Sorry for a rather self-centred post, but I'm feeling a bit down about bf and really need some encouragement to keep going.
DD is coming up to 8 wo. I had a really difficult, life-threatening birth, which meant we couldn't begin trying to bf for about 24hrs after the birth. I have inverted nipples, which DD found very difficult, and wouldn't usually latch on - so I expressed colostrum, and fed her via syringe and tube. For the first 2 weeks, I kept trying to get her to latch, but mainly expressed and tube-fed her. Then I got a terrible bout of mastitis, and ended up in hospital - in a high risk infection ward, where DD wasn't allowed to visit. I kept expressing, but the affected breast went into "shut down" and stopped producing any milk - so we started introducing formula. When I got out of hospital, I started trying to get my supply up, but the left breast still wasn't producing any milk. Things started getting better at 4 weeks: DD was diagnosed with 80% tongue tie, which was snipped, and she started feeding from the breast with nipple-shields. I got a prescription for domperidone which, combined with deep tissue breast massage, has helped my supply - although we're probably topping up between 30-50% with formula. 10 days ago, DD started feeding without the shields, but I straight away developed an agonisingly painful crack on my right nipple. It still hasn't healed and means I dread every feed - especially as the left breast still produces very little, so the bulk of her milk comes from the right nipple. I just don't know what to do about it - it hurts so much that this is the first time I've really contemplated giving up bf. But we've come through so much, that it would seem silly to give up for a tiny crack. I think I really need some encouragement to keep going...
Sorry for the self-centred post :-(