Does it ever stop hurting?

[soppypreggyloon]

Does bf ever stop feeling like your nipples have Ben clamped in a vice?

With ds it never did but with hindsight I'm almost 100% sure it was because his Tongue tie was never snipped properly.

Dd is 8days old and although they eventually spotted her Tongue tie and snipped it (after me nagging and getting 6 people to check!) it's no better.

I spend feeds with my toes scrunched up grimacing. I can't imagine doing this for more than the 6 weeks I managed with ds.

Does it get better for everyone in the end or are there some people it is always agony for?

I have had her latch checked my everyone and anyone and it's good as is my positioning. I'm starting to think my nipples just weren't designed for this!

It does, promise!

I was like it for about 4 weeks, and kept being told "it will only last 6 week" - I just remember thinking "so I've got another farking 3 weeks to go???"

It feels like an absolute age while you're going through it, but it does get better. By about 6 weeks, I didn't notice it. By 8 weeks, it was like I'd been doing it forever. Now at 11 months, I can't remember what it was like ever not bfing.

Congrats on your new baby

I PROMISE it gets better!!
i managed 3 weeks with dd1 and gave up it was so painful.
I was determined with dd2 I'd stick with it and after 5 weeks or so I didn't feel a thing.
No with ds I have been feeding him for 10 months and never felt any soreness.
Most important thing is to check the latch as if this is wrong it can make it very painful .

DS1 is nearly 5 weeks and I realised on Thursday that it didn't hurt any more! (I realised on thurs, it had stopped hurting way before then!)

It was horrific in the beginning tho. 8 days sounds like peak pain time. I think it just takes time for your nips to adapt. I found Lily Padz helped, as I was sure that other pads/clothing rubbing my poor nips made it so much worse!

It will get better - perhaps chocolate will help in the interim!

It was two weeks for me! And i was crying in pain during feeds in the beginning. So, it could be just around the corner for you x

Hmm there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
Ds got 6 weeks of bf before I started to ff. He was 12 weeks when I did my last bf. That hurt too. :(
I hated bf last time and I'm not loving it yet at all!

Breastfeeding shouldn't hurt - okay, so you can feel it, but it shouldn't be actually painful. Sometimes it takes a little time for you and the baby to get the hang of 'latching on' effectively. Sometimes, it's useful to ask somebody for help. If you are really struggling and curling up your toes, call for some real-life support (Breastfeeding Supporterline 0300 100 0210 might be able to help put you in touch with somebody who can help you get more comfortable)

Odds are the pain you are experiencing is normal and benign and should go away within the next week or so. I certainly had pain at the beginning of feeds for most of the first three weeks and letdown pain (sharp but brief pain in my breast during feeds) for the first 9-10 weeks.

However, pain can signify problems too. The commonest being problems with the latch. If you have a bf-ing counsellor locally or a bf-ing support group you can pop along to it cannot hurt to ask for more input just to see if there is anyway to improve your latch even if it is basically effective and your baby is transferring milk OK.

This is a good summary of other sources of pain like thrush.

On the loving it point for me it was a slow process. Initially it was simply painful and stressful and I worried that I was doing it all wrong. By about 6 weeks I felt confident I was doing it alright and began to relax a bit. By 4m I began to positively enjoy it, ironically just before my daughter decided that she never needed to feed for more than 10mins and long dozy feeds became a thing of the past. At 6m when she had her first virus and temperature I was really grateful I was still feeding and could make her comfortable on me so easily. And she has just turned one and we're still going.

Like you persevered with the Tongue tie: keep getting the latch and position checked by different eyes. There must be something causing the toe curling pain.

My cause of it was two things; over-active letdown and the position. I was holding her slightly diagonally as I had seen only ff babies before. And the fast letdown improved with time and a few back massages from dh.

Hope things improve for you and let us know how it goes.

I can remember my midwife and my hv saying it shouldn't hurt but it farking well did. For me, it was a long slog but there was light at the end of the tunnel. 9 weeks was when I had my first truly pain free feed. Felt like a lifetime but it got ever so slightly easier each day after about 2-3 weeks. My dd is now coming up to her 3rd birthday, and still bf. Those painful feeds are a very long distant memory. Hang in there!

It hurt for me every time (9 babies). We did the toe-curling, cracked and bleeding stage each time. Usually got better after about 2weeks but took around 6weeks with one baby and I very nearly gave up.

I only stuck it out with the 6wk+ because I'd gone so long, kept believing that it must get better soon and how it would be a pity to go through all that just to stop at the point it would improve.

I'll concede that I didn't know what I was doing with the first baby but I did with the rest. Some babies take a while to get the hang of things, some won't open their small mouths enough at first. But sometimes there seemed no apparent reason except acclimatising again to the bf-ing.

Hopefully, things will get better for you very soon.

It WILL stop hurting eventually - for me not till 8 weeks, but that was mainly because I was using Lansinoh and then realised I was allergic to it. Take plenty of painkillers - ibuprofen and paracetamol are both fine - don't be a martyr, dose yourself up. Each day is a day closer to pain-free feeding. You're doing so well.

Poor you. If tongue tie was the problem then it can take a while longer to get better as I think they need to re-learn how to use the tongue a little bit. It could also be thrush - my baby had tongue tie and I was in excrutiating pain, but it was only after she had it snipped and after I no longer had blocked ducts that I was able to diagnose the remaining pain as thrush. As previous posters have said there is really useful information on thrush on other mumsnet threads and on the Breastfeeding network site, which really helped me. It was only once the thrush was properly treated that we achieved pain-free breastfeeding and the only reason I kept going was because by then she wouldn't drink from a bottle. Breastfeeding shouldn't have to be that painful and you shouldn't have to tie yourself in knots trying weird positions that only make it slightly less horrendous.

For me it stopped at about 3 weeks. The first pain free feed was a revelation. Hope you get there very soon.

Yes it does. I went thro hell - even though it shouldn't hurt, DD fed almost nonstop until milk came in on day 6 - slow as CSection - and I ended up with babdly cracked nipples. I had great help in hospital and at home, postion and latch were all good. So bad at times I was crying as she fed, few times screaming as baby latched. Got better daily after 10days. Still EBF at 15 weeks, which at day 4 OH and I thought would never happen.

Hi - I feel your pain and just wanted to say please don't worry that you're doing something wrong if it doesn't get better for you as soon as it has for others. I haunted these threads for weeks when DD was tiny and I was struggling, but actually it was when I stopped looking for the magic feeding position, healing cream, latching technique etc that it got better. Pain throughout feeds became pain only when latching on and was helped as DD (and her mouth) got bigger, but I didn't have a completely pain free feed until I started stopping and got down to 2 feeds a day, at which point I could see how it could actually be enjoyable! Then I got mastitis again but that's another story...

I don't say any of this to depress you, and it definitely does get much better early on for most - but if it doesn't, don't be hard on yourself. You've got real life advice, had your latch checked, tt sorted - you're doing everything right and it's so hard to do something really painful for hours on end everyday, especially when there's so much emotional stuff involved too. You're doing really well to keep going and trying so hard for your baby.

I ended up giving 2 bottles a day which helped so much with the pain (I expressed twice a day too to keep my supply up and froze some) and helped me keep going for 5 months. I know some people won't think that's long enough but 5 months mainly BF rather than 6 months EBF which was my original aim seemed like a reasonable compromise to me. Getting out and about and feeding while out also helped so I had people to talk to and a distraction from my poor boobs! I didn't think I'd be able to but it really made a difference and broke the days up from feeling like constant feeding.

In the end you need to find what works for you and you sound really committed to trying to make it work, which is all you can do. Congrats on your lovely baby, by the way. Good luck and hang in there x

Hi! Another one here with the toe-curling experience, DD is 8 days old today and BF is excrutiating! Nipples are both sore and grazed and I'm really struggling to continue. She cluster fed for 3 hours last night and still wouldn't settle so ended up giving an ounce and a half of FF and now feel like a terrible mother :( Going to phone MW today for advice and a check on latch etc and see if it helps.

If your nipples hurt between feeds without obvious damage (cracks will always hurt) then suspect thrush, especially if you'd had to have antibiotics.

Bfing can hurt initially even if everything is perfect as you acclimatise to letdown - mine was really painful at first, especially in the morning.

But if your nipples are getting grazed or racked, then there is a latch problem whatever anyone says. With perfect latch and no TT etc, you can bf for hours without much pain.

Mw is coming today so will get a 10th person to check the latch.

I've always had pain while bf both children. Wasn't thrush last time and I'm pretty sure it's not now but I'll ask mw. (no medical reason just my gut feeling)

Nipples aren't obviously cracked or bleeding etc but I suspect they are bruised due to frequent feeding. Ds and dd have a very strong suck IYSWIM. Dd is also on a growth spurt so has fed every hour or so for the last 36h. I'm hoping she's sleeping it off.

Ds is struggling too to adjust to dd's arrival and with the toe curling pain and his needs I am seriously considering a bottle so I can have a break and ds can get some 1:1 at bedtime.

Will report back with mw's comments/ suggestions later

Hi there - I had a similar TT story - I knew right away but all the paeds and midwives told me it wasn't a problem... and it clearly was.

I had to have it snipped twice as the first time it wasn't enough... but even after the snip it took some time, even weeks, for things to get better and the pain only stopped after 6 weeks (I am actually mix feeding sadly - I would have liked to EBF).

In my case I think there is a re-learning to use the tongue etc. and catching up (but my baby prefers the bottle!). There can also be palate shapes as a consequence of TT which make feeding more difficult apparently.

I found these a godsend: Ameda ComfortGel Hydrogel Pads

Well mw just left and latch is good and its not thrush.
She seemed to think the same as me that my babies are just very efficient/ powerful feeders, my let down is impressive, I have LOTS of milk and all this coupled together means bf may always be painful.

I'm going to take it one day at a time but also going to look into hiring an electric pump to express. I have a manual pump bit not sure I have the time or patience to pump with a toddler.

Not exactly anything new or any fixes but at least I'm not doing anything wrong.

Get yourself to argos and buy a v shaped pillow, use it to support your arms as you feed, hold dc close as it forces the mouth to open wider, double check the latch , bottom lip should be rolled back and baby should take the whole nipple into the mouth, you are all doing such a good job persevering when your in pain.

WHere is the pain exactly, is it the nipple or the breast?

I've got a bf pillow but just don't get on with it.
I've had latch checked by 10 different people now (I checked my notes!) and no problems there. Looking at what you describe as a good latch Im doing that.

The pain is in my nipple- like it's being clamped by something- pins and needles sharp and only stops when dd stops feeding/ has a rest. Afterwards the pain is WAY less but boobs feel like they're really bruised.

I'm feeling kind of resigned to it tbh as it's same as last time. If I get to 6 weeks like last time I'll be impressed. If I don't then I know she's had a good start as she's already gained double what the mw wanted!

it sounds like the let down reflex is whats causing the pain, does it hurt when you express? are your boobs hard or lumpy, go get a savoy cabbage (not sure why but its the best) put it in your bra after everyfeed, also rub a little milk into the nipple good luck hun, go to a bf group before you give upxx

I haven't expressed yet this time so not sure if it'll hurt bit wasn't as bad as bf last time iirc.
My boobs are often hard if dd hasn't fed for a while but never really lumpy as such.
Can't be doing with cabbage as the smell makes me feel a bit icky.
There's plenty of milk hanging about on my boobs as I'm rather leaky!

Will try expressing and a bf group before I quit. BUT I'm not going to beat myself up like last time over it. Every feed counts! :)