Red raw nipples! Ouch ouch ouch!!!

[SarahScot]

Soooooo painful. When 7wk old DD latching on I swear I see stars. My nipples started feeling a bit bruised on Sunday and are now bright red and throbbing. The pain is definitely more like a bruise than anything else. We've had no problems with BFing until now. I went to the breastfeeding clinic at the maternity hospital yesterday and was told DDs latch is good. Have put lanisoh on today but don't know what else to do.

Any advice or ideas what's causing it?

OUCH!

Yes had that for both babes. Poor poor you I do sympathise - does it ease after a couple of mins of latching on?

With the 2nd babe I found the pain was less as I was prepped and think nipples had hardened a bit. First one nipples bleeding and very cracked - horrendous.

It goes the pain it does, I know it's like someone sticking hundreds of pins in, but after 2-3 weeks it DOES go. I just managed to persevere, but it was very very hard. One time I feeding No 1 and realised I had her hair in my fist pulling her head off WHILST she was latching on - poor child, my feet peddling away to help with the pain.

Use breast nipple shields held in place with vaseline, they do help, if you can express and do the odd bottle to give your nipples a break - then do. If you do give up, don't beat yourself up, why should anyone put up with being repeatedly stabbed in the breast for long long minutes at a time - but if you do persevere it will get better as your nipples harden. Oh and I put white cabbage down my bra (kid you not) to stop chaffing. Used to find it all dried up later on in strange places, but cool straght from the fridge with the Lansinoh cream - real relief! Big hugs and good luck

Don't use nipple shields. They are not recommended as they prevent the direct stimulation of mouth to nipple.
Do use Lasinoh. I was going to stop BFing DS (the latch was fine, it was checked multiple times, it just hurt like fuck) at about four weeks and one of my friends gave me a tube of this miracle stuff. You don't need to wipe it off when feeding so slather it on all the time. I BF DS until he was nearly 2.

Oh and see doc in case it's mastitus (sp?) best to catch that early as can be very bad if left

Also if it has only just come on is it possible you have mastitis? Worth seeing GP to check.

x posted!

Personally, I'd give one of the bf helplines a call. It may just be a painful letdown, but they will be able to rule out any other causes of the pain.

You shouldn't have to just grin and bear this.

Georgiemama- I'm not sure you can say don't use nipple shields. For some, they are a godsend and are the only things that have enabled them to keep bfing longer term. That said, I always think it is better to get to the bottome of the problem and use nipple shields temporarily for the reason you have mentioned.

Hope you can get things sorted Sarah.

Nipple sheilds ABSOLUTELY. Yes there's controversy about breast shields but midwives do differ in opion here - one midwife said don't use them was quite cross - until she saw I was feeding through 3mm deep cracks in both nipples and then she shut-up and said ''err yes best carry on with the shields''.

And most importantly they kept me breast-feeding -I would have definitely given up without them - and no I did not notice ''lack of direct stimulatin of mouth to nipple'' I breast fed for 6 months in the end, but without shields would've been 2 weeks.

Unless you've experienced the extreme pain of breast feeding under these
circumstances best not to disadvise them - they're life savers

Yes, I have experienced extreme pain when BF, as I said. Thanks for your patronising tone.

PPS oh and I was able to give up the shields after a few weeks, hurt for first couple of feeds but much much less, then all was well and good.

You go for it girl, see doc, speak to breastfeeding person and keep healthy and sane - it can be a difficult time, but it's all over in a heartbeat really my DD's 11 today wow cant believe it!!!

It's horrible, isn't it? I'm going through the painful stage at the moment (son is 2.5 weeks). I've managed to mainly eliminate the shooting needle-like pain as I've improved the latch, and the pain is now a duller ache. When the shooting pains do happen, I find that expressing for one feed on that breast to give it a chance to recover really helps.

I just dumped my nipple shields after 5 months. They saved BFing for DD and I but I worried the whole time about stimulation and supply so don't use them if that is a concern. My nipples were a sight. Even the MW winced when she saw them!!! Try to get as much help and advice as possible.

Get to GP asap as if it's just suddenly started hurting it's likely to be an infection - mastitus or thrush, especially if you've had no probs with latch before now. I've had nipple thrush repeatedly and deep breast thrush twice and that can feel very painful, excrutiating infact. It sounds like it could be thrush, if so Lansinoh won't help it will just create the perfect breeding place for the fungus moist and warm so I'd leave off until you know what it is. Does you baby have any signs of thrush in their mouth - white tongue which doesn't fade after feeding, white spots in mouth.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have a GP appt tomorrow so will ask her about it. The pain is mainly on the outside of my nipples, they feel really hot as well as being red now. I thought mastitis and thrush caused pain INSIDE the breasts rather than on the surface. I've got through today by feeding DD off the slightly less wrecked side and pumping on the other.

Oh, and yes, DD has a white coating on her tongue. HV and the MW at the breastfeeding clinic were both unsure if it is thrush or not as it's not that bad. Has anyone managed to get their LO's mouth swabbed to check if it is thrush or not? I want a definite diagnosis either way as I have a freezerful of expressed breast milk that will have to be chucked out if it's thrush. . . . . . I'm not throwing it out if it's just maybe or probably thrush. It's taken me hours and hours and hours and HOURS to express it all.

This is from kellymom regarding expressed milk and thrush.

The white coating could just be milk residue but this would scrape off I think.

Breastfeeding Network do a good leaflet on thrush diagnosis and treatment. Might be worth taking with you depending on how up to date your GP's bfing knowledge is.

Here is is

Hope tomorrow brings some answers for you.

Thanks crikeybadger, there seems to be only a theoretical risk of reinfection with the frozen milk so I won't throw it out. Went to GP today who said that DD does look to have thrush but there is no sign of it on my nipples. The red raw swollen AGONY is down to something else she thinks. DD is getting swabbed to check for thrush as I don't want to treat it if uncertain.

Meanwhile, my nipples are getting worse, I can't feed off one side at all so am pumping on that side and gritting my teeth for the other.

Hi. I hate to be so opinionated but you sound to definately have thrush. I would seriously doubt your GP's opinion and seek a second opinion immediately or go back and tell the GP that you think it's thrush. Nipple thrush causes buring, hot and very saw nipples this can be treated with a topical cream for you (usually Daktarin although I was once prescribed Canestan) and drops for the babies mouth (Nystatin) if it is left it can spread into the breast, infecting the milk ducts and develops into deep breast thrush which causes pain inside the breast and pain in the breast between feeds this would then need to be treated with Fluconazole tablets as well as the topical and oral treatments. You don't want it to get worse while they do these swobs, I'm very suprised at your GP's reaction as even if there was doubt it could be treated as a precauction and if it improves with the thrush treatment there's your answer! The worst thing would be for your skin integrety to get worse leaving you open to mastitis. This all threatens your ability to continue breast feeding your GP should be aware of this and with a very tiny little one treatment should have been given to ensure feeding is going satisfactorily for mum and baby, were they very junior?

I have had recurrent nipple thrush (lost count of the amount of times it rears it's ugly head) and deep breast thrush 4 times (twice with DD1 and now twice with DD2) my symptoms have been the same as yours when I have nipple thrush and my babies have a slight white coating on their tonge which can fade to a slightly less white between feeds but then gets whiter just after a feed. I really do feel for you as feeding in such agony is terrible. I got through it by bottle feeding for alternate feeds and I took paracetamol. But as soon as I notice it now I get on with treating it straight away to stop it developing, I now also take a very good quality bio culture (Biocare acidophilis) If your in such agony now and struggling with the pump I'd personally phone the emergency doc and get the cream and drops tonight as you need a few days of the treatrment before an improvement is made.

Oh poor you- that sounds really nasty now.

It's fine for your GP to say the agony is down to something else- but what exactly?

When will you get the results of the swab?

Thanks for your concern Dotty. GP did give me a prescription to treat us both 'just in case' it is thrush she said. Unfortunately it was too late to get to the chemist when I came out of the Drs surgery so will need to go in the morning. My feeling is that it's thrush too, I can't see what else could be causing it when DD has got a good latch and I had no problems in the first 6 weeks of BFing.

Badger, no idea when the swab results will come back, but I'll be treating for thrush anyway so the wait won't matter particularly, I just want to be sure it's thrush as it seems it's a bugger to treat properly. Been reading up on it and apparently I need to wash all clothing and bedding at 50 or above every day, and as well as sterilising breast pump and bottles I need to also boil them for 20 minutes each time. Where the f*ck am I meant to find time to do all that as well as looking after DD and DS?!?

This all serves me right for being quietly smug that BFing was going so effortlessly well for me this time.

Hi Sarah, I agree with Dotty38 - I have got a 7 week old and when he was around 2 weeks, I started to get really bad pain in my breast - as if someone was stabbing me through my nipple deep into my breast. My healtvisitor told me it was poor latching, but I knew it wasn't. I carried on until 2 weeks ago when I couldn't take the pain anymore and guess what - GP found that we had thrush!! So if you think he is latching on properly ,just go with your gut and visit your GP. Have a look at the lil baby's mouth - is his tongue white, covered completely? Has he got white specs in his mouth? It could really be thrush which you keep passing onto each other as lil one feeds. I have been on medication for the last 2 weeks and still in pain. It is getting better and I have also been using the nipple shields (they are ok, but I can't keep them on properly and lil man ends up spilling most of the milk) and expressing (which isn't good either, as I don't think my milk supply is good since using the pump)..So good luck and don't let people just tell you it is poor latching, I sometimes wonder that with this emphasis on the BF they tell you anyhing (usually that it is poor latching) just to keep you BF..

Hi Lennie. Poor you but well done for carrying on deep breast thrush is so hard to cope with. It has taken 2-3 weeks for mine to clear up each time. Are you on the tablets too? Make sure you wash everything at 60 preferably if your clothes can manage it if not do 50 degree washes to get rid of it. Something which I'm now doing is taking a probiotic which so far seems to be really helping and touch wood I've not had any bouts of it again.

Sarah, hope your feeling some improvement from the treatment.

Hi Dotty38, so it is normal to take this long to get rid of the thrush? Oh blimey, something to look forward to. I decided not to expres today and feed the lil man from the sore boob to ,boost,, the production and have been in pain since :( What do you mean by probiotic, like actimel and yoghurts? Haven't tried that yet, thank you for a good tip!!!

We've had daktarin cream for me and gel for DD. Been using it for two days and can already see a big improvement. I'm in less pain and DD is feeding perfectly again. My only concern now is that the skin on my nipples will rip - they feel wierd and papery to the touch, like they could just rip. Scary thought!

Glad things are getting better now.

not sure about the papery skin- perhaps it's a symptom of the thrush.

Lennie82. I don't know if it's normal re. the healing time but that's been my experience and and have sometimes had to continue with the tablets until the pain and discomfort has gone. I think until I really understood how to shift it it just kept reoccuring because I'm always so run down after having a baby and both times I've been put on high strength antibiotics for the tear I've had with both blumin deliveries!

I take a bropiotic tablet, it's basically a combination of the live cultures you get in live yogurt and yogurt products (the good bacteria which should occur naturally in yor gut and prevent bacterias like thrush from developing) but it's in a concentrated form and higher doses. The thing is with things like live yogurts and actimel is they're usually loaded with sugar and thrush thrives on sugar so those products arn't the best although they market themselves as being good for your gut!! It is actually best to cut out all sugary food and yeasty food or at least reduce them. You can usual get an acidophilus and/or bifidus tablet from a health food store. Biocare is a very good one which has about 4 of the natural cultures in it and in high strengths. But if you have a Holland and Barratt or a good health food store near by they'll be able to advise on one to take. I tried to look up as to whether it was OK while feeding and couldn't find anything to suggest it wouldn't be so I'm taking it while I'm breast feeding.

Sarah pleased you've seen some improvement that's great. :) Don't know about the papery skin. I haven't felt that although Daktarin does really dry my nipples out I just leave them to readjust until the thrush has gone as I think cream can create a good enviroment for it to come back, especially that lansinoh