Breastfeeding - when does the pain stop?

[AmandaWJ]

DD is now 13 days old - i know its very early days yet - but despite DD having a good attachment and feeding well it's still very painful at the beginning of each feed usually for the first minute or so.

I thought it was getting better but i think it may have been the fact that i had a EMCS and was taking Diclofenac regularly, now that i'm needing the pain killers less, i'm noticing the BF-ing pain returning and it's making me a bit anxious before feeds. I'm also using Lansinoh religiously after each feed!

Would be interested to know when others started to find it easier and less painful and if anyone has any tips other than Lansinoh it'd be great to hear them.

We're venturing out in to the outside world for the first time this week and i'm a bit reluctant to BF in public while being in noticeable pain!

Thanks in advance :)

If I were you I'd check her latch with a bf consultant. I had the same problem, awful pain at the start of feeds but dd2 was feeding well. I left it thinking it would improve, but it got worse and I only sought help at the point where I was covering the baby in blood! Once her latch was sorted out all was fine, but it took a while to heal.

It shouldn't be hurting, do get someone to help.

It is toe curling to start with, isn't it?! DD is 17 months now so I struggle to remember when it stopped being painful, it's a gradual process too - you suddenly realise one day that you don't have to grit your teeth when they latch on any more! I'd say it was around a month. It will get better soon, I promise

for me the toe curling pain stopped about 2 - 3 weeks after my milk came in....

it became less toe curling and faded to nothing at all.

Good Luck, and well done for getting this far through it. Hopefully it will start fading very very soon for you too.

For me the pain continued until ds2's tongue tie was snipped. Might be worth getting that checked? Good luck

13 days of toe-curling pain? :( That sounds awful. The reality is a little bit of discomfort in the early days isn't uncommon but this sort of pain isn't normal.

I wonder who has told you DD has 'good attachment' and how long since it was last checked? It might be worth getting to a support group and/or phoning one of the the helpines.

One word about Lansinoh - less is more, some mothers find that applying a lot can make things worse as it makes thhe nipple slippery and their baby slips and a deep latch turns into a shallow latch.

Thanks for the advice folks :) I'm persevering with the BFing for as long as I can so next time the HV comes round I'll ask her to check my latch technique just in case. Its actually not as bad today, always seems worse at night for some reason, but then i guess everything seems worse at 4am!

I used to cry when DS woke up as I knew it would be toe curling pain! I can honestly say 3 weeks and it got better and 4 weeks it was gone. So so worth it! Lansinoh was my best friend too. Plus the look on his face when he tasted it amused me enough to handle the initial pain. Cruel mother.

Please ask your HV where you local BF drop in group is and go along to get them to check your latch. Unfortunatly unless you are really lucky your HV maynot be able to tell if the latch isn't perfect.

Often it is just a small twike that is need but you need to see some who's well train to help with BF. A Bf counciler or pear support is your best bet.

It shouldn't be hurting for as long as a minute - it probably is a latch issue which is good as hopefully it can be easily remedied! Agree it would be a good idea to see if you can be seen by an expert though, which your HV might not necessarily be. The latch thing would make sense if it's harder at night when you're both sleepy, and if you're co sleeping maybe the lying down is making it harder? If this is the case it might be worth practising in the day when you're more alert.

List of La Leche League groups

Also try your local NCT branch and children's centre.

It annoys me sometimes when people say your latch is wrong. I had about eight different midwives inspect my latch technique and all said it was fine. Milk was in and Dc1 gained loads of weight. I still had the pain. It did go eventually but it was one of the most excruciating pains I have ever felt and I was advised to keep feeding despite having mastitis. I persevered though, but the pain was really bad.

Sometimes it hurts because your poor old nipple has never been in anybody's mouth that much and it takes time to get used to that!

YouOldSlag - but we get mum's come to our group all the time who have been told by MW and HV alike that latch is fine but they are still in pain. And on closer inspection latch isnt as good as it could be and with just some minor agustments things are much better.

I've even had mum's with cracked bleeding nipples who have been told latch is find by mulitiple midwifes but it's not. It's true that sometimes things do seatel down on there own espicaly as baby gets bigger, but it isn't true that things can't be help by someone more qaulified.

I don't really remember having much pain with DC1 apart from a few blisters til I got the latch right but DC2 was toe-curling for about the first minute until about 4 months. Could get through it with gritted teeth but I think it's what people talk about as let-down.

Good luck! Stick at it

I agree with pinksomething, I think it's the let-down, for me it would feel the same whether BF or pumping, just about 30 seconds of toe-curling pain. It went away at about 2 months I think, DD is now 4 months and has no problems feeding.

latch latch latch and latch again. Ask for help. Also try changing positions, ie. try the sofa, sitting on a kitchen chair, in bed with your feet out.

To help your nipples heal you can get breast shells - plastic cups you stick in your bra to let the air circulate and keep the bra off your sore skin. I had bits of my nipples falling off until I discovered those. The pain went away a few days after I started wearing them. Only down side is that you don't half look daft in a tight t-shirt!

Miggril- EIGHT midwives and a HV all told me latch was fine. I can't really ask for a NINTH opinion can I? I just think sometimes it's just delicate nipples getting used to being chomped on 24 hours a day. I'm not going to ask NINE people to check my latch. It went away on its own without me changing technique.

YOS - Did you see a breastfeeding counsellor though? MWs and HVs don't have a massive amount of training in BF. Similar to Migril I've been at groups where mums have come along having been told by HCPs that the latch is fine and wanting to know 'what else' it could be and it turns out to be position/latch after all. Obviously it's after the event now for you but I don't think saying 'pain is normal' helps it can lead to women not seeking help and ending up with badly damaged nipple and sometime the ebd of BF - slight discomfort at the beginning of the feed can be normal, pain isn't.

Kamilosan!
It was the only thing that help me.
I struggled for 6 weeks and all of a sudden I started to heal.
Cracked nips, engorgement and mastitis all plagued me.
Use the kamilosan for 2 days and suddenly it stopped feeling like DD was ripping a bandaid of my nipple which, essentially, she was, whenever she latched on.
We fed for over a year. Then never had any probs when DS came along.
Good luck, stick in there, it is soo worth it

I agree with twinklingfairy, a few days of using Kamilosan and the pain stopped. After a week or so I didn't even need the Kamilosan anymore.

I figure starting breastfeeding is a bit like losing your virginity! The first few times hurt as the tissues aren't used to being stretched in that way, but soon it stops hurting and it's well worth persevering!!!

Thanks for the varied suggestions! BertieBotts - I may have exaggerated slightly when i said the first minute, its more like the first 20-30 seconds really, i think it just seems longer! I'll look in to that Kamilosan and HV is coming tomorrow so intend on asking her about BF groups.
Spoke to my mum about it as well who said it's completely normal and her nipples bled, which mine haven't done (and hope they never do!), I've just a few tiny spots of blood on the breast pads when i take them out. Nipple shields sound like a possibility as well, anything coming in to contact with them does seem to cause more pain, even my bedsheets irritate them... I'll try anything once! :)

Pain only stopped at 10 weeks I'm afraid. My nipples would 'blanch' as the blood supply was cut off during feeding. So I had the initial pain of her latching on and milk let down, followed by the pain of blood returning afterwards (a bit like the pain you get after getting really cold fingers/toes). Not to mention the chapping, bleeding and mastitis once or twice.
Many many professionals checked the latch and found nothing wrong. In the end they gave up and just told me to take paracetamol/ibuprofen alternately between each feed.

Ah okay, first 20-30 seconds can be within the range of normal. I remember being told to count 10 "sucks" and always got to 14, the counting helped me focus on the fact the pain was temporary.

Lansinoh or kamillosan, warm the lansinoh between finger and thumb before you put it on just to soften it a bit, you can also rub a little of your own milk into them gently after a feed and always let them air dry if you can. The breast shells are excellent for this.

I would not use nipple shields at the moment, they can be a godsend if the pain is so bad you can't feed, but they can also cause problems so I'd keep them as a last resort if you can. :)

hmmm, searched google for kamilosan and this came up...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/34499-nipple-cream/AllOnOnePage

maybe i'll give it a miss... i'm guessing if i'm already using lansinoh then that should be better than kamilosan anyway?

Different creams seem to suit different women. If you're finding lansinoh works for you, stick with that. If it's not helping it might be worth trying another, they are all quite pricey though.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/34499-nipple-cream/AllOnOnePage

whoops didn't link!

BertieBotts - good job you pointed out that there's a difference between breast shells and nipple shields as i thought they were the same thing! thanks!