BFing- struggling with sore, cracked nipples

[hmyh23]

Not really an AIBU but I'm desperate for some advice.

Day 8 of BFing here and really suffering with sore, dry, scabby nipples. I am following all the advice I've been given- using Lansinoh, dabbing with breastmilk, air drying where possible but they don't seem to be healing up and are constantly stinging and tingling. The initial let down when the baby latches is very painful and then the rest of the feed is better but still uncomfortable which means I dread every feed. The hospital midwives and community midwives have checked the latch and agree it's good, the baby is maintaining weight and is thriving so no problem with the amount she is getting. They seem to think the damage is from the first couple of days when the latch wasn't good but I dont know how to heal it when there's only 3hrs between each feed. I don't know whether to stop and express for a few days to see if this will help but I'm worried about getting her back on the breast afterwards. I don't want to throw the towel in now after trying so hard to get to this stage but I don't think I can just keep feeding through the pain and I am also recovering from a tear so quite uncomfortable In general. In all honesty I'm wishing I had just bottle fed from the outset as I feel this is adding an extra level of stress on top of recovery from labour and getting used to everything. NCT advice is that the latch mustn't be right or it wouldn't hurt any more and I should try and get an appointment at the local midwife unit for more help.

Any advice welcome from people who have been through similar, they are sticking to breast pads/bra/tops which is taking the top off the scabs and making it all worse.

I once was coached into a better latch over the phone, I’m fairly sure it was the La Lache League helpline. By the time the local breastfeeding peer support lady physically came out to the house, the most instense cracking and pain etc was gone. Up until I called them, my first baby was definitely happy and putting on weight, the latch wasn’t awful for him it seems, but was all wrong for me. I just remember the lady talking to me so kindly on the phone and going step by step through the technique and it really improved things. I didn’t find that midwives in general were ever great with breastfeeding techniques, but that was just my experience of course.

Get checked to see if you have thrush.

I had it and it felt like glass was being crushed into my breast every time baby latched on. Agony.

I was in your boat about 3 or 4 days ago OP. Literally could have written that exact same post (with the exception of the part about expressing as I’ve not done that at all yet.

My husband popped to Boots on Monday and picked up a couple of their own brand nipple shields. It says very clearly on the packaging that they’re not designed for long term use - i.e. you’re supposed to use them while the nipple underneath is healing and then stop using them.

With the shield on, my baby was able to latch on and feed in pretty much exactly the same way as before. It was a tiny bit weird for him at first but he got over that really quickly! At the end of each feed using the shield there were a few drops of milk in the bottom of the shield, so I stole it and rubbed it (very gently!) on my sore nipple (a midwife had told me previously that milk was the best thing to apply to a sore nipple). By Tuesday morning I felt confident enough to ditch the shield again and I was amazed to find it was a million times better.

I will keep the shields in case they’re handy in the future but for now everything’s feeling much better.

As pps have said, it’s worth understanding the root cause so that you solve the problem (if there is one) otherwise the shield will only every provide temporarily relief. But in my case I think the root cause was just a crappy latch in the early few days that baby and I have managed to adjust and improve through practice.

Paracetamol will help with the immediate pain. I know it’s absolutely excruciating but it will not be like this forever.

Hope this helps. You are certainly not alone, and as I’m sure you’ve heard a million times, you’ll get through this! Good luck x

Thanks everyone. I feel better just for getting it all written down here. Just done another feed and whacked on some more lansinoh. It seems to be helping already using the lansinoh breast pads and keeping them moist, not air drying them as I've been advised previously. I will come back and update once I have seen the midwife tomorrow and hopefully I'll be a bit further forward.

Good luck OP. It’s hard in those early days and I had pain too. Definitely wanted to give up on day 10 but still feeding him as we speak and he’s 16 months. You can do it, you’re doing fantastic.

Good luck op! I found the first couple of weeks tough with both my boys but fine after that. Nobody warns you! Just take it feed by feed and keep whacking on the lansinoh :)

I breastfed my four children and it hurt like hell for the first few weeks every time. I would sometimes yell with pain when they latched on, but after a few weeks something changed, I think my nipples toughened up, and the pain went away.

I think that the idea that it is not supposed to hurt if the latch is good is nonsense.

I am sorry that you are having such a rough time.

I was in agony until about 2.5 weeks when all of a sudden his mouth got bigger and it all resolved.

But I remember the sobbing all the time because it just hurt so bloody much and I dreaded going near my baby in case he wanted fed. Couldn't bear my towel to touch them after a shower etc.

I found multi-mam compresses extremely
soothing in between feeds and that using the rugby hold took the pressure off the sorest areas cause by loads of cradle hold feeding.

Not read any replies. But just wanted to suggest getting baby hecked for tongue tie. My DD was 75% TT in all - anterior and posterior. The posterior is hard to spot - the lactation consultant who performed her first anterior TT snip missed it.

BF hurt like F* for many weeks, DD made a clicking sound and slipped off a lot. I had to "hold" her on to feed. Does that sound likely??

Nipple shields were my saviour when I got a friction blister. HV said “don’t use them, the baby will get confused”. Thankfully I ignored her and followed the advice of a friend who has 2 kids and is an OB, and used the nipple shields. It only took a couple of feeds of using them to allow my nipple to heal.

I remember that my nipples had to toughen up in the early days of breastfeeding. Do your birthing breathing and apply lansinoh after every feed.

Make sure every latch is spot on and go to a breastfeeding clinic.

You will get through this.

Oh I remember that unbearable, excruciating pain that actually made me afraid to feed. It really does get better. My saviour this time round was mepilex patches. Not sure if it's available in the UK but it's a type of wound dressing. You cut it into squares and it's sticky so you just stick to your nipples after smearing them in milk. midwives have it to me in hospital and it really speeds up the healing process and also helps protect your nipples between feeds e.g. From clothes scratching them. I hope it gets better soon, for me pain eased gradually and by 2 weeks was much improved. You're doing great!

Air drying makes things worse as it encourages scabs to form which then get pulled off at every feed, moist wound healing is better for healing as it doesn’t cause scabs to be taken off every time you feed or take your bra off.

So use lansinoh on the nipple and rub a bit onto a breast pad where your nipple touches it and keep that up.

Soft breast pads changed regularly such as lansinoh ones or Johnson’s ones are the best.

Ask your midwife if you can be referred to the specialist infant feeding midwife. If not get a midwife to spend some time with you looking at the latch, sometimes if the latch is good it’s just a case of holding them in much closer when feeding.

Have someone double check tongue tie.

Try shields with some feeds but check your breasts are feeling completely soft after a feed because sometimes they don’t remove the milk as effectively with them and can lead to engorgement and blocked ducts.

Also try removing the shields after the initial painful sucking and let down has happened and baby is swallowing milk.

I’ve been exactly where you have been and this all helped me to heal completely by 4-5 weeks.

Oh and prior to putting the lansinoh on rub some breast milk onto your nipples! Then lansinoh over the top!

Another vote for coconut oil - I think the one I’m using (photo attached) is from Holland & Barrett. Pricey (£15ish for a jar) but worth every single penny. I found it much much more effective, and less painful to apply, than Lansinoh (which seems really thick and therefore rather ouchy to apply).

The coconut oil does make your nipples slippery, but my baby didn’t seem to mind or struggle to latch.

Good luck!

One of my nipples was really cracked and kept bleeding, i was also told to keep feeding. It didn't heal until i stopped feeding from that breast. I used coconut oil and a lot of air drying. Just thinking about it makes me wince.

Thank you everyone, I have an appointment to go and get some help at the midwife centre this afternoon so I'll see what comes of that and keep up with the lansinoh in the mean time. Managed to feed her through the night while biting down on a cushion and my husband is giving her a bottle of expressed breast milk just now to give me a break.

How are things going now OP?

Hi! Thank you for asking, I've been meaning to come back and update. We are still going, the moist wound healing with the lansinoh and breast pads seems to be doing the trick and things are improving slowly but surely. The initial let down is still painful for about 30 seconds but then settles. I wouldn't say it's totally comfortable after that but a million times better than last week. Community midwife has been great and thinks latch is fine and the remaining discomfort is just where the nipple trauma is healing. Earlier in the week I had a high temp and red patch on breast, realised it might be mastitis so followed some advice I found on Kelly Mom to express and massage. Went to the doxt9rs and he thinks I managed to just catch it and get rid of it in time but he prescribed some antibiotics so if it does flare up I can take them. I'm trying to take it literally one feed at a time, I can't say I'm enjoying the feeding and I don't feel like it's an amazing bonding experience like others seem to. I just feel like I've come this far so I don't want to give up now.

Thanks so much to everyone who replied last week, it really helped just to have some reassuring voices ❤

Don't worry about not enjoying the feeding, I was/am the same. Everyone goes on and on about how its this amazing bonding experience (and how if you bottle feed then dads get to bond with baby when they feed them). Ok for some people it is but I was very much of the mindset that I'm feeding my baby because she needs to eat and I'll bond with her by having cuddles and playing with her and talking to her and a million other ways. It's not just about feeding and that's ok.

I don't know if you have them in the UK but I was given foam doughnuts to put in my bra. The nipple sits in the middle and stops any clothing from pressing on or rubbing against the nipples between feeds. They were amazing. I also used shields if I was struggling and have 1 ff per day. We do this around 11 and DH does it so I get a decent stretch of sleep xx