3rd baby 4days old bf more painful than giving birth help me!

[Jenny123G]

Help me please ladies I'm at wits end, I'm no expert but I successfully bf ds 1 and ds 2 and yes the first few days were painful until my milk came through and I got attaching on correctly, now with 4 day old ds3 I am really struggling, my nipples are in agony it's like someone is shaving the tips off with a razor blade, they are cracked and there are blood spots on the ends, I'm expressing with an electronic breast pump which right now is as painful as I can't master hand expressing, and tonight I'm having to ditch bf altogether until they heal as I literally cannot stand the pain, much to my ds3 frustration and upset and my tears and feeling of a failure.
I'm applying lansinohl cream regularly, keeping breasts dry and warm and changing nipple pads frequently, tomorrow I will call our NHS breast feeding advisor but if anyone out there can give me advice I will welcome it with wide open arms x

As you BF your eldest 2 successfully I am not going to patronise you by saying you may not have the latch right!

But I would ask the MW to check that your wee one doesnt have tongue tie, as that can have a big effect on feeding but BF in particular. Have you tried nipple shields? I only BF one of mine, for a 6 weeks and it was hell on toast, but the nipple shields did help.

Poor you. That sounds crap.

I are you still taking some paracetamol after delivery?? Would that help the pain in the short term? Day 4 post partum, tears, frustration etc etc. It isn't going to help, so go easy on yourself tonight. Checking for tongue tie is a good plan too. Sounds like you are doing the right stuff. Good luck.

I had the same thing with my 3rd baby, was such a horrible shock as I thought surely I know how to do this by now?!! He had tongue tie it turned out, not too badly luckily and it resolved itself in the end, but it was incredibly painful for a while. Did get better though so I would say hang in there if you can bear it - but see a specialist midwife / bf counsellor as soon as you can.
Good luck x

God I remember it well - the toe-curling pain. Sounds like you are doing the right thing. I covered mine with Lansinoh, expressed, used a bottle and used some nipple shields for a very short period to give my nipples time to heal it didnt take long and then it was fine. I has breast fed dd for 18 months with no probs so did come as a bit of a shock. The breast feeding advisors can be brilliant and will recheck for tongue tie as I've known of it being missed or partial-one being overlooked. Good luck

Morning Jenny, hope you are surviving. Been thinking about you this morning while feeding mine and remembering those agonising early days (he's now 22 months). I remember that it helped to lie in the bath and express with a hand pump under the water - not very effective but did provide a bit of relief (and amusement to my older 2 who had a taste of the result which was quite funny so cheered me up). Also it really did help to 'relearn' my latch, it is so different getting used to a newborn again when (in my case anyway) the last person you fed was 2, helping himself and completely in charge of the whole process. My latch with my 3rd was ok but a bit lazy and it helped to be reminded about getting baby to open his mouth really wide and getting a really good mouthful of boob.
Really hope it gets better for you soon. And congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of being outnumbered....

Also I just lay in bed naked with nothing on my boob at all, I would say avoid the breast pads if you can, i just kept a muslin underneath sort of propped round to catch all the leaks! A good reason to stay in bed and not get up unless totally essential like going to the loo....

Morning. Not much help here but you are not alone - I had exactly the same problem with no3.

In the end after seeing the world and his dog my Dr have me antibiotics in case it was a deep milk duct blockage and to my great surprise it worked.

Good luck - enjoy the barely controlled pandemonium that is 3!!!

Another one voting for tongue tie! I had to ask advice from ten different professionals (midwives, health visitors, BF councillors) before DS was diagnosed, by which point I had given up. So you may want to look up the signs yourself.

Same here, 3rd baby, by day 3 my nipples were shredded. It did get very slightly better when my milk came in, but only to the point where it's bearable. I've just had the health visitor refer us for a tongue tie division, she is now 3 weeks old, and I've had to shout a lot to get referred!

Hey guys I'm sorry you all had/have to go through this too. It's bloody awful but thanks for sharing as I now know I'm not alone. Here's my situation today, last time I put ds on boob was 4am this morning and I cried the whole way through the feed, since then I have expressed every 2-3 hours and fed him with a bottle, although expressing with pump initially burns like mad I've found that today as the days gone on its got very slightly easier. I had a midwife out today who has recommended that I keep baby off the boob for 48 hours give me chance to heal, I'm still expressing and its getting easier I must admit. She checked for tongue tie and even I have to admit it certainly does not look like that's the problem, his tie is that far back on his tongue that it took us ages to find it.
At the moment we are both in agreement that it must be a latching on problem, he is what I would describe as an angry feeder he screws up his face and is all gums and grunts! Lol
Tomorrow I may try nipple shields if they've stopped bleeding, and when I feel brave enough to put him back on I will be adopting the rugby ball attachment method!
I'll keep everyone posted, and thank you all again for sharing your xperiences I really really appreciate it!
I will not be beaten :)

Hope you're ok - rugby ball worked well for me too at various angles to get at the most engorged bits!

"His tie is that far back on his tongue it took us ages to find it "

Google posterior tongue tie. Might be the issue. Did the midwife check to see how much movement; and what range of movement your Ds'S tongue has?

Can you get to a breastfeeding clinic? Your local hospital should have one, or at least nearby. My nipples were shredded by DD3 by day 4. At day 5 check I said to the midwife that I thought she may be tt, she checked and said 'yes, maybe a slight one' and referred me to the bf clinic.
Went to bf clinic the next day where a bf counsellor/lactation consultant diagnosed DD3 with an almost 100% tt which we had cut when she was 9 days old.
So would suggest getting a second opinion on the tt and attachment issues, and as soon as you can! Hope it improves soon...

No advice to offer, but I just wanted to let you know that I understand how you feel. I managed to EBF DS and DD for 5m and from the first suckle my nipples were excruciatingly painful. There was absolutely nothing wrong with me except that my milk came in before DS and DD were born. There was nothing wrong with DS or DD either. Their latches were great, no TT, and nothing else wrong with them. I had no infections, no mastitis, no blocked ducts yadda, yadda. Everything was fine. The strange thing was that my nipples were only paiful when the DC were feeding and for about 1/2hr after they'd finished feeding.

TBH I dreaded BF so much that, not only did I want to throw myself under a train/bus to get away from BF, but that it also contributed massively to my severe PND because I felt that not BF DS and DD was failing to give them them the best start.

I didn't see my GP about my PND because I fel that 1) it was none of their business, and 2) I didn't want DS and DD to be taken away. The good thing about dragging myself out of PND, is that it now takes a hell of a lot to bring me down and that the PND has made me a stronger person.