6 day old ds and bleeding nipple, what's best?

[Pootle78]

Do I feed through the pain barrier?
Feed off the left side and give it a break and express?
Or something else?

I'm slapping on the lanisoh (sp?) cream!

Thanks

Congratulations on your new LO . Haven't really got much experience but would recommend taking ibruprofen and talking to your MW. Have you discovered Kellymom yet? There is some information on cracked nipples here.

The only other thing I can think of is to give a BFC a call, if you haven't got a number for a local one try one of the Bfing Helpline numbers.

These really help, www.boots.com/en/Multi-Mam-Instant-relief-compress-12-pack_121154/

Hi pootle. My ds is 11 days old and I had the exact same problem, only lasted two days though and got much better. Keep slapping on the cream and wincing through the latch! Good luck x

Congratulations on your little one. This happened with both my dc's. With dc1 I have to admitt I give up breastfeeding and swiched to formula as couldn't get through the pain barrier. With my second I was determined to try and breastfeed succesfuly as i had at times regretted my decision to stop first time around. I would say get the latch checked. My midwife was able to ask one of the support workers to see me at home and she was FANTASTIC with helping me get the latch right, trying diffrent positions etc. Alternativly you might have other breastfeeding advisors available to you- either ask your midwife or do an internet search to see what support is available. It was I have to admit a case of getting through the pain barrier for a couple of weeks as once they have cracked it is painful no denying this! But if you can it is really worth it and defiantley gets easier I promise! (and such less faff than bottle feeding as I have expereinced both). Good luck X

Congrats on your baby! I have a 3 week old, 3rd DC and I was really surprised when I ended up with very very sore, cracked, bleeding scabbed nipples when she was about 5 days old. MW had told me baby was latching on properly: think at 9lb 11 she needed more milk than I initially had, and a very strong suck!

I have quite high pain thresh hold, but got to point where latching on worse than giving birth! So I expressed for 3 days to give nipples time to recover (hand pump), and it was great. DH could do a couple feeds, I could catch up on sleep, nipples recovered and we've gone back to bf-ing no problem.

So, of you are thinking of expressing, highly recommend for couple days, and good luck!

I'd go with feeding off the left and expressing on the sore side. You can use or freeze the expressed milk. Lots of Lanisoh and some painkillers if needed.

Congrats on your new DS :)

Get your latch checked ASAP. When is your midwife due to visit again?

Thanks all, I've gone with the expressing (thought I had a high pain threshold but obviously not!!!) quite impressed as got nearly 90ml in 5 mins! Midwife back on Monday so will get the latch checked again.

When I had this problem with DS it was absolute agony. DH went out & got nipple shields (I had no idea they existed tbh) and it totally saved me. I just used one on the bad side for about 24 hours & it gave the nipple time to heal. Was an absolute godsend. Don't know how I would have survived otherwise!

don't wait ring them over the weekend they will come out if you need them, no need to wait you need to get this seen.

Agree with Mig, please don't wait until Monday. If you haven't rung them already please call them now. They would rather come out than let you suffer.

I agree with Abody, nipple shields were my saviour. I didn't feed wearing them, I just used them with lots of Lansinoh and they stopped my bra sticking to my cracked, sore nipples and helped them heal. They made a huge difference within a few hours. Wish I had known about them with my DS, it would have saved a lot of tears!