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Infant feeding

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Help please! Blanched nipples, bf painful and dd not liking bottles much!

3 replies

lumpybits · 20/10/2010 12:50

Hi. I would really appreciate some help with bf please. My dd is 7 weeks old and currently exclusively bf. It has never been easy and I have been to countless bf clinics and told to work on my latch etc. Which I have done - I've tried loads of different positions, tried "posting" my nipple into her mouth, asked her to open her mouth really wide. I also took her to a cranial osteopath but that hasn't helped a great deal. DD was then diagnosed with tongue tie which was divided last Friday. However, the consultant who did the procedure told me that it may not help as she has a "blunt" tongue. He said it was difficult to explain but the shape of her tongue made it more difficult for her to breatfeed. It appears not to have helped much and I am still in pain. Sometimes the actual breastfeeding isn't painful until the end when she slips off a bit but my nipples go white afterwards and are very painful. I am worried that I might do permanent damage to my nipples if I continue feeding like this. I have tried to give her bottles of both expressed breast milk and formula but she's not really too keen. I am desperate as I really don't know what to do now. I think I am about ready to give up but obviously I can't until she takes a bottle.

Does anyone have any advice on blanched nipples/how to stop it and how to encourage my dd to take a bottle? I am prepared to continue to express.

Sorry it's so long!

OP posts:
TruthSweet · 20/10/2010 14:06

Sounds like you might have vasospasm. Kellymom has some good info here on it and other causes of nipple blanching.

With regard to the bottle feeding, have you tried cup feeding or even using an supplemental nursing system to encourage your baby to feed at the breast.

Well done for making this far with all your problems. Hats off to you [hsmile]

MamaChris · 20/10/2010 17:31

I can't give you any educated advice, but can say I had this feeding ds1, and it got better as time went on, and I have no permanent nipple damage. Now I am having it again, but more severe with the dts :( I do notice it is much more common after dt1 feeds than dt2, so it could well be latch related.

I have read that keeping your nipple warm immediately after a feed can help. More info on Jack Newman here.

Franup · 20/10/2010 22:53

If you don't use one already a breastfeeding pillow can help keep baby level with the nipple for the full feed and stop the slipping off the feed.

Shaping your nipple for the full feed can also help and be necessary to maintain the latch over the feed. And looking at positions like the rugby ball hold can encourage a deeper latch.

You probably have some secondary vasospasm from her compressing your nipple when she had a tongue tie. Hopefully now that she has had the tie cut feeding might improve and the blood vessels will repair themselves.

It would be worth seeing a bf counsellor again now she has had her tongue tie released as they may be able to suggest some positions now.

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