Painful 'refilling'

[Haahoooo]

Hi

I'm three weeks into feeding DC2 atm, and it's all a lot more painful than I remember. I'm trying to get the latch right but it doesn't always work and nipples are painful.

But more oddly and not something I remember: my entire breasts are painful / burning on and off between feeds. It feels a bit like they are refilling and that process itself hurts. Am I going a bit mad or is that possible?

Baby's mouth has been checked by community midwife for thrush and didn't see any signs of that. What else could this be and is it normal?

TIA

[Popalina]

I had this and assumed it was due to the tongue tie. Has your baby been checked?

[Haahoooo]

Thank you for replying.

Baby has been checked for tongue tie as DC1 had it so I have been asking every hcp that sees him people. No tongue tie this time apparently.

[mrsmugoo]

Sounds exactly like ductal thrush (I'm on medication for it now). Baby doesn't necessarily have to show external symptoms.

[Alixion]

I had a similar thing around week 3 - I almost stopped bf as it felt like a really uncomfortable tingly sensation between feeds. He was feeding every 2 hours so it felt constant and it wore me down!
I remember mentioning it to my HV and she said 'oh, it should be getting easier now' ha ha.. Very helpful!!
I didn't have any kind of thrush or mastitis but eventually it just got less and less until I didn't notice it so much. Feeding helped so I just kept on going. It may have been my supply revving up for his growth spurt??

Most of my bf problems have been latch related - it seems as though it's something I need to keep working on even now, 3 months in.
I found lying down the most comfortable and I try to see how his latch is then and try to replicate it when sitting up during the day.
I have big boobs (34HH ish) and have to concentrate at every feed to make sure we are both comfy!
I hope it passes for you too :)

[Haahoooo]

Thank you both.

Mrsmugoo - could I ask how the diagnosis works for ductal thrush? Could they see anything on baby or breast or was the pain the only symptom? And is the treatment a cream?

Alixion how frustrating from HV. I keep telling myself that surely things are about to get easier. I know what you mean about the latch. I find it do hard. When he finally does the wide open mouth thing half the time he's closed it again by the time he's got to the breast. We will keep working on it...

[Alixion]

Haahooo - I have soooo been there. Mine would do a nice big mouth and I would move him towards the nipple just in time for him to clamp his mouth shut!

I read on one of these lovely threads about not accepting a bad latch. I actually had to say this out loud to myself. Between that and firmly saying to DS 'big, open mouth, big open mouth' my DH thought I was a loon!!

Hang in there, I have found that I muddled through it all - not with much grace but its doing the job OK :)

Mrsmugoo - I would be interested to hear more about the ductal thrush too as it has not been mentioned it as a possible problem for me.

[mrsmugoo]

I'd been on ABs for mastitis and was suffering from a tingly burning pain between feeds and hideous pain that felt like hot needles poking in my nipples when feeding.

I had no external symptoms but was prescribed fluconazole for 7 days as a belt and braces and it's totally gone, so pretty sure that was what it was.

[Haahoooo]

Haha, the 'big open mouth' mantra is really recognisable! I do this too and even little DS has a way of looking at me as if I'm slightly mad . Our latching problems are significantly worse at night actually - we (or mainly I I guess ) are really focused during the day but a bit lazy / exhausted during the night.

Very interesting re ductal thrush. If the in between feeds burning sensation doesn't go away in the next day or so I will make a GP appointment. It does seem to be associated with 'refilling' because if DS has only emptied one breast I only get the burning post feed pain on that side.

[Haahoooo]

Just updating this in case anyone is interested - GP diagnosed ductal thrush and prescribed fluconazole, which three days in does seem to be helping.

Thanks all for the advice.

[Alixion]

Hahooo thanks for the update and I hope its all still going ok.

I also went to gp on the advice of the drop in nurses - the GP was a bit rubbish TBH - she didn't seem to know much about bf or the problems that can come with it. But I pushed a bit and she gave me one dose of fluconazole as a 'catch all' ....
Did you just have one dose or was it a course?

[Haahoooo]

Hi Alixion. Sorry to hear re rubbish GP. I read on the internet that they can be a bit hit and miss in terms of 'believing in' ductal thrush or bring willing to prescribe medication. My GP said it was a controversial area but that she thought it was the right thing to prescribe. So I'm on a course - 10 days of 100mg a day I believe. Really has made a difference for me. Good luck

[Haahoooo]

Sorry I just realised your post probably refers to a GP visit from some time ago when your DC was 3 weeks and you were experiencing this problem, so you don't need the 'good luck' as such at the moment. But I do hope all goes well with your bf experience