Please help me....total novice losing the plot with bf v ff

[Poppins27]

Hello, I would really appreciate it if someone/anyone could look at my situation rationally and offer practical advice......PLEASE!!

I have a gorgeous 19 day old DD and gave been bf since her birth. I am absolutely fine feeding from my right breast but my left side leaves me in agony. I have quite a large open sore on the nipple and also a drawing pain when she is suckling on this side. I have shown my HV who queried thrush but was unsure due to there being no sign of this in my DD mouth or on the other breast. Her latch has been checked and no problems with this.

To try and continue with bf I started using nipple shields on my left side on Monday as the pain was unbearable but the following day DD was completely unsettled all day and was wanting feeding every hour if not more. In hindsight I believe that the nipple shields have reduced my supply of milk as I tried expressing yesterday but could only get 2oz off each time....dd was guzzling this then Also wanting a top up from my right side.

Yesterday I was at the end of my tether! Convinced I could not continue bf and resorted to some ff as dd was happy drinking from a bottle. I had thought of stopping bf altogether to keep me sane...when dd was due a feed from my left side I was resenting her which is totally unfair and I do not want the feeling of dread to continue.

Today however she has had a feed from my breast first thing, a ff bottle mid morning and I have managed to express 4oz from my left side which she has just guzzled down. Is it manageable to continue to express from my left and to feed from my right for a prolonged period of time?!

Any help would be really appreciated?!

Hi Poppins, congrats on the birth of your DD. It's great that you are feeding fine from the right side, but something isn't right if it's so painful to feed from your left. You say your latch was 'checked'- who by and what exactly did they say?

You are right that nipple shields can cause a dip in supply, but expressing is not an accurate way to measure supply anyway- a baby is much more efficient at getting milk out than a pump.

It is possible to express from one side and feed from the other, but would you prefer to just resolve the issues you are having and just feed painlessly from both sides? I think if you found some real life support then you should be able to talk this over with them and run through a few options.

Is there a local LLL or NCT near you?

Congratulations on the new arrival!

I am by no means an expert, I am sure someone more knowledgeable will pop by in a sec and give you some more advice but for what it's worth:

• have you tried a different hold for the left breast? If craddle works for the right breast, try rugby for the left one as that pretty much replicates the position that worked for the right breast. It may well be a latch issue affecting only how she takes one breast into her mouth so it's always worth getting some expert advice from a bf counsellor or ringing one of the specialist advice lines.

• I think you can feed from one breast only if you want, you may look a bit wonky but I believe there are people who bf for months from one breast only.

• If bf from one breast and express from the other works for you then that is perfect! You may find it easier to bf from the left in a few days/weeks when your nipple will have healed, so if you keep your supply up and the baby happy with expressing in the meantime you have the best of both worlds.

• if ocassional ff works for you that is brilliant, but as far as I understand it this is likely to affect your supply more than anything else.

Thank you for such speedy replies. I will definitely have a look at some different holds, I didn't realise that I could replicate using the rugby hold, worth a try for sure.

I don't mind expressing for now to give my left side a break and chance to heal but ideally I would like to be able to feed painlessly in both sides.

I always vowed when pregnant not to get too emotional about bf and thought if I was struggling I would just resort to ff as I want to enjoy dd, not resent her, but now she's here I feel I'm letting her down if I don't persevere?!

There is a breast feeding suport group I'm planning on attending tomorrow so I am hopeful they can also help. I'm just finding that my every thought at the moment is about feeding...am I doing it right, what's best for dd, etc.

Combine this anxiety with sleep deprivation and a baby that's showing unrest due to colicky type symptoms, I have totally lost the ability to think straight!!

Thank you for such speedy replies. I will definitely have a look at some different holds, I didn't realise that I could replicate using the rugby hold, worth a try for sure.

I don't mind expressing for now to give my left side a break and chance to heal but ideally I would like to be able to feed painlessly in both sides.

I always vowed when pregnant not to get too emotional about bf and thought if I was struggling I would just resort to ff as I want to enjoy dd, not resent her, but now she's here I feel I'm letting her down if I don't persevere?!

There is a breast feeding suport group I'm planning on attending tomorrow so I am hopeful they can also help. I'm just finding that my every thought at the moment is about feeding...am I doing it right, what's best for dd, etc.

Combine this anxiety with sleep deprivation and a baby that's showing unrest due to colicky type symptoms, I have totally lost the ability to think straight!!

Have a read of the thread called "is there any chance of healing now..." - there's some advice there about healing damaged nips.

I too had massive pain feeding from one side when the other was fine. Various things were cited as possible causes, most likely tongue tie, which was diagnosed after 5 weeks of horror. Babies can also suffer from pain after birth, particularly traumatic births, so you could also investigate if an infant cranio-osteopath could help.

Nothing more to add but, for what it's worth, my DS who is 16 weeks old will cradle feed from my right but only rugby ball from my left... It's worth e try! Gooduck!

just to add you could exclusively breast feed from just your right breast

(my aunt did when mastitus turned into an absess.... when my cousin was a few weeks old.... she just fed her from 1 side)

(also twins normally only feed from 1 breast)

Just to say that I could have been you a few weeks ago!

My left nipple is an odd shape anyway and I had two large and very deep cuts (DS had tongue tie, it transpires). I would dread each feed from the left and like you the sucking caused unbearable pain like razors were being pulled through.

To give you hope, 5 weeks in and it is completely healed (I genuinely thought it never would/could) and is now more comfortable than the right!

I used lashings of lansiloh cream after every feed and would pump from the left 1-2 times a day so as to give it a break.

The first 2 weeks were awful. Week 3 was hit an miss - sometimes sore (mostly the first couple of minutes) and by week 4 it was 'fixed'.

So hopefully this will give you hope that things will improve. Good luck.

Hi OP, I've been through this and you do need to 'rest' the damaged nipple to heal it. Pump whatever you can from the left side for 2-3 days and use Lansinoh and/or Jelonet (moist wound-healing bandage - available from chemist's). You should find that the cut heals fairly fast.

It could just have been a one-off - it only takes one poorly-latched feed to cause trauma to the nipple, even if your latch is fine the rest of the time.

However, if the same nipple becomes damaged again, then definitely worth pursuing a specialist (helpline no.s given above) to check the latch on that side.

I would second the advise to use jelonet (lanisoh just hurt too much to apply). You need to keep the wound moist. If it dries out then it will scab over and then crack open at the next feed, making the cut worse. This will really help the healing.

Best of luck, I hope things work out.