Did it hurt when you first start breastfeeding your baby... honestly?

[lovecloud]

It did with me both times and babies latch was checked with both.

I think it is wrong to tell new mums that it will not hurt if babies latch is correct, makes mums feel like they are failing if they are doing it correct.

Of course everyone is different but I know only of two people who said they had no pain whatsoever and about 20 who did experience pain, I am sure many of these 20 people did not have baby latched on correctly but not all of them. Quite a few even went to breast feeding classes.

I just started this thread out of interest after reading another thread today. I think mums should be prepared that there MAYBE pain at the beginning but with support it will ease and feeding will become a very enjoyable experience. I think this would make more mums stick at it and get through those early weeks.

This happened with my close friend who recently became a mum for the first time, i told her that it will hurt but will ease after her breasts get use to being drained 8 or more times a day for 20 or more minutes. She had councellors check her latch a few times who said it was great and it did hurt but she remembered my words and after a few weeks she was pain free she said she was glad she was prepared for experiencing pain.

What do you think?

For the first week at least, with both my girls, I was in agony, even bled....but then for some reason it gets better really fast....

I used pads with a raw silk lining on them against my skin, which helped me heal very fast....

Of course it hurts when you first do it ... but your breasts need to get used to it and if it hurts for longer than a couple of weeks then there is something not right ... well, that is my opinion anyway.
I mean, if you were to chafe on a bit of your skin every 2 hours for a week it would hurt wouldn't it, but then the skin would harden and get used to it ...
My pain was from tender nipples ... luckily they didn't crack badly due to excellent advice from my mother (ex midwife) - after each feed bathe them in witchhazel on a bit of cotton wool then leave them out to 'air' for bit. Make sure you massage your breasts and express in the early days to avoid engorgement (I used to express after a feed).
By the time DD was 2 weeks it all settled down and was lovely.
Although I did have 'let down' pain for a good few months (pins and needles in the breast and nipple in the first couple of minutes of each feed) - toe curling but not screaming pain ....

HI,
It hurt for me too in the beginning, but I think it was because of initial wrong latch like CarolinaMao said earlier.
They say if latch is painful, break latch and then start again. It's not so easy in the beginning. Trying to break a hungry baby's latch takes a rather long time when you are in agaony and then the damage is done. Takes ages for nipples to heal I found, and not very practical to let the be out in the air, as mine leaked constantly almost the first few weeks. I must say though that I asked almost every single midwife I came in contact with in hospital for advise and to check my position just to be sure everything was gonna be ok and got great advise and support. I often hear people complaining that their boob was grabben and shoved into baby's mouth, my experience was completely the opposite, they were very gentle and always asked permission first. Anyway, sorry to digress. Also like to say that I agree, if people were told it might hurt, then a lot of people would be put off and that's a shame.