left breast is AGONY! mw says nothing wrong. help!

[warthog]

i have pain like red hot needles going through my left breast whenever i feed on that side. it's only while dd2 is actually sucking. have tried changing angles but no difference.

mw says it's not thrush as it's not in both breasts and baby's mouth is not covered in a white film.

any ideas???

[msdemeanor]

Could be mastitis or thrush. Can you see your gp instead?

[warthog]

not til monday

[WigWamBam]

Midwives are not doctors. Thrush does not always affect both breasts. The baby may not have picked it up from you yet.

You need to see a GP - do you have an out-of-hours service you can contact?

[Miggsie]

I used to get this and it was just terrible "let down" pains.
I got them way longer than any of the books say.

Check it's not thrush or mastitus as suggested as these need treatment, if not then it may well just be let down pain, then they will go away, but yes it hurts like mad!

I used to soak sanitary towels in water, freeze them, then apply to the boob just before feeding which helped a lot.

Just warn your partner than when he is rummaging for the frozen peas he may well find a few STs!!!!

[warthog]

it never goes away though. the other side doesn't really get any pain at all..

i will try the ice trick - anything at this stage

[Lib76]

sounds like mastitis! get help asap! i had mastitis on both sides and ended up in hopsital for three days! total nightmare :-( when i knew something was wrong it was a saturday and i went to the out of hours service. call nhs 24/direct and get seen. i was the same in pain ALL the time.

hope you are ok. ;-)

[WilfSell]

You should try ringing one the BF helplines also: they will diagnose it much better than most GPs IME. GPs are not well trained in thrush in the breast on the whole and believe (like your midwife) if they can't see it it isn't there but this is not the case, as it can be inside the folds/creases in the nipples or inside the ducts. It also can only occur in one breast though it does often transfer to both.

The BF helplines will likely ask things like - does the pain start immediately your baby feeds or once the feed is underway?

Does it carry on after a feed has finished?

Do you have any red or hard patches on that breast?

Do you have any visible damage or marks on that nipple?

[WilfSell]

PS if it is something else - like nipple damage or a blocked duct, there are things you can do to help yourself but you're better getting this advice from someone like the NCT helpline etc. I think some of them are open till 9 so if you ring now you might just catch someone?

[sausage1230]

Hello look on la leche website they are a voluntary breastfeeding group worldwide they will have a phone helpline where someone can give you advice at anytime including weekends etc and help regarding this they willgive you support and its free, they helped me enormously my little one had a severe tongue tie that wasnt diagnosed until he was 4 months old and all professionals had missed it apart from the last consultant who spotted it and was appalled, they gave me much encouragement to continue to breast feed to give them a call. Good luck.

[warthog]

thanks all. i will call la leche tomorrow morning first thing!

[RedHead81]

hi i am a bfing support peer trained by LLL and it sounds like mastitis to me - Do you have a temperature and flu like symptoms? You should get it checked out, if it is mastitis a short course of antibiotics will sort out the problem for you, and in the meantime (even though it is painful) the best thing is to feed from that side as often as possible to keep the milk flowing and release any milk that could be blocked.

Alternatively, is the latch correct?
I have (or did have) a flat nipple on my right breast and DS1 didn't feed from it at all, but DS2 has managed to get the hang of it, but in the beginning (he is now 4mths) it was painful while he was bringing out the nipple - shooting pains like you have described. Could this be the cause?

If it is so painful, could you express from this side until you get the help you need and give it in a bottle and continue to feed from the other side??

I hope this has helped a bit