Please help me. BFing is hurting so much

[millie15]

The midwives tell me she is latched on fine, but I am in such pain that every time I feed her I am crying in agony. It is mainly my nipples hurting. I know she is getting milk because she has small bits of sick now and again and her nappies are soiled regularly. I can'tgo on like this because I dread her waking up and wanting to feed. I feel so depressed and desperate about it. I really want to be abe to breastfeed successfully. Please can someone give me some suggestions??

 

[Sephs]

Do you express milk? If nipples are overly sore you can give them a rest and use the milk you've expressed.

Just a suggestion, sorry if I'm wrong!

 

[bobby1]

aw hun I can sympathise a little as my milk is starting to come in now and my breasts are getting really heavy and sore..

have you tried using Lasinoh cream? I would get some and you are meant to rub it in every feed.. it seems to be helping with the nipple aching. it takes a while for your breasts to toughen up as far as I'm aware.
also try rubbing some of your milk on your breasts, this is meant to help!

I hope things get better for you soon hun

 

[Happybunny]

The Lanisnoh tip is great, it helped me loads!! Have you got a BF counsellor you can call to ask for help? I mention it because all my MW and HV said my baby was latched on properly, but it wasn't until week 6 when I went to a BF support group and got help from a La Leche Leader, that I realised she wasn't latched properly. It made a big difference. If you can, get an expert to come and sit with you (mw and hv aren't necessarily experts) and make sure everything is going ok.

If you look on La Leche website, you can find a leader near you and give her a ring. They usually go out of their way to help you. http://www.laleche.org.uk/

 

[angelfairy]

Aw hon well done for persisting with the breastfeeding. The pain will definitely go my love, try to make sure you apply a nipple cream at each feed lansinoh is fab and is ever so soothing too. Make sure your baby is latched on properly, the best way to do this is to ask for help from either your NCT breast feeding counsellor or like Happy Bunny says La Leche League who are fabulous. I had severe problems breast feeding my little girl to begin with but with their help I continued to enjoy breast feeding my daughter till she was 14 months old.

Hope the pain eases soon

xxx

 

[Rachel]

Ohh I remember this so well

Kieran was also latched on fine but my nipples hurt so much at first. I remember thinking I couldn't go on because it was that bad. I decided to carry on anyway and after around 7-10 days after giving birth they were fine and I felt no pain at all after that.

If you have been told that your latch is ok and everything else is going well then stick with it and it should get better within a few days.

It's just your nipples toughening (sp?) up and once they get used to it they should be fine

 

[Anna23]

the Lasinoh cream is AMASING it got rid of my cracked nipples with Emma and helped make the soreness go, well done for persevering with brestfeeding and it won't be long before your nips are used to it and it won't hurt anymore

 

[babynumbertwo]

I can totally sympathise - the first few weeks are really hard work. It is normal to have a bit of discomfort to start with but you shouldn't be in agony!
If you can't see a breastfeeding counsellor quickly (might be hard due to xmas) ring the la leche league helpline - they will talk to you over the phone. I had to ring them myself a few weeks ago - the will either put you through to someone or you can leave a msg for someone to call you back.
In the mean time try to make sure babys mouth is wide open before latching - so he takes as much of the nipple area into the mouth as poss and is not just sucking on the nipple itself. Good luck - I'm sure you can sort it out. Hope you feel better soon xx

 

[charlotte_]

i expressed milk while i felt really sore, and gave zach that, giving my nipples some time to heal. now i'm using nipple shields.
the midwives think it hurt so much because i have flatter nipples.

 

[ASD123456]

I can sympathise too. From what i can tell though it is a completeley normal part of breastfeeding, BUT, it does go I promise. I remember the toe curling pain and the dreading of feeds well. I think the pain lasted for about 2 weeks and then it became lovely.

I recommend Lansinoh, after every single feed and you don't have to wipe it off before feeding LO. Also air to your boobies is good, so walk around topless!!!

Alex xxx

 

[Fly]

You're doing really well sweetheart Lanisoh is excellent - i was struggling a few weeks back with a really nasty open crack on my left nipple and ended up having to not feed off that side for a week to let it heal but lanisoh saved us big time tis wonderful Do you have a breastfeeding buddy - there's a thread on third tri - just havin another mum who's been through it or going through it, to text or ring can really help. Definatley give La Leche a ring - I did several weeks ago when I was crying through every feed and between feeds cos of the pain... it helped soooo much to be able to talk it all through with someone who could help very practically
It will get better hun but if you decide to stop and switch to formula you have done brilliantly being able to give your baby that gold-dust colustrum and anything extra now you can feed him yourself is a big fat brucey bonus
Loadsa Love n hope it stops hurting so much soon
Sarah x x x x

 

[millie15]

Thank you everyone for these lovely supportive replies It has really helped me to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hanging in there (even though I did go and buy bottles) I've tried to focus really hard on the latching (looked at loads of stuff online) and it is getting ever so slightly better. I am going to call the NCT helpline and La Leche tomorrow and hopefully get some support there.

Thanks again, your support has been invaluable xx

 

[heles7]

well done for getting this far!

everybody else has pretty much summed it all up but just thought you might find it reassuring to know all the girls at the breastfeeding group i go to are in agreement that the first 2-3 weeks are painful, i guess it is just toughening up or whatever. After that it's pain free!

When you are sitting down to a feed, do try and make sure you're comfortable and do whatever makes you chilled out, be it telly, music or magazine to look at (bit tricky that one though!). I know what it's like where you begin to dread the feed but do the best you can to approach each feed calmly. A few deep yoga type breaths often comes in handy for me when in need of a bit of helping hand.

In another week or so you'll be over the worse and one day you'll suddenly realise you don't remember the last couple of feeds hurting and suddenly you really will be enjoying each and every one.

 

[lisa&alex]

hi hun.. as the girls have said your doing sooooooooooooooooo well! and as everyone says it does get better xxxx

 

[Squiglet]

Heles7 gave some fantastic advice and I know she went through the mill with her LO....

I've known other bfing mums who swear by nipple shields. I personally never got on with them, but some mothers do find that they are a relief. I used Lanoish as the other girls have said. Also when I had salt baths for my stitches, I made sure my nipples got a soak... If anything it just felt nice.

I breastfed both my girls but my first was definitely more of a challenge. Bfing is a skill...like riding a bike..only this time you're riding a tandem bike and both you and your LO have to learn the skill. I think that the first 6 weeks are the hardest because you are also recovering from birth in that time, so you have exhaustion to factor in. Try not to be tempted to introduce a bottle just for a break because it will drop your milk supply and you will find that its difficult to drop those formula feeds and with many bfing mothers, it signifies the beginning of the end of their bfing.

I was lucky in the sense that I didn't feel the need to go out, I enjoy being at home, so staying in with a baby attached to my boob constantly was more like a nice holiday...

But yer...bfing is painful and uncomfortable, especially in the first weeks but it is worth it in my opinion and you are doing so well. Try not to focus on the big picture, ie you should bf'd exclusively until 6 months, say to yourself, I will continue breastfeeding until my LO is 4 weeks old. If you get there... say I'll go to 6 weeks then...if you get there say 8 weeks and so on...and if you get to one of your goal posts and decide bfing is no longer for you, you won't feel so disappointed because you did exactly what you said you were going to do... you reach your goal