Finding it hard BF my 10 day old

[bettybets]

I have a 10 day old baby and finding it hard breast feeding her.

She latches on great, but i'm finding my let down reflex very painful and then as she feeds its uncomfortable and i end up taking her off. My nipples are bruised which is why i thinking i'm finding it really uncomfortable.

Tonight i've expressed, but i'm worried about giving her a bottle so soon, but i'm dreading the next time she wakes up for a feed. DP advice is either get on with it or change to formula milk.

Any advice?

[trulyscrumptious43]

I want to say keep at it but I know how much it can physically hurt. With my first, I recall the midwives advising me to stop trying because the blood from my bleeding nipples wouldn't do baby any good!
We ended up on a combination of bottle and breast, which in retrospect wasn't a good idea because dd always wanted the bottle not the boob - easy hit!
One sweet midwife did advise me to give dd milk or water from a teaspoon to keep her going - laborious but in the long run better to stop baby getting addicted to bottle feeds.

[mears]

If your nipples are bruised then she is not latched on properly, taking the nipple far enough into her mouth. If the latch is corrected the pain will quickly resolve. Can your midwife help you?

[mears]

great latching videos here

[Pyrocanthus]

Congratulations on the babe. Commiserations on the pain. I got through mastitis and lacerated nipples with help from silicon nipple shields - very much disapproved of by NCT counsellor, but midwife bunged them on me realizing that I wasn't going to be able to continue otherwise. Perhaps suggest it to your midwife and see what she thinks?

Do your best, but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work out. I went through every bfing crisis known to motherhood, ended up feeding ds2 for 16 months (having been prevented by illness from bfing ds1 at all, I was very stubborn about it), and though the last 10 months were great, I still don't know if the grief was worth it. But if you can get over this hurdle, it might be plain sailing all the way.

Good luck.