2nd day of BF, very sore nipples, to be expected?

[smk84]

Hi, this is my second attempt at BF (first time ended badly). DS was born yesterday and seems to be a fab feeder. He has been latching on, doing plenty of "right noises" and has been feeding for approx 15-20 minutes on each boob. When he latches on, it takes a few attempts because his hands are forever in his mouth, and it takes a while for him to open wide enough, but I only let him continue if his mouth is wide open (lips out) and covering my areola. When he comes off, my nipples sometimes look a bit like a squashed straw, and so I wonder if our positioning is off. My nipples are getting more and more sore with each feed, but I wonder if that is normal for this stage? I am starting to wonder how much worse I will be able to bear. I know this is a difficult one to answer without seeing what's going on, and I am going to contact someone tomorrow so I can get a feed observed, but I am really worried about getting through the night as the last feed was so painful everytime he squeezed. If I can expect this until I build up some "stamina" then I won't be worrying so much that I am doing something wrong. Thanks so much for reading. (p.s. I am using Lansinoh after each feed, and he is a very active feeder - i.e. virtually non-stop suck cycles through the feed).

You poor thing. I have not yet (fingers crossed) experienced any soreness when breastfeeding my little boy... he was born 11 weeks ago. However, he was born by c-section and I was so drugged up on painkillers for the first few days that I may not have noticed!

Congratulations :)

I suggest phoning the NCT breast feeding helpline, they are v good. Find number online x

This isn't the kind of soreness I experienced. It sounds like a poor latch. I found the rugby/football hold a really good one to practice on.

(my soreness was more like my nipples were a bit inwardly bruised from overuse)

I experienced the same and the worst was day 2. Milk started to come in day 3 and things improved (DD2 now 2 weeks old). Hang in there!

Oh - I can't really remember now. It was a bit sore I think -especially until we got used to what to do. Bound to feel a bit delicate though I reckon.

Can MW have a look whilst you are feeding and advise? Or NCT breastfeeding helpline probably a good bet.

Good luck. Enjoy your new little person ;)

ouch, yes, i remember that pain!! keep on with the lanisoh, great stuff. If you can just put up with it for a little while longer it should go away.

Congratulations on your new baby

If your nipples look squashed then it does sound like your latch is a bit off. I had a couple of very sore days with both my DC - they need to learn how to bf just as much as you do, plus their mouths are so tiny that it can be hard to get them to open their mouths wide enough to get a big mouthful of boob.

Do you know how to 'unlatch' him by licking your little finger and pushing it in to the side of his mouth to break the seal if he is biting down whilst you are feeding? If he can chomp down and squash your nipple it is probably that his latch isn't deep enough so it is worth unlatching him and trying again.

Another thing that made a difference to me (which I think technically you're not supposed to do, but helped a lot when DS was really tiny) was to squeeze my boob just outside the areola so the nipple and areola go 'pointy' and then shove as much of it as possible (gently obviously) into his mouth. If he's managing to get his mouth properly filled then this should take a lot of pressure off your nipples.

And yes, Lanisoh (other nipple creams are not the same) after every feed will help a lot as well (I think I used it before as well).

Good luck. He will get the hang of it if you can hang in there for a bit longer

Agree with pushmepullme, sounds like latch isn't quite right. The flick and release technique described can be googled I think, you are pulling the nipple back with your thumb, wait for a big wide mouth and 'flick' in to mouth.

If you run your own tongue along the roof of your mouth, it's hard then soft. The nipple needs to rest on the babies soft bit. If its slightly out you will get sore nipples and poor latch.

Also check positioning, imagine swallowing yourself with your chin on your chest. It's horrible. So make sure baby has chin up when on boob.

Is there a bf group you can go to see if they will check latch/positioning? Highly recommend a bf group, especially in these early days.

Congrats btw

Read somewhere that if top of baby's ears are wiggling when s/he sucks then latch is fine. I found this reassuring when initially unsure.

I have seen some fantastic videos on YouTube re. getting the correct latch.

However, it is absolutely untrue that breastfeeding with the correct latch does not give you sore nipples. It will for a while, quite normal, but shouldn't go on for more than a week or two.

Have you heard of biological nurturing?

You make yourself comfortable in a semi reclined position and let the baby self attach which increases the chances of getting a wide mouth and a good latch. In the more up and down position, the baby's hands won't get in the way as he will use them to help manoeuvre himself towards the breast.

Firstly congrats in your new baby!! And congrats on the bfing! I found my nipples were sore for the first few days but it got better. DD had a quite severe tongue tie which we got snipped when she was 5 days old (not as nasty as it sounds) and she got a much better latch on after that. Might be worth getting someone to check for a tongue tie just in case. I would certainly see a bf counsellor (they're all over the place) at one of the drop in sessions - info should've been included in your hospital pack. If you can get this sorted, bfing is amazing!!!

Thank you so much everyone, so encouraging to have your support. Things are improving in the pain department as I think he is starting to open a bit wider, unfortunately having other problems now which I have just posted about. Thank you for the links/suggestions :) Will keep trying ......