Nipples still sore at 11 days

[gluttom]

Dd is 11 days and my nipples are still incrediy painful - there are some cracks and scabs but the whole nipple is sore - I use lanoish and this is my 3rd ebf baby but I remember that the toe curling pain went quicker than 10 days. Midwife coming to sign me off today so will ask her advice but dies anyone gave any ideas?

If there are cracks and scabs that sounds like more damage than normal soreness - has she been for tongue tie? Is your nipple misshapen (lipstick shaped) after a feed?

It could be thrush in which case lanolin will only make it worse as it provides a moist environment for the bacteria to thrive, I did the same thing. Check your dc mouth for white coating or spots or speak to you midwife. It might not be but worth ruling out.

God this post could have been written by me!! I too am on day 11 with baby no3 & am still feeling very sore during some feeds...no idea why as only a few days ago it all seemed to be settling down. My traditionally 'good' boob (where all my babies have found it easy to latch / easy to feed / got masses from it expressing) is proving to be really problematic this time & DD doesnt even seem to want to feed from it much. The other side (usually the 'difficult' boob!) is generally fine to feed from.
I think its just a positioning thing for me, my midwife is also due any time now to sign me off so I'm going to ask for some more positioning / latch advice when she gets here.
Good luck - just wanted you to know you're not alone!

icravecheese Oh! I had that too. Things had just calmed down and then suddenly got worse again. I wonder if it's just a phase of more powerful sucking that the nipple needs to adjust to? I don't have any solutions but found personally that it just went away again after a few days, as did my DD's preferential treatment of one boob.

Absolutely no harm in getting someone to look at the positioning / latch , and I certainly hope you will both get better faster because of it!

RitaMorgan what is the deal with lipstick shaped post feed nipples? I still get that now (more on one side than the other) and have been pain free for 4 months?

I also end up 'lipstick shaped' but I put it down to his very firm latch. Have seen HV and been to BF clinic who all say his latch is fine in all positions but it still hurts when he latches on, he also likes a good stretch while attatched (ouch!) I dn't always get to unlatch him first. Am trying to stretch times between feeds but won't always work and feel my nipples need more time to recover - shields did not work.

Lipstick shaped nipples usually means the latch isn't quite right as the baby doesn't have the nipple far enough back in their mouth - it's being squashed against the hard palate when it should be back at the soft palate (as I understand it anyway). Can also be very painful.

The latch might look ok to an outside observer, but you are in the best position to judge if it really is ok. If it's painful, then it's probably not right.

Mine were lipstick shaped until ds's tongue tie was diagnosed and snipped.