sore nipples, mastitis, thrush - please help!

[mum2twin100]

Dear mums,

Let me just say thank you so much for all your time and advise!!!Sorry for such a long message but i thought i need to explain it all. Please spare a moment of yr time and give us yr help!

My cousin recently had a babygirl and she is already 5 weeks old but her mum is having a lot of problems with bf but she is not giving up and and really wants it to work! She finds it hard to enjoy her baby with all the trouble that she had and i feel so sorry for her so i thought i would ask you if you had beed in situation like that and what had you done about it. She really needs you as there are not many people around her other than me that have a bf experience and proffetionals dont seem to give her the right information as all of them tell her different things.

it all has started after she has left hospital after beeing in labour for 3 days!!! ended up having c section! She came back home with very sore and bleeding nipples. Then a few days later she got really sore boobs, a few days later high temperature and shivers. Then few days later her health visitor told her to go to doctor- result-antibiotics. Then after a course of medication she still was having sore boobs and doc gave her more antibiotics. Then 4 days later she had thrush (more pain!!) and another medication to take. Then later she had a fangus called "ring worms".

She had a few midfives coming over one was telling her to carry on bf and get her attachment right, the second one was telling her to stop bf and express, but then the first one told her that if she only expresses then her milk supply will decrease. The bf councelor came when baby was a few weeks old and tried to show her the right attachement and told her to try to bf.

So what my cosin did is she stopped bf now 3 weeks and just constantly exresses so that her nipples could heal and she didnt want her baby to get thrush as well. But she still has sore boobs sometimes. Her midfives tell her to bf and everytime they tell her to do it, it doesnt seems to work as baby starts screaming and she gets really stressed and ends up having sore nipples.

When i saw her trying to bf it seems that her nipples are quite big, and her boobs are large, she is trying to do the right attachement but the baby kind of slipps from the boob and looses nipple time to time. and after a feed her nipple looks squashed and sore, however even after 3 weeks of no bf her baby still would like to take breast. And i think she should somehow carry on bf otherwise her baby will not want to take it later. Having bf 3 babies myslef its such a wonderfull experience which i really want her to have as well especially she is not giving up and putting so much pain and effort in to it.

Did you have a similar problem?
Can she express and bottle feed for many months?
Did you have big nipples and was it a problem for you and doest it get better and how long did it take to get better?
Can her baby loose interest in breast?
And what about milk supply?

Any information on yr experience is absolutely vital and will be very much appreciated.

Just a tiny thought - I had really sore nipples and an abscess on one - what helped me was getting the baby up on several cushions (on my lap) so she was really at breast height and not pulling down on the nipple. Also this protected my C section scar. It took a couple of weeks but everything did heal up and I bf for the whole year and did enjoy it. I've got big nipples too! good luck to your cousin.

tooposhtopush thank you for yr message!!!!
Today, i've spent with my cosin 1/2 a day and we did a few feeds together she seems doing it right and despite not beeing bf for 3 weeks her DD was very interested in her mummy's boob!!! Such a great news.
Now we just have to work it out how we go back from bottle to bf completely. The problem is that she can see how much milk she is expressing and how much her dd gets at each feed but when she bf she cannot see therefore when her baby cries after she has been bf she is not sure if she had enough from the breast and should she give her more of her expressed milk? And her nipples still hurt and look a bit sore but she did say that after i have helped her to put her on properly it didnt hurt as much as it did before and she thought it was much more comfortable.
I'm going to see her tommorow as well, she needs to practice bf more so she will feel comfortable to do it by herself.

ballstoit, once again thank you for yr message.
Do you think it would be a good idea to bf first, then express and then give her baby the rest of expressed milk. we both were trying to think how to do it best.

when i came to her today she had just expressed 10 min ago but she didnt express all of her milk, she felt that there was more in her breasts. the baby was due for a feed and was hungry but not too upset, so we attached her and she took it well and her mum was comfortable, then we did the other boob. The baby, however, kept falling asleep and it wasnt clear if she was getting enough milk, so about after 25 min of trying to bf she fell asleep but a few minutes later woke up, so we decided to give her a bottle with expressed breast milk which she happily took (not the full dose as she would usually take).

Then we went for lunch and a few hours later when we came back she offered boob again, so her DD took one then the other but again falling asleep constantly. So i sugested that she would exress after that cos her boobs looked as if they were not properly emptied and i was worried that she would get sore boobs again.

i'm going to hers tommorow again to encourage her to latch her baby by herself and i think this time we should do it when her boobs are full and baby is hungry.
What do you think about it all? Thank you