Do you keep feeding through the pain?

[sleeplessinsuburbia]

Just wondering, I tried to bf last time. Everyone said the latch was fine, I thought I might actually succeed but about day 2 the pain was unbearable and the lactation consultant just seemed to dismiss my concerns with a " keep going".
It did hurt less as the feed progressed but the pain when attaching prevent just brushing my nipple made me cry.
I tried nipple protectors then mix fed then gave up.

How do you keep going when you're bleeding??? Ow.

Hello sleepless

i had a terrible time with my first, who would no t open her mouth wide enough and just feed on the tip of my nipple. It was excruciating and within days I had cracked bleeding nipples

My midwives (2 lovely lovely ladies), eventually suggested to only offer one breast at each feed, so the other could rest and had a chance of healing, express and top up if needed. This is not standard advice, as bottles can cause nipple confusion, but luckily my baby was happy as long as she was fed, and this meant that my nipples could heal and eventually the pain stopped (I think it was around 3 weeks).

I was also adviced to put breastmilk on nipples and allow the dry in the air as much as poss, this too to speed up healing.

I can still remember my midwife almost in tears telling me that I should have switched to ff if bf was making me miserable (happy mum happy baby and all that), but also that if I stuck it out I would eventually enjoy it and she was right. I went on to bf for 8 months when dd1 selfweaned.

I don't know if any of this helps but thought I'd tell you my experience.

Really hope it gets better for you!

Thank you everyone for your experiences, it does help knowing its not unusual!