Sister having major breastfeeding problems, 1 week old baby.

[princessProudmel]

She is in pain ( not pain, agony) broken , cracked nipples. Dreading every feed. Huge lump in armpit.
Baby screamed for the last 2 nights. Ended up taking her to hospital last night as they were so worried as she wasn't latching on. Nurse gave her a bottle and my sister felt guilty as though she was starving her dd :( her dh has bought formula and she has expressed.
Midwife has suggested diff positions and the laying down one was slightly better but still painful.
Sister is worried she is starving baby. ( baby lost 10oz birth weight 7lb 15oz)
She is crying all the time and feels like her baby is sad :( I'm so sad for her .
I have reassured her that she is doing great and that it's ok to hold baby while she sleeps she's not a failure for not being able to put her down.
feel so sad for my sister and want to help her
. She has lanisoh, cabbage leaves already.
What else can i suggest?
She's called the nct breastfeeding councellor . Her latch is correct now but cos of the damage already done it's so painful. Making my sister feel sick with pain.
:( this is rambly sorry. I'm on iPad and can't edit the message .Tia

She REALLY, REALLY needs some face to face support from a bf group in her area. If it still hurts her latch is NOT right despite what the hospital may say. www.realbabymilk.org has a postcode search for local groups, find her local group, load her in the car and speak to a bf counsellor ASAP.

Thanks I'll hv a look at that . It's hurting because the nipples are in bits , I think even if her latch was perfect it world hurt till they are healed.
She says she wants to not breastfeed till they are better..

Then she needs to pump at least 10x in 24hrs day and night to keep her supply up and maybe consider breast shields until she is healed.

Ok I'll tell her , thanks

When I had a blister I alternated paracetamol and nurofen every two hours, slathered my nipple in lansinoh and gritted my teeth. Feeding in the 'six o'clock' position was easier until the blister healed.

Please tell your sister she shouldn't worry about holding her baby while she sleeps. I did it for months. My boy never liked being put down. It's a wonderful thing to cuddle your sleeping baby.

Hope she gets some support soon. Has she phoned her HV? Does her HV run a BF clinic?

Sorry, when I said 'gritted my teeth' I didn't mean your sister should just put up with it. I meant that the pain was so bad I had to grit my teeth.

Hope that makes sense

Nipple shields made a big difference to me in exact same situation, those and lanisoh were a god send. I know some people dont recommend them but it just didnt hurt as much with them and made the difference between me stopping or not.

Also odd bottle wont hurt if she needs a break due to the pain. Just think of it as a short term solution to aid longer term happy feeding, especially as she is so distressed.

Also (and obvs not everyone will agree), but if it continues like this then maybe ff better option than this if it is the case that she is crying allt he time and so unhappy.

Nipple shields only to be used with great care with a mother in a situation where she is already engorged/blocked duct :( :(

She is prob doing the best thing at the moment - expressing and giving by bottle - if her nipples are truly shredded to that extent and she is in so much pain.

The key is frequent expressing, and only use a pump if it is not damaging the nipples further. She may be better off hand expressing, which does not pull on the nipples.

Her baby is normal and healthy, wanting to sleep next to mum, and this will heal some of the emotional hurt both the mum and the baby feel (screaming for 2 nights is horrible).

This can be rescued - and obv not her fault :(