New baby VERY sore nipples

[Tertius]

What to do? Been given position advice from midwives, 3rd baby so it's not inexperience.

What are the breastfeeding helpline numbers please? Or a lactation consultant for south London?

Thank you very much

Poor you. Can't do links at the moment sorry but google national breast feeding helpline and that one will come up.

Thanks a lot. Will do that.

Hope it gets better soon.

Hi tertius. Congratulations on baby no 3 :) Much empathy and manly patting on the back. It's bloody tough in the early days isn't it?

I don't have any numbers to hand, but Google NCT, laleche league, breastfeeding network and there will be a link on their homepages.

just a thought in the meantime, has baby been checked for tongue/lip tie?

Go and buy jelonet. Cut to size, place on nipples between feeds. Problem solved. More people should know about this. Good luck.

Are you still in hospital? If so ask to see a me who specialises in bring, if not I'd ring the ward, but think that you are right to ring one of the bring helplines.

Could it be thrush? The pain of that is like nothing I've felt before. Broken glass and fire are two words that spring to mind.

1. Lansinoh after every feed to soothe nipples. If they're cracked make sure you get it right down into the crack. Also use Jelonet or Multi Mam nipple compresses over the nipple in between feeds. Both available in Boots.

1. Painkillers! Both Paracetamol and Ibuprofen can be taken while BFing, they take the edge off the pain and will give you more confidence to feed until healed.

1. Get your latch checked by a trained BFing specialist. Your MW, HV or local Children's Centre should be able to recommend a BFing cafe where there should be a trained counselor on hand to witness a feed from start to finish - cannot recommend getting this done enough.

1. Get your LO checked for tongue tie. Try to see a trained feeding advisor for this rather than MW/HV/GP who may not know much about TT and may fail to spot or incorrectly assess the impact if a TT is present.

1. Get you and your LO checked for thrush if the pain is as described above i.e. stabbing/burning pain, particularly if it goes on after feeding rather than just during the feed. If you do get a diagnosis it's vital you are both treated even if only one of you is displaying symptoms as you could otherwise pass it back and forth between you.

Good luck!

I find something to bite down on helps. Wooden spoon?

Another vote for lasinoh. Tiz magic!

Good luck, and congratulations on your new baby!

Lansinoh is great for sure, but try not to slather it on too much or the baby slips around on the breast and can make the latch even worse.

Best thing is to get someone to watch the whole feed- how the baby goes on to the breast, how they feed and then what your nipple looks like afterwards.

Hope you've managed to get some help today.

Has anyone checked for tongue tie?

list of symptoms in this article

Thank you so much all - seems to be getting a bit better now