To think that breastfeeding mothers should be offered gas and air POSTNATALLY

[ReallyTired]

Many women find that breastfeeding is extremely painful at first. Even if they are given good support and a bad latch is corrected breastfeeding can be still painful. It can take days for the damage caused by a baby latching on badly to heal. The memories of cracked nipples bring tears to my eyes.

Rather than bullying do think that decent pain relief would help mothers establish breastfeeding? Ie. if a mother is scared of the pain of breastfeeding then the offer of gas and air might tempt her.

Maybe gas and air would not help, but good medical attention for cracked nipples might. I feel its almost misogyny to expect women to breastfeed without doing something about physical pain.

Nah. Mothers are forged in steel. The nipple agony is part of the forging process. It's character building.

The sad fact is that to be a woman, especially a mother, means that you have to go through a lot of pain, sleepless nights, stress, exhaustion, putting yourself last and other tortures generally. I've been a mother for three years now (2 DCs) and there have been some pretty grim moments (try having toddler and newborn with norovirus while you yourself have it, for example).

The basic fact is that it's you who can feed the baby, it's you who your children want if they are ill or grumpy, regardless of whether you are also trying to work full time or are ill yourself. I used to find this so unfair but with time I have realized that you can rail about the unfairness of this biological fact, or you can save your energy and just accept it.

There are rewards - think 20 years hence when your tall pretty/handsome mature DCs take you out to the theatre and for a meal for your birthday. We will be so proud of them and ourselves and all the years of slog will be worth it.

[She says hoping this fantasy comes true!]

I found the pain I had breastfeeding with ds was worse than the pain I had when I broke a wisdom tooth. I was given lots of pain killers when I broke my wisdom tooth, but not breastfeeding. Sometimes people who are struggling with breastfeeding can experience completely and utterly calcous treatment. I think that feeling tense and expecting pain can make things worse.

I had horrible after pains with dd, but breastfeeding was much easier as I knew more what I was doing. I still had sore breasts, but it was barable.

I do think women with severe breastfeeding problems do need a bit more than paracetanol. Prehaps this is an area where there should be a bit of experimentation.

We could ask second time mums who do not want to try breastfeeding if they would reconsider if gas and air was offered. It would be interesting to see if any of them would be tempted to try breastfeeding. There would have to be a control that recieved a placebo and it would be interesting to see what their outcomes were. Ie. what would happen if a control group just breathed air?

Good idea, OP. I found bf unbelievably painful for the first 6 weeks with DS1 - I was frequently crying as I latched him on, and chomping down paracetamol like Smarties. Between 6-8 weeks the pain disappeared, and I went on to feed him for a year. Fed DS2 for a year, and still feeding DD at 9 months without that pain - but gas & air at the beginning with DS1 would have been well worth it.

If your nipples have got so bad they're cracked and bleeding then someone is at fault for not noticing that your baby is really badly attached/has tongue tie.

Sorry - would like to add, that I'm not against sending bf mums home with a tank of entonox. For whatever purposes.....

Bumpsadaisie, I don't think we should just accpet these 'grim moments' if there is help there. That's like saying that if you have pnd, you just plough on through because it is character building!

I remember before I had dd1 asking the MW who ran the antenatal class about b'feeding pain, and she just said - if you are doing it properly there should be no pain, and don't be so negative! She didn't say what to do if the support post birth was rubbish, the baby had a tongue tie and how to get through weeks of agonising b'feeding once the latch was corrected etc, but the nipples were covered in cracks and blisters!

Gas and air for BF'ing - probably not.

Gas and air for first post-delivery poo - absolutely. Bring it on.

sorry, don,t know what 'accpet' is, should be accept!

I was given Co-Codomal just before b/f as I had horrendous after pains that were worse than my labour

Afterpains

Could have done with gas and air for those!

"If your nipples have got so bad they're cracked and bleeding then someone is at fault for not noticing that your baby is really badly attached/has tongue tie."

I completely agree with you, but once the damage is done, the mother needs help. Correcting a vile latch will not get rid of the pain instantly. The problem is how to PRACTICALLY help the mother get through the really awful pain barrier. It would be an interesting experiment to see if the use of entonox would help the mother to carry on.

I think that such a mother should be hospital getting one to one support at every feed so that she learns to latch on correctly if her nipples are in such a mess.

Leuji- that's what I get for skim reading

anyhoo, I have decided that a big ol' tank of gas should be available to all, FF/ BF whatever, just in case that first poo smarts.

It wasn't cracked/bleeding nipples with me. It was just REALLY painful. I don't think it was the latch either - did the same latch with DS2 and DD and it was less painful with DS2 and not painful with DD. I think some women just find BF painful at the beginning. Help to get through those first few weeks is an excellent idea.

OP I get your point, but I go off my tits on G&A and vomit everywhere, so it wouldn't have been for me.

YANBU for suggesting that the pain of BF is taken seriously, and that we are not just expected to grit out teeth through it.

Out of interest, I wonder what would happen if you put some teething gel or something on your nips? I never broke the skin on mine, would it sting?

*disclaimer to would-be BFers, it is not always like this. I BF'd without baby ripping my nips to shreds...

I sympathise with any woman who breastfeeds and winces every time baby latches on! To describe the feeling as akin to having a cheesegrater rubbed vigourously on your nipples doesn't even begin to describe the pain at first, and I had it easy with no hint of mastitis or anything like that!

Unfortunately I tried Lasinoh and ice packs and rubbing milk on the nipple, all to no avail. All I can advise is to persevere and it will get better but from my experience of breastfeeding two hungry demand fed babies it stings like buggery for the first two weeks or so. Sorry!

When my midwife asked if my first breastfeed with ds1 hurt I said, "not compared to childbirth", and then she naffed off. A week later I would say the pain was comparable.

Would teething gel be OK for newborns? Prehaps there needs needs to be a new gel that is cross between bongela and lansinoh.

I have to admit that I never got on with gas an air and I threw up when I tried it. However I know lots of women who love gas and air. Gas and air is not for everyone, but it might help a few.

I was being a little flippant when I started this thread, but I do think more needs to be done to help women in serious pain from breastfeeding.

It's not ALWAYS the case that a bad reaction to BF means there is a problem- absolutely it indicates that assessment by a qualified BF advisor is warranted but some people just find it painful- I did, and I was that qualified BF person! Have read something on varying levels of skin sensitivity but cannot remember where.

G&A probably not wise but I can actually see that RT has a point that proper medical support for what can be horrendously painful might well help with BF rates. With all 4 of mine there was a peak pain level a few weeks in and had we not had a family casein intolerance I would probably have given up tbh.

I had agonisingly painful letdown when I first started BFing. It was so awful that I dreaded feeding and used to cry with pain for the first couple of minutes. Given the choice between going through labour again every day and BFing I probably would have chosen labour. It felt like glass was being ground into my breasts at every feed. I would have taken anything that would have taken the edge off. I stuck with it (still feeding over 2 years later) but I was stubbornly determined to BF and can easily see why that agony would make someone give up

Ohdearnigel how long did it take for letdown to stop hurting? I only managed to feed my son exclusively for 3 months and by 4 1/2 months he was ff. Letdown was always painful! just wondered if I can bf longer when I have another if that willeventuLly stop?

I think it was around the 6 weeks mark. I had hyperactive let down until she was about 5/6 months old though - it was uncomfortable when the milk let down but not the searing pain of the early days. I used to have to compress the other breast while she fed on the first as they would let down at the same time and even after a few months it was still uncomfortable but more bearable.

I found Kellymom to be a brilliant resource with lots of tips to help with a forceful let down
kellymom.com/

pfft to gas and air, i wanted pethadine

bf was far worst then labour, when i was bf dd it was a toe curling pain. i had more support then you could shake a stick at, but it was still painful.

we were checked for everything to find out why it was so painful, it was when dd tried to latch onto the bf supporter she said that dd had strong jaw muscles

the afterpains when 1st breastfeeding are awful, i had to give up after a week but if id have had gas & air i mite have tried harder. All i can say is ouchhhh and i applaud all women that can bf for long periods

Thanks Nigel appreciate that.