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 :)

Yes nipple shields are in contact with the nipple as well as the breast and act as a barrier between the nipple and the baby - they are made of flexible silicon and have little holes to let the milk through. Breast shells are made of hard plastic and don't have holes, they also don't touch the nipple itself. :)

WOTmania, no I didn't see a counsellor. I didn't go out for a month. the pain was only at the beginning of a feed but was so bad I saw stars like in a cartoon, then it stopped and all was well.

Air drying. I am still in two minds about that one.
Mine were so cracked that air drying them actually left a scab, which was the ripping pain that I experienced.
The minute I started to use the kamillosan, everything was softened and my poor nips were able to heal without having the scabs ripped of every few hours.
Lanisol didn't help me in the slightest.
But everyone is different. What works for one person could be the other poison.
What is the proper saying for that?
One mans ..... something is another mans poison.

YOS - yes shocking isn't it yes 8 midwife's can be wrong. Most of them just don't have the traning, I have more traning then most midwifes and I'm only a BfN helper not even a support. Totaly shocking it's my biggest grip HPC's should be better train to help.

And as I said it can go away on it's own as baby gets bigger. It's not normal and women should be told to seek help.

Amanda - Moist wound healy has been proven to give the best results in healing nipple's, rubbing milk inot the nipple or using cream. If you have very bad carked nipple some women find the modern gell dressings really helpfull.

Well, i saw HV today and she's pointed me in the direction of our local BF support group so i'm going there on Monday. she didn't check my latch as DD was sleeping and she didn't want to disturb her, i think the MW's and HV's have some kind of 'don't wake a sleeping baby' policy round here...

she suggested trying the rugby ball position for left breast (as DD prefers right breast and left is more painful) but i tried it earlier and failed as DD was not impressed and cried lots, it did not feel comfortable to say the least :(

i personally think it probably is a latch issue, not a major one as she is 15 days old now and already over her birth weight so definitely getting enough milk :) but she has a really tiny mouth and i don't think she opens it wide enough sometimes... oh well, i am determined not to give in to the lure of formula though so pain endurance it is for the time being!

I had toe curling, foot stamping pain for weeks with all three of my DC's. Told that latch was fine - guess I just have sensitive nipples.

Took me 3 months before it didn't hurt... The first few weeks were complete hell. My nipples were so sensitive I couldn't bear to have anything touch them. Even having a shower was uncomfortable... MN saw me through those dark days.... My MW told me it would get better after 2-3w so that kept me going past week 1, and then on MN I heard it took some people 6-8w, so I persevered, and told myself 'just 1 more feed'... And now my DS is 10m and I can't imagine stopping before he is ready! It's so worth it once you get past the difficult stage.

with all 3 of mine, took 4 weeks of agony and torment and tears that perhaps I would have to give up and there must be something wrong with me, etc etc and then it suddenly clicks into place... Then it really is worth it - if you can get to that point. I think my latest baby wasn't opening mouth and or using tongue properly (slightly tied apparently not enough for snip) and he eventually perfected his technique. Good luck, hope someone can help you through

I had really, really bad pain. I would scream and cry and sob and kick things during feeding. Sorry to say - it took 8 weeks for my nippled to get used to it. I used a pump to express in the day to give them a rest, and BF at night. Lots of lansinoh cream and rubbing milk in at the end of a feed.

i sypathise, but really i would just say move onto formula. DD1 i F for about 6 agonising weeks. was utter hell. then gradually moved her to formula. DS2... BF like a dream, so easy, did nearly 4 months, no bother. transition to formula also easy. i would def say don't be precious about BF. my DS, even though he had longer BF time, has had more colds than DD1 did (probably to do with her bringing germs home from nursery too). Interesting new book 'French children don't throw food'... have a read! good luck, stop giving yourself a hard time.

I also found the pain for first minute or so of every feed agonising for those first weeks- it slowly got better and certainly by 6 weeks was fine, prob by 4 wks I can't really remember! Now still EBF at 6 months without probs so I don't think for me it was anything to do with the latch, I just think that for some people the let down can be painful at first. Anyway my slightly odd tip for getting through that first minute is to have some ice cold water, with a straw or in a sports bottle or something, and concentrate in sucking really hard for that first minute till the pain calms down and you can relax. May sound weird but this was the only way I could get through the feeds at first! Don't need to do it anymore of course but still get hugely thirsty when bf-ing!

I had massive pain on my rb at the beginning. Now my LO is 13 weeks old and I really cannot remember at what time the excruciating pain stopped. Lansinoh was a god send. He does latch differently between each breast and his position varies. So if your LO is gaining weight, they must be getting what they need. My sister had Mastitis, pneumonia and a 1 yr old toddler at the same time as feeding a newborn. This spurred me on. Perseverance is the key, but don't feel pressured. I was just too stubborn to give up. Good luck!

Blimey Mich, sounds like your sister had a rough time of it! Makes my problem sound minor by comparison!

My OH very kindly bought me some gel pads to put on my sore nips which, along with trying out different BFing positions, have hopefully started to make things a bit better :) i decided to abandon the cross cradle position i'd been using (had a EMCS) as it was just becoming too painful where DD had chewed up my nipples, tried lying down and rugby ball positions but DD was not impressed so finally put a pillow on my lap and tried the normal cradle position which has seemed to work quite nicely so far! really hoping that the cracked sore bits will heal soon and that things will continue to improve :)