Really not enjoying Breastfeeding. Please Help.

[Phoenixflame]

My DD is 16weeks old and I've been EBF. I was really enjoying it. But for the past 2-3weeks I've been in so much pain because i've got cracks in both my nipples. My nipples are just so sore.

I've been trying to see if it was a problem with her latch and if I could correct it. I've been using lansinoh. I've also tried to use nipple shields to see if that would help with the pain. But nothing's helping.

I'm starting to dread feeding her. I'm unfortunately a big wuss when it comes to pain. Feeding her is starting to stress me out and I'm not sure what to do.

I had been planning to slowly wean her onto formula at about 6months. It worked well with DS so was going to do the same with her. I know she will take a bottle she's had a little bit of water when it was baking hot. Now I'm wondering whether to wean her on to bottles earlier.

My problem is I don't know if I have it in me to do it slowly dropping a feed a week because of how much pain I'm in with my nipples and it would take about 6 weeks to do it that way. What can I do? Is there anyway for me to stop quite quickly without causing too much pain?

Sorry for the long post. If you have any advice is be incredibly grateful. Thanks.

Forgetfulmog, I think it is the case (rarely, but not 'never') that older babies sometimes need their usual positioning and attachment tweaked, but I have never come across a situation like the OP's where the nipples have become as so very badly damaged as she says. In any case, the OP says she has looked at the latch.

Hope this helps!

Thanks Tiktok!

You can have thrush without your baby showing any signs of it in their mouth - I had it a couple of times and it feels like feeding through broken glass - it's so so painful. But neither time did my DD show any symptoms of it. Both times the doc diagnosed without looking at boobs, just went on my description so try and describe exactly what it feels like when you see your GP.