PROBLEM #3: conditioned dialling up at the breast
  • Mechanical pressures are the engine room of breastfeeding and lactation
  • Does your baby have tongue-tie or other oral connective tissue or fascial restrictions resulting in breastfeeding problems?
  • Please see your doctor if you have nipple discharge or ulceration, or a lump in your breast!

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  • PBL Foundations
  • S2: Start here for breastfeeding essentials
  • CH 1: Three main causes of breastfeeding problems

Please see your doctor if you have nipple discharge or ulceration, or a lump in your breast!

Dr Pamela Douglas8th of Dec 20243rd of Dec 2025

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This is an important message!

Your breasts will often feel rather lumpy at times when you're lactating. But discharge or ulceration of the nipple, or a breast lump that has not gone away within a week, requires prompt assessment by your doctor.

  • You can find out about a lump in your breast that hasn't disappeared in a week here.

  • You can find out about lumps due to breast inflammation and what to do starting here.

  • You can find out about nipple wounds during breastfeeding starting here.

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Next up in Four things to know about: bras, baby's dial, burping, and hand expressing

Let's talk bras (important, if tricky!)

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"When you find burden in either belief or apparel, cast it off." Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894) American suffrage reform, pioneer of the Victorian Dress Reform Movement

Does bra-wearing help breastfeeding?

Unfortunately, wearing a bra for much of the day can increase some women's chances of developing breastfeeding problems. This is because bras

  1. Alter the biomechanics of breastfeeding in a way that might cause fit and hold problems, if you're feeding with a bra on

  2. Increase the chances of overhydration of the nipple skin, which makes our nipples less resilient when they're exposed to the stretching and expanding pressures which are a normal part of breastfeeding

  3. …
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Possums acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands upon which The Possums Programs have been created, the Yuggera and Turrbal Peoples. We acknowledge that First Nations have breastfed, slept with, and lovingly raised their children on Australian lands for at least 65,000 years, to become the oldest continuous living culture on Earth. Possums stands with the Uluru Statement from the Heart.