Bf 1 week old please help me

[CoddledAsAMommet]

Dc4 is a week old today. I fed dc1 for 6 weeks, DCs 2 and 3 for over a year each.

But this time.... I've never known pain like it. My nipples are just scabs. Read Kellymom to help with engorgement so tried the advice of feeding every two hours and setting alarm in the night after a 4-hour sleep and her I am sitting downstairs with a deeply asleep baby too terrified to wake her to feed.

She's a week old and I've failed her.

What can I do to
A) help the pain (entire breast)
B) man up and try to feed her

Than you

You're going to be ok. You have not failed her. I'm not very qualified to help but hopefully someone who is will see this too.

Has anyone showed you how to 'milk' yourself to get the milk flowing?
In the morning find a local lactation consultant who can help you. Some will do so entirely free if they are doing it as a volunteer for a charity, others charge but it's worth the money. It may be that your baby has a hard-to-spot tongue tie, making the suck not quite work right.

The pain is because your amazing body has made so much delicious nutritious milk for your baby. It's ok that it's taking a few days to learn how to get it flowing properly. You will get there.

You really have my sympathy and you haven't failed your dd at all, please don't be hard on yourself

IME when I was sore Lasinoh helped. Also, each time I had a baby and was bf it took me a while to get the position correct which made a huge difference. I had a tendency to hold baby too low and not turned into me enough which resulted in getting very sore. I had to relearn each time I had dc's. Taking nice deep breaths (in through your nose and out through your mouth) helped me ride through the pain too.

Is there anyone around who is experienced and can help you (breastfeeding support contact from hospital, Health Visitor or bf group). A call to them or a visit might help.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby btw!

Another vote for lansinoh cream, put loads on before and after feeds and it should heal quickly. Also when you feed make sure you hold baby close to you so that she has as much nipple in her mouth as possible and isn't pulling on it. As others said also see a breastfeeding specialist if you can, your midwife should be able to give you details.
Good luck and congratulations in your lovely new baby!

I had to use Lanisoh every time & have baby in 'rugby under arm hold' so her legs were roynd near my back, it was the only way to stop the pain, I also had mastitis starting in about week 1 or 2, so look out for flu symptoms,

You haven't failed your baby one little bit, x

This is what I mean for positioning, It almost instantly stopped the pain

Lansinoh and heat!!! Heat (shower, bath, hot water bottle) always helps me- I think it must melt the solid milk fat coating the tubes or something! Gets it flowing too.

The rugby hold helped me but had to use cushions to prop baby so thankfully things improved rapidly- by 6 weeks all OK. :) :)

Can you describe the pain? Is it around the damage to your nipple? Has your baby been checked for Tt? Does the pain go away after counting to 10 after she's latched? I had a lot of pain throughout the entire feed and that was attributed to Tt. I also had a more deep, burning sensation which happened after feeds, sort of like it was burning to "refill". This must be a symptom of thrush because that was initially what they thought it was.