Normal or Should I See a Doctor?

I've had similar pains. It could be any one of a few different things. Could be acid reflux (pain from this can often be mis-referenced). Could also be that the ligaments, etc. in that area are strained or sprained. Hormones related to pregnancy cause changes in the ligaments all over your body. It's the reason some women have bigger feet or a bigger bra size (not cup size, but the measurement around). Everything that is holding your bones together just stretches out. Sometimes it doesn't go back to the way it was before the baby. Meanwhile, all of the muscles, etc. around those areas have to adjust to new positions...and it can be uncomfortable. I had a ligament problem in the chest/rib area and was told not to lift anything for a while, take some naproxen and it would go away. It did.
Also, because I worked for the American Heart Association for 5 years, I feel obligated to say that you should check with your doctor any time you experience chest pain. Women especially can have uncommon symptoms of the artery blockages that can lead to a heart attack.
It takes your body 2 years to recover from the effects of pregnancy, and every woman is different, so you never know what could be going on.

I had this too around Easter. I often co-sleept with my 2.5 yo and I thought that I was just laying funny too often. It hurt under the sternum, like my ribs were cracking when I moved. It even hurt if you pushed on it. It was hard to even role over at night. This pain went on for months off and on. I had enough when it persisted all day and it hurt to pick my-self off the couch. I went to the Dr and she hadn't a clue what it was. She suggested stress or hart burn. They did an EKG, X_Ray, Sonagram and Mamagram. They came out fine and I never heard from he Dr again. The pain went away a couple of weeks later. I haven't felt it again.

I did fly to Iowa and back at Easter and I think what ever the problem was was aggrivated by the flight/pressure.

If you find out anything please let me know. I hope this helps you and you start to feel better.

T. Lee

I'm new here, but I wanted to try to help. When I was about 20, I experienced chest pain similar to what you describe. I hadn't had any children at that time. I went to the doctor and he put light pressure on my sternum and asked if it hurt. I hadn't noticed but it was extremely tender. He said I had costochondritis. And while he didn't run any other tests at that time, since then I've had almost every test done(stress test, EKG, Echocardiogram, Holter Monitor), and nothing is wrong with my heart. Costochondritis is inflammation of the cartilage in that area. I've read up on it some, and a lot of websites say it's caused by viral infections, but my doctor told me that repetitive minor trauma over time, even you didn't notice that you pulled something, can cause it. Mine comes and goes. Sometimes it shows up several times during the year, sometimes I go without any pain all year. I hope this helps some. Here's a site that explains a little about it:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/costochondritis/DS00626

Check with your doctor to be sure though, as I agree with the previous poster. Chest pain always needs to be evaluated by a doctor, not self-diagnosed.

I had this happen to me awhile back also... it started after I had my second daughter and was also co-sleeping and breastfeeding her... after a long time of dealing with it, I went to the doctor. My family doctor, at that time, said it was arthritis in my chest... how weird is that??? I had no idea you could get arthritis in your chest! Plus, I was (and still am, I think) young at the time... It was aggravated by my sleeping position... the weight of half of my body on my side and chest... kind of crushing it.

You should get it checked out.

I'm a breastfeeding mom of four months. I recently recovered from a case of Mastitis and what you described dosn't fit the symptoms of that. I also feel the back pain issues that you're probably being stricken with(but hey the cleavege is great ,huh:) Anyway the only time I felt what ur describing was when I was having high bp probs. I would get up to a local pharmacy and check it just to rule out hypertension.