Sitting here in floods of tears and a lot of pain

[bigeyes]

I have stopped bf, sorry had to get this all out.....

I ebf dd (6weeks) from birth was going brilliant, healthy weight gain.

At two weeks I noticed a thick covering of milk on her tougne, which I thought was thrush. GP diagnosed this, prescribed Nysten (sp?) which I gave her. I asked if I needed to be treated and he said no.

Two friends also had a look at her and said they didn't think it was thrush as breastmilk can be very fatty/gloomy and some build up is normal. So I checked again with the breastfeeding buddy and she said no its not, and the spots on the inside of her cheek were milk spots....

Last Sunday was terrible I terms of feeding, I was pinned to sofa and she fed constant, I just assumed it was a growth spurt. As the week has progressed she has fed less, I thought she was becoming more efficient. My breasts felt too full and found not wearing a bra as in house all the while more comfy.

I wore a bra on thursday as went out and when I opened up to feed my breasts were hot, nipples bright pink, I have assumed it was thrush, it felt like hot knives and needles on and in my breasts.

I bought the formula and have been feeding her with this only. I am in a lot of pain have been able to hand express, was uncomfortable to do but now painful.

Last night I felt cold and shivery but had just come in for shop, I layered up to go to bed and then woke up sweating.

I'm so angry about the lack of correct treatment and information, I know I could feed through this but it is so painful, I can't move barely and struggled to take top off over head and not able to sleep on side. I could barely speak yesterday when we registered her birth, and feel the tiredest ever. The pain is far worse than my section.

I thought I was so prepared th is time to go the whole way......I am taking us both to a walkin centre today, what treatment should I have? I'm not even sure what I have now thrush or mastitis.

I should say what tipped me over the edge to buy formula was she started to refuse the breast and turn the head away.

So so angry feel I've do e everything I could to prepare take advantage of all support offered. My poor little dd now has cottage chees like bits stuck to her lower lip. She has also had green poos but thought this was iron supplement.

Fed up

It sounds like you may have mastitis which is not being helped by engorement. You need to see a doctor TODAY and keep expressing or try and get your DD to latch if she will. You need to remove the infected milk from your breasts to help clear the mastitis. I found the best way was in a warm bath and expressing under the water. Please please see someone and keep treating your DD with the drops - although do ask the GP if you can have gel instead as I found it worked better on DD2.

Oh poor u. You must be in agony!! You need to get sorted, get a doctor to see you immediately. Feeding issues are seen as urgent. You may have mastitis and thrush, but I wouldn't know. Have you phoned LLL at all? They might be able to give some advice on best way forward. I'm sorry, I don't know enough, but couldn't not answer u as you are in so much pain!! Keep going with the formula if you can't bear to feed yourself. Get treatment and take it from there. You have been badly let down . Take plenty of painkillers, but you really must get treatment ASAP. Good luck x

Aw, bless you. Have a sneaky hug. (())

It sounds like mastitis to me as well, and agree you should try to see someone asap.

You do need to express, to get rid of the engorgement, but of course that will keep replacing supply, so if you definitely decided you don't want to carry on then I'm not surewhat'best.

Loads more experts will be on to give you better advice though.

Hope you feel better soon. x

Thank you thank you, oh dear can't believe it's come to this, so much for my textbook latch etc.....

I did get a fair bit off yesterday, I'll have a bath soon need to ring walkin centre.

Ibuprofen are best for mastitis they reduce the inflammation and ease the pain.

I have been to out of hours centre.

Dd been pescribed nystatin again and he said to take her up fr follow up to check thrush has gone.

When I got out of shower to go I seen two pink patches one in each breast so pretty much knew. He prescribed me antibiotics.I has sense of mind to get ibuprofen when at boots too thanks.

Feel v sad but I am done, strangely feel a little detached from dd can't cuddle her into me properly at moment, we were co sleeping too.

I know I could continue many others do, but I feel I was failed by the very support services I actively sought out and put my trust in.

Hi bigeyes,
Unfortunately many health professionals are not well trained in breastfeeding but at least you have got yourself sorted now.
IME the antibiotics start to work very quickly and I'm sure that you will feel a lot better in 48 hours and maybe even sooner than that.
What ABs did they give you and how long was the course?
You should have been given flucloxacillin 500mg 4 x per day for 10-14 days. They often only give you a 7 day course which again IME is not sufficient.
See here www.cks.nhs.uk/mastitis_and_breast_abscess/management/scenario_mastitis/recurrent_mastitis/basis_for_recommendation#417586006

Its really important that you keep feeding (even though it hurts - i know) because otherwise it could get a lot worse. You will also feel some relief if your DC empties the breast. Try expressing if you can't bear to feed.

Have a look on Kellymom for some very good self help measures and advice.
kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/mastitis/

I second using ibuprofen for pain relief

Try not to worry - you will get through it. You probably feel a bit detached just because you are unwell which is understandable.

Get well soon
x

Thrush is a nightmare to get shifted and an cause both the continual feeding (really just need comfort) and refusal as its so painful.

Mastitis can be very nasty and can cause a little doolalliness too if your temp gets to high so look after yourself.

So sorry you have been let down.

Oh you poor thing.
I had that not so long ago and i felt dreadful, i feel for you.
I can understand you feel sad too, it's not too late to keep trying, you may feel better about trying again when tablets kick in. Mine worked almost straight away. Hot showers and baths were what helped the most for me though.
I hope you feel better soon and don't punish yourself if the bf doesn't work out, you've done so well to get this far with it (cliche, but true). :)

A big thanks for all posts which I have read.

I am feeling a little better now already, funny after posting about being detached, she would only settle on my lap and snuggled in so we went to bed for long afternoon nap.

3going the doctor did prescribe that for the 7 days though. Thanks for the links I do not intend to bf, I know I know, I could but feel my trust and confidence has gone now, dd is being treated for thrush I am still not so just where would it end. But thanks for the links, I will still read as I need to be sure and tomorrow is another day.

I will be having a hot bath soon, honestly was having two a day with tea tree oil for cs scar, only just got that nicely healed. Dd is well and she has brought tears tommy eyes with her full smile earlier this week, you know where their eyes curl up too...

Thing is the breast feeding counsellor who told me it wasn't thrush...I see her twice day on school run I don't intend to say anything as but wish I could. DH has been supportive throughout but is relievednive stopped, he didn't realise how poorly you can be from stuff going on with the boobs!

I would have though that regardless of wearth you intend to carry on feeding you still need to be treated for the thrush if that is what the problem was. It woun't go away on it's own and could coninue to cause breastpain.

I know

Take heart. Honestly try not to give up on the breastfeeding. I feel for you, oral thrush is horrid for babies, i remember dd having it.

Vinegar rinse (1 tablespoon vinegar to 1 cup water) is good for your nipples if you do have thrush and if you can cope with the pain of the big M then try to feed through it-it hurts like hell but it's better if you can.

www.llli.org/faq/thrush.html

You poor thing, I had thrush and it is agony, this leaflet was v helpful.
info

Definitely call the NCT or la leche league just to talk thru your feelings, I really hope you feel better soon.

mig meant to finish that post, yes think I'll go back to see gp to check this.

fish thanks for tip about vinegar.

Had bath and ,and managed to express some better than this morning. Nipples feel sore after it they turned white - I had that vasospasm thing after most feeds but that ws fine by comparison.

Dd hasn't done a poo today, bloody formula.

Thanks cake I'm off to have a look.

I just want to say, with mastitis you must please keep expressing (if you can't face feeding), if you don't you could end up worse. I started on antibiotics and ended up in hospital on an IV antibiotic drip due to reduced feeding with my second child.

I ended up in hospital again with my third child with mastitis (IV antibiotics again required) as I could not face the pain of feeding, but in hospital they helped (forced!) me to feed through the pain, and the improvement in my symptoms (and my baby's jaudice) was huge, I was so grateful for them helping me through it. But it taught me an important lesson about keeping the flow going when you have mastitis, as if you don't things can get much worse, even with oral antibiotics.

will thanks for sharing your cautionary tale, I will be expressing some more in the bath...

On another note, my DH has funny attitude towards illness, he lost both parents to cancer when young and thanks relatively minor illnesses are of little consequence. I swear he only realised that I was actually ill with something and not jut sore nipples when the doctor said 'looks like we've caught it in time' and went on tone plain about abscesses and what antibiotics he was me.

I must say the doctor said about feeding through it a few times but wasn't insistent and I respected him for both the encouragement without pressure

I understand now why so many posters are negative about midwives, hv, etc when they are given so much inaccurate, conflicting, dealt with inappropriately. I thought I covered my basis. No one spoke to me about breast feeding til. The very end and shoved some pictures in front of me, ticked off the form and sent me on my way. Even in hospital no one came to check or help with latch.

Thanks should be thinks