First time mum.... Struggling with nipple pain and worried!

[Bex89]

Hi ladies,

I gave birth on Thursday to my beautiful DD but it was tough and I had to have an episiotomy so have been in pain and can't get comfy, I'm just sitting on the sofa in between two cushions.

I started breast feeding straight away, but I'm in agony, it hurts so much on my nipple when she latches on, mw came today and helped but I'm worried, she feeds for about 45 to 50 mins as well but only 5 times a day aprox so far, is this normal?

Also she hasn't done a poop today and has only had one wet nappy :( I expected about 10 changes a day. I know I'll check with my mw on Monday but wondering if anyone has had a simillar experience or advice.

Thanks everyone.x

Hi Bex, congratulations on the birth of your DD.

Did the mw give you specific advice on your DD's latch? A lot of breastfeeding pain can be caused simply by the latch being not quite right. Can you remember what instructions she gave you?

If you can't I will try to run through them to the best of my knowledge for you, as it might help.

Here's a helpful read -

kellymom.com/bf/normal/newborn-nursing/

(Hope the link works)

It basically says that you can't feed too often, so feed well before she reaches the stage of crying. I found for the first few months I felt my dc's were almost permanently on the breast or asleep in my arms!

With DS (my latest) I just kept putting him to the breast to see if he wanted to feed in those early weeks, just to get the supply of milk established. He was a slow eater too (easily an hour a feed!) as their little jaws aren't very strong so they take a lot longer to feed than a bottle fed baby. All babies are different though, but do tell your mw or hv your concerns on their next visit.

kellymom.com/bf/normal/newborn-nursing/

Week 2 my ds went 38 hours without a dirty nappy - and believe me I was counting. He's fine btw.
Keep asking for support - it's not easy

My LO didn't have many dirty nappies- I was told by mm and then hv that there is hardly any waste in breast milk so they can go for days without going. My LO went over 7 days once.
As for your nipple, it is most probably a latch issue. I had loads of problems and a bleeding nipple in the early days so I know how hard it is. Try different positions for feeding, I was told football hold was best if your feeling sore. Let your nipples get as much air as possible in between feeds as this will help them heal. Rub a little breast milk on your nipple after a feed or if you've got some nipple cream, use that- if you haven't, you can use vasoline too. As for your latch, if google latch/ attachment there is loads of good advice with pictures that help make it easier to understand. It does get easier! Remember your LO is still learning too and has to work hard to get that milk from you. Don't be afraid to take them off and adjust the latch if its uncomfortable. Best advise I was given by Breastfeeding support worker was "Remember its your boob!" Lol x

I know everyone says correctly positioned bfing shouldn't hurt but my dc1 was definitely positioned correctly and it just did hurt for the first few days. I think it's understandable there would be some shall we say chaffing? I'd never had anything attached to my boob before like that, stands to reason it would get a bit sore.

Do get your latch checked just to be sure but it is entirely possible that you are doing it right.

Lasinoh saved my bfing. A darling friend brought me some after a few days and I decided to persevere for the rest of the week, if it still hurt I was going to give up. The relief was almost instantaneous and I ended up feeding my two children for nearly two years each.

Could it be thrush? Had that with both dc and it hurts like hell.

dd once went well over a week without pooing. think ds once did a week. I think it's quite common in bf babies.

Is the pain just when she has initially latched on, or continuous? for the first week when I was feeding my little one I would get 10 seconds or so of real toe curling pain, I could feel myself tense up so much I worried I was squashing her. It turned out it was nipple stretch pain while my breasts were getting used to bring fed from. My nipples were really small, don't know if that had anything to do with its but it went away after a week.

The advice here about there being very little waste is true, but there still should be plenty of wet nappies though. When is your baby next being weighed!

For me, days 3 and 4 were the worst. I was crying in anticipation of the baby latching on, but it got better.

Have you tried feeding lying down? I had an episiotomy with my first and it was awful. Again, that seemed to get worse after a few days (as the bruising came out), but did get better.

Just try to concentrate on yourself and the baby while getting as much help as you can.

I was ready to give up bf before i used Lasinoh nipple cream amazing stuff that should really help with the pain.
Also just a though but which nappies do you used as I used to think that dd hasn't got a wet nappy but when I used the pampers ones with the indicator that changes colour when wet I realised that she was doing tiny wees, if I'm ever worried that she's not weeing I used those to put my mind at rest.

I found that in the early days that I frequently got "milk blebs" (also called milk blisters), which are incredibly painful blockages in the nipple pore which cause a back-up of milk. For me, this was caused by an oversupply of milk as breastfeeding got established. This has happened with all three of my dc in the early days of breastfeeding. Do have a look at the kellymom website as there is so much info on there. Fwiw, I found breastfeeding with Dc1 incredibly tough initially (both physically and mentally) as I thought the pain would never pass, but it did and I have to say that I am so glad that I stuck with it - sounds like you are doing brilliantly!

Re the pooing thing, it is completely normal for breastfed babies to go days without a poo so try not to worry.

Hello and congratulations! Your baby is still so young, do you feel that your mature milk has come in yet? Colostrum is produced in very small amounts.

I think it is definitely worth getting latch checked again- some pain/tenderness in the early days can be normal but it shouldn't be agonising. Also a poor latch can mean poor milk transfer.

in the next day or so you should expect poo to have gone yellow and baby to feed 8-12 times in 24 hours. You can encourage this by lots of skin to skin and looking out for feeding cues. If you have s very sleepy baby she might need to be woken and encouraged to feed at least every three hours.

Is there any bf support where you are? My area offers groups and also home visits from volunteers, I think it would be good to get another pair of eyes on the latch.

Also it can be normal for bf babies to go for days between poos, but not really in the first couple of weeks.

I posted a couple of days ago as I was having similar problems feeding my dd who was born on Wednesday. She just wasn't waking for feeds, was reluctant to latch and when she did the latch hasn't always been great and my nipples were suffering. I also had to work so hard to keep her interested and awake during feeds.

This afternoon I had a bit of a break through, I had tried "laid back nursing" before with no success but today just lay on the sofa with her on my tummy in just a nappy with head on my chest watching telly and lo and behold she latched herself with a brilliant deep latch and fed for 35 mins with virtually no interference from me. then again a couple of hours later. Look up "biological nurturIng" on google and check out some videos. Try not to interfere too much (think this is where I went wrong when I tried before, trying to manhandle either boob or head closer to each other). Worth a shot. I could not believe the difference in latch, no pain! Just lie on sofa with a cushion or two propping you up to comfortable tv watching angle, and drape baby over you when hungry, doesnt matter what way round as long as they are comfy and see what happens.

Best bit of advice I was given - after putting nipple cream on cover your nipple with cling film. Not very attractive (but who cares) & you need to remember to remove it before feeding but it really worked for me! Good luck x