Am having a right day today :(

[mamatomany]

He's 4 weeks today and seems to be having a growth spurt, wants to feed constantly.
At the same time my left nipple has almost come off, the skin is so sore, it's peeling and cracked I was in tears trying to feed this morning, expressing is no better.
Can we get through this with just one boob or shall i give him some formula just for a few feeds ?

Hello

Firstly, yes you can feed on just one side. I ended up feeding my DD for almost a year on one side so it's perfectly fine to feed just one side although I realise you aren't thinking long term at the moment! Your body will automatically make more milk so don't worry about it.

What you will have to deal with regardless of whether you introduce formula is that you will need to deal with the milk that you have in your left side. You don't want to get engorged and you need to keep up the milk supply whilst all this is happening.
I had exactly the same problem with my DD and ended up expressing from the sore side and feeding on the other.

AS it is so sore have you tried any nipple creams? Lansinoh is brilliant and you can just get it from the chemist - it's a dear do at about a tenner I think but it is absolutely brilliant. Just keep lathering it on and it really really helps - I can't stress that enough! It might be that once you get some cream on you will be able to express a bit more. I was also in tears with the pain and really feel for you.

I found the www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk to be brilliant. They have a helpline on 0300 100 0210 and are great for advice on all this.

It might be your latch that is causing the cracking etc. It was for me anyway and once I sorted that out it was fine. When I explained on the phone where I was cracked and bleeding the support woman knew exactly what I doing wrong and things improved immediately.

I hope this helps.

As DD says, the sore nipple is almost certainly down to latch.

The BFN are great, or the National breastfeeding helpline (BFN+ABM), or the LLL, or the NCT. I know that many of these helplines have more helpers on in the evenings, so you may have more luck getting an answer then.

This is a great webpage for finding local BF groups, if you want to go see someone in person.

I have no advice to offer (lucky that others have given you some above!) but just want to offer you some sympathy.

Actually i do have advice. Make your self a pot of tea, grab some cake, biscuits etc, a book or mag to flick through and forget about any thing else (if you can!)

Just thought I'd let you know that if you do use Lansinoh it was on special offer in boots last week.

You can get Lanisoh on prescription

Thank you everyone, i'll put my feet up tonight, my eldest 3 have broken up from school so am rushing around a lot during the day.
I've covered it in Lanisoh, hopefully that'll do the trick.