Breastfeeding. Please help!!

[ftm90]

Long time lurker, first time posting.
Not sure if this is in the right place but there's a lot of traffic here soooo

I'm a first time mum, my baby is 6 days old, I had my heart set on breastfeeding and have been doing so exclusively, the latch is fine, but damage happened to my nipples in the first day and just hasn't healed. My nipples are so cracked and sore, that at every feed I'm in tears through the initial latch. I feel so guilty about this and then when I consider switching to bottles I'm also racked with guilt. Please please please help, anyone own experiences or how to feel less guilty about potentially switching to bottles?! TIA.

This was me 5 weeks ago!!! I really struggled too and felt exactly the same- dreaded each feed and wanted some “permission” to bottle feed or express. I had scabs and huge cracks!
I ended up with mastitis so had to get the milk out some way so persevered feeding as expressing hurt more. Anyway; that’s by the by, the advice from the doctor I saw at the time was that maybe moist healing with Lansinoh etc wasn’t working for me and so she recommended using a bit of breast milk at the end of each feed and leaving them
To air dry and then leaving them like that or adding a tiny bit of lansinoh. I found that air drying and breast milk really worked for
Me as an alternative. Few weeks down the line and things are much better and I
Really enjoy feeding.

Be kind to yourself and try not to feel guilty for being in pain and not enjoying the experience. It’s so hard at the beginning but it really really does get easier - but If it doesn’t it’s no shame to try bottle/sheilds/formula- your mental
Health is just as important as baby :)

It’s fine to give a bottle (of expressed milk or formula). Totally fine. I was where you are a year ago - it will get better. I second “flipple technique” to get a deep latch - that and introducing a bottle for one feed did absolute wonders.

Congratulations

Lansinoh can be prescribed btw as it is expensive to buy

Hello, sorry to hear this - it's horrible when breastfeeding hurts and so difficult to know if you're making the right decisions in those early days!
Firstly don't feel guilty whatever you do. Secondly get breastfeeding help and support - have you asked your midwife if there are local support groups that can help? I found a breastfeeding drop in at a local children's centre very helpful, and our local group also offered to send someone round! There are also national helplines if there nothing nearby, and i learnt a lot from the Global Health Media breastfeeding attachment videos. I know that no one can heal your nipples but the latch might be able to be improved. Also do you have Lansinoh?
Thirdly, as well as the latch they'll be able to discuss how often and long you're feeding. With my first I fed for hours as it seemed like she wanted it - when my second did the same I realised he was actually tired not still hungry! Which gave my nipples more of a break between feeds.

Good luck!

I’ve BF 4 kids all to at least a year, but isn’t discover lansinoh nipple cream til DC4 - TOTAL GAMECHANGER! Sorry for the caps, but seriously it made so much difference. It may be enough to help you keep feeding if you want to. But if you can’t/ it’s too much then don’t make yourself ill over it, it’s not worth it

I was in pain for about 4 weeks with mine but now still feeding fine at 9 months. I know people say it shouldn't hurt if you're doing it correctly, but in my case I don't think that was true. I'm really glad I persevered now but honestly there is absolutely no shame in wanting to switch.

However there's no need to feel like you have to switch and never go back. You could try a few bottle feeds (or even syringe feeding if you're honestly feeling "bad" about it) and then go back to breastfeeding once you've had a slight break. Please don't let it ruin your first couple of weeks with the baby though, overthinking and feeling bad needlessly!

On top of all of the previous advice, try breast shells as well, instead of breast pads. They’ll provide a protective shell around your nipple and stop your bra rubbing, allowing the Lansinoh/EBM to soak into the nipple properly and not be rubbed off, and also will catch any leakages which can then be refrigerated.

And the flipple technique, find it on YouTube, that really helped me with tongue-tied DC3

As others have said the lansinoh cream is brilliant. I was also advised to use the mutli-mam nipple compresses, I bought them from Amazon and they really help too x

I had a lot of soreness the first few weeks. At times it was toe curlingly, teeth clenchingly, eye wateringly painful and I really had to push through it. Cracked raw skin, open wounds, horrendous let down pains, the lot. What helped for me:

Lansinoh every single time. Don't skip it even once. If you can't bear to apply it to the nipple, a dollop on a breast pad and gently press onto nipple.

Air drying, and no soap. I just rinsed when I did get chance for a shower, and wrapped my towel around my waist, letting my nipples air dry. Give them plenty of air generally too.

Nipple shields. When it got really bad they gave some relief.

Paracetamol. You can have it, take it. It does help.

Letting myself focus on that alone. I was in pjs for 6 weeks, and all.i did was cuddle and feed and change nappies and nap. I set up snack stations everywhere I was likely to be sitting, and accepted that for a while, I wasn't doing much else. I allowed myself to focus on it, if that makes sense?

We also checked for tongue tie, and tried different feeding positions. Rugby ball hold worked best for me.

Tbh even with that it was still the hardest thing I've ever done. And when ds was in the middle of an epic cluster feed, my dh did give him a bottle of formula to let me get some sleep, because i was sobbing with pain and exhaustion. Ds was fine, I cried for several hours then obtained a grip, and agreed it was the right thing to do for all of us. From then on he got the odd bottle of formula mixed with expressed milk, and hes been absolutely fine with that. I got a break occasionally, my mum got to have him overnight a couple of times, and it was all around easier because he basically didn't care where it was coming from as long as he got fed. (He's one now and still like that, he eats like a champion!)

But after about 6 weeks it got a huge amount easier. Everything healed and the pain stopped, almost overnight. I fed until Ds was about 8 months though and weaned off after I went back to work, and my gosh I miss it now. Looking back it is one of my most joyful memories of his babyhood.

I still have a scarred nipple where DD chewed it (she is nearly 6yo)! Nipple shields saved my sanity and once her mouth was a bit bigger it was so much easier.

Paracetamol and lasinoh.

These really helped me: www.breastangels.co.uk

My little one had tongue tie too and took a chunk out of my nipple. By the time it was diagnosed the pain had begun to ease. My first was bottle fed though and although I felt tremendous guilt at the time, I can see looking back it was completely unnecessary. Be kind to yourself whatever you decide.

OP you are doing great! It does get better - honestly!

As others have said, Lansinoh cream is wonderful stuff. Breast milk also has healing properties, so the two combined should help a lot.

Don't beat yourself up about this. The first few days/weeks are hard, but it gets easier. Don't torture yourself though - if you want to bottle feed it is perfectly okay. Your baby will thrive whatever you choose to do.

Good luck!

A week in, and my poor nipples were scabbed over and felt like they were on fire! I had the lanisoh, the beaded gel packs for your boobs that go in the freezer. Just ordered some shields...then the scabs came off and it was like the milk was more free flowing or something haha, because all of a sudden it was a lot less painful!

This is exactly how i felt with my first baby. That pain! It's excruciating. I know! I switched to bottles and finally started to enjoy my baby. Every drop of breast milk you have given is wonderful but baby wont ever thank you or care about your sacrifice!

Ive now had my 3rd baby and i am breastfeeding still at 7 months. Nipple cream did nothing for me. If you want you could try letting your nipples dry between feeds by being topless as much as possible. Sleep topless on a towel etc. The hot damp of breastpad, bra, lanisoh goo and blisters was not a good combo for me.
But relax. There is more than one way to be a good mum. You will be a wonderful mum wherever the milk comes from.

I swear to god there were paragraphs there!

Anyway the other thing I just remembered is that the breathing exercises for labour are good for getting through the initial pain of feeding too. Breath, relax, count if it helps.

Finally a lot of people say that if you're getting pain your latch must not be right. In my experience that simply isn't true. I had my ds latch checked several times in those first few weeks, and it was fine. But even so those first few seconds we're agony. Until about week 6, and then it was amazing. But even my midwife said that for some women, it's just bloody painful to start with.

Meant to add, yes to what everyone has already said, shields, lanisoh, some good advice on pp about giving your boobs some air.

These are what you need, plus lansinoh cream. Don't bend down wearing the vented shells, the excess milk pours out the top all over your clothes!
They work well to get some air to your nipples though.

I remember that excruciating pain though. It does pass and your nipples harden up. Good luck, hope it works out for you.

This happened to me, nipple on one side started bleeding as it was the only side she coukd latch properly at first. lansinoh cream worked but what i did was pump milk from the bleeding side with a hand pump while dd was asleep and give it to her in a bottle when she woke no more than 2 hours later and give her the other side for breast feeding. Once healed after 3 days reintroduce the breast, it was better after that as i swapped every 15 minutes to prevent it happening again.

The pump action on a breast pump is different to the tounge action of a baby so it was totally painless even when bleeding. But the pumping was literally to keep up milk production while she was not allowed to feed from that side and sometimes she would wake up while i was pumping and i woukd feed it to her in the bottle minutes after pumping

This happened to me. I ended up switching out a couple of feeds to formula to give me chance to recover in between and it helped a lot. I wouldn't give up entirely, combi feeding helps you both physically so you can recover and mentally so your not beating yourself up over quitting.
I promise it gets better!

Multi mam compresses! Cut them in half as they are expensive and pop them in the fridge.
Also, air your nipples as much as you can in between. Midwife on the ward told me to and it works, although not a glamorous sight. Don't worry though, it will pass - my nipples soon became like leather and still feeding 7 months on

If you’re using breast pads you could also
Try reusable ones. I didn’t get in with disposable ones and found my nipples stuck to them pulling the scabs off. I changed to boots washable pads and they’re great. So much softer on the nipples and less abrasive/sticky!

You've got this OP.
Slather on the lanisoh cream and hand express instead a little.
Use nipple shields if needed.
Get baby checked for TT asap.
We have all been through this and we are all here for you! I promise you it gets better.x
(Supportive posts like ive read on this thread is why i love MN)

I had exactly the same problem. Really deep crack from the first few days trying and it took weeks to heal. Couldn't believe something so small can be so painful I was told by lots of folk that it shouldn't hurt, until we were seen at the hospital feeding clinic who disagreed - a baby sucking on basically an open wound is going to hurt! Latch etc all fine, just needed the cracks to heal.

It WILL get better. When we feed now (4 months old) I barely notice him coming on and off. It took a couple of weeks to slowly become bareable at the start though. Here's things that helped:

Get your nipples out as often as possible. Not having tops/bras/pads rub on them helped me.
Keep your nipples moist! You do not want your cracks drying out. Lansinoh or similar before AND after every feed.
Ask your pharmacist about moist wound healing patches (jelonet or similar). I got them when mine were at their worst and it made such a difference.
Ice pack before and after feeding. Just briefly to take the heat out of the nipples and numb them for latch on. Super soothing, especially after a feed.
We gave a bottle feed or 2 a day to give me a break. Depends on your thoughts on this, I was happy to mixed feed.

You can do this (if you choose to!). Best of luck!