problem breastfeeding with inverted nipples

[4boyzmum]

This may seem a daft question to ask....especially as im pregnant with DC5 so feel i should be an expert on all things baby (but im not!) But as i know this is my last baby i really want to breastfeed...and stick with it this time. With DS1 and DS2 i got mastitis very soon into breastfeeding and so gave up relatively quickly and easily really. Was too young i think to be too bothered and lacked confidence to question why i found it so difficult to begin with. With DS3 (much later on) had come more body aware and realised that the problem was my left nipple is inverted. Makes it more or less impossible for my baby to latch on, even with the best will in the world i just dont have a 'nipple' on that breast! With DS4 i asked midwife if there was a way to overcome this problem and she seemed to lack any knowledge of how to help just sort of made sympathetic comments when i explained my problem. Anyway - to the point now - can i breastfeed successfully only using one breast? I know for a variety of reasons that many women must do this, so think ive answered my own question really. Just wanted to know if any folk out there have done it. And what do you 'do' with the 'unused' boob? Express from it or just leave it? Does the milk in that breast stop coming through if its not fed from. Sorry if i seem a bit daft!

you can get a suction thing not sure what its called apparently it can sort out a inverted nipple,they used to do them in boots so its worth an ask.
the other option is to pop into a surestart breast feeding support group and ask them or phone laleche (think thats how its spelt) there bound to know what to do.

of course if its totally unusable from babys perspective then express and discard shit loads till milk comes in and either keep doing that or use the milk but im guessing not chucking it could impact on other breasts production but thats just a guess

No tips on feeding from only one side. However, I have the same problem as you, and successfully breastfed from both breasts. I think it may depend on the 'extent' of the inversion. My nipple will come out if I manipulate it. At the beginning this seemed like an enormous faff and something which would stop me bring able to successfully breastfeed. I used to have to fiddle with my nipple to bring it out, and then get baby latched on quick. But, really, once your baby gets a bit bigger, and a more accomplished feeder they will be able to latch on in a second and 'suck' out the nipple themselves. So no embarrassing fumbling with yourself in public :o

I would second trying to get some expert advice once you start, either from specialist midwife (there was one on my local community midwife team). Or from La leche League local baby cafe or similar.

The device the poster above refers to above us I think the Avent Nipplette. I never used it but looks like it could work. I think they recommend you start using it whilst pregnant so may be worth looking into now.

I have an inverted nipple on my left side and had all kinds of problems, mastitis and so on, with DC1. And the pain....horrid. Even with nipple shields. I fed from the left for about 9 months then fed until 14mo from the right and using formula/cow's milk to supplement.

With DC2 I fed him from the left side a few times and then gave up. I have fed him successfully just from one side since then (now nearly 11mo), but have supplemented with formula feeds (one a day on average, but not every day, and usually the evening "bedtime" feed) since week one. I haven't expressed from the left because even that hurt. So yes, just left it. The milk stopped on that side. No lumps, bumps or mastitis this time, for which I am VERY grateful!

Right side is bigger than left, obviously, but I wear a neck scarf to try to draw attention away from it! Am on the small-chested side anyway. I am yet to see what I'm lefty with size-wise once I stop.

As health visitor said, people do manage to bf twins, so one breast can produce enough milk!

HTH.

I also had this problem - my left nipple was inverted and in the first few days of breastfeeding, a number of midwives told me that I would only ever be able to feed from the right! They had me expressing from the left and bottle feeding DS as well as BFing on the right.

The day after we got home, my lovely, very knowledgeable and experienced, community midwife visited me and proclaimed "that's not breastfeeding dear, I'll get you sorted in no time"! She improvised a nipple shield using a teat from one of DS's bottles and he simply latched onto that and the milk started flowing! I invested in a couple of avent nipple shields and never looked back - I would feed with the shield then after a few minutes, once the nipple had started to to be pulled out, I would try to latch him on again - if it worked, I carried on and if not I simply replaced the shield and finished the feed. After two weeks I was able to stop using the shield at all and I now have a respectably everted nipple on that side! I know that lots of people have concerns about nipple shields causing supply issues but that was definitely not the case here.

Hope that helps!

yes that is the thing i was meaning

I had the same problem- tried the Nipplette thingy from Boots and it didn't work (and was like some sort of medieval torture device!)

Had a bit of difficulty at first but used nipple sheilds and bottle teats (wierd but it does work) for about the first few weeks after which time the nipple seemed to come out more and from then it was plain sailing.

I never had a problem with supply- used to express around half a pint every morning. (Not exaggerating- DH used to joke that I could open my own dairy! )