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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Feeding on one side

14 replies

Pennies · 29/12/2005 18:32

Has anyone been able to feed their baby purely on one side? Am having real probs with cracking and pain on one side and the other is OK - am now so fed up with it all that am prepared to be lopsided for the next 6 months or so and just feed from the side that's OK.

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 29/12/2005 18:33

I know women who have done this. Have you seen a breastfeeding counsellor to help with your latch on the sore side?

pupucelovesruDOuLaph · 29/12/2005 18:49

Yes you can definitely feed from one side alone but I agree with Hunker.
Have you tried a modified latch -for example rugby hold on sore side and cardle hold on good side so that the baby latches on with head in same direction. This - I have found - works really well with some babies.... and if you have tried this a while ago and it didn't work sometimes trying it week(s) later works better.

pookey · 29/12/2005 19:09

Hi I have had that problem, I really regret not paying for a private bf counsellor to visit us and watch the feeding when ds was a couple of weeks old - he is almost 5 months and I feel it would be a waste of money to start now. I think thrush as well as poor latch on causes some of my pain (mn diagnosis!). I was prescribed nystatin ointment by the doctor over the phone as it can be used when breastfeeding. I dont know for sure that I have thrush as wasn't examined but the ointment really helped with most of the pain. App it is possible to have thrush in breast but for baby not to have it in his/her mouth. I have always persisted with both breasts.

hunkermunker · 29/12/2005 19:11

No need to pay for a breastfeeding counsellor - one of the breastfeeding support lines will give you advice over the phone and there are drop-in bfeeding support groups/cafes around. Whereabouts are you, Pennies and Pookey?

pookey · 29/12/2005 19:16

I dont think I live in an area with bf cafe. I have spoken on the phone with NCT but I dont think I am in a bad enough way for them to visit me. I found it hard to visualise the positions they suggested and ds has always become annoyed and stopped feeding if I keep taking him off the breast to open his mouth wider! He is so stubburn . With baby no 2 I am going to make it a priority to keep pestering the hospital counsellor for a home visit if I have problems.

Original poster
Pennies · 29/12/2005 19:50

I spoke to an NCT consellor the other day and when I was in hospital last week I had the latch and positioning checked by a midwife there and it's fine. Have tried rugby balling her and it is just as painful.

Am in agony here and it's really getting me down - had a bad postpartum infection last week and the soreness is just mental. I bf'd DD1 for 10 months (only stopped in July) - can't believe I'm finding it so bloody hard and painful now. It is ruining how I feel about having had another baby - I just can't enjoy her at all and feel so bad because I can't feed her like I want to. This is really getting me down big time.

OP posts:
pookey · 29/12/2005 22:51

Have just noticed a thread called Quick question - Daktarin, which has a link to a breastfeeding website that outlines some causes of painful breastfeeding. www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/information/thrush.php
If you were taking antibiotics for the infection (I have been on about 10 courses in the last 5 months) it could be that has caused some problems. The site does say it is unlikely to be thrush if only painful in one breast though and advises that even if latch on appears ok to professionals if the mother complains of pain it might not be correct.

pookey · 29/12/2005 22:52

Sorry baby crying so have to go but just wanted to add I really sympathise and hope someone can help x

pookey · 30/12/2005 10:48

Bumping this for you

suzi2 · 30/12/2005 11:19

Hi Pennies. I had one badly craked side to start with. My latch was fine but it was probably poor latch for the first few feeds that did the damage. I used loads of Lansinoh cream and expressed off that side until it was healed ( a few days). Oddly, it's now my 'more milky' side!

harpsichordcarrier · 30/12/2005 11:24

yes I know three women in my close acquaintance
one of them me!
it is an option

Original poster
Pennies · 30/12/2005 11:53

Thanks everyone, esp Pookey! I went to the GP today and she's given me some cream to treat thrush just in case it is that. Also going back to a bf suppport group at lunchtime to see if there's any further help available.

Am expressing feeds off the painful side at the moment - I did tha for a few days but it started to hurt again almost immediately so I will see how it all goes.

Think I might take the unprecedented step of voluntarily taking myself and the two DD's off to my MIL's next week so I can ask her to look after DD1 whilst I get this whole bf'ing sorted with DD2. It's radical I know but desperate times and all that...

OP posts:
pookey · 30/12/2005 12:09

voluntarily going to mil , no thats a really good idea, some one-on-one time with dd2 should really help. Hope it all works if not at least you know you tried everything.

NotQuiteCockney · 30/12/2005 12:55

Pennies/pookey, it sounds like you're getting some good support now.

It's worth noting, that the NCT doesn't have BFCs in all areas, so it's worth checking with the LLL/ABM/BFN, to see who's got local BFCs. (Our area just has BFN.)

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