I'm still ebfing DD2 despite being in pain for the four weeks she's been feeding. The left side is considerably more painful than the right (which only ever gets really painful when she's been on a long time) and I think it's because she finds latching on the left more difficult. Probably not helped by the fact that I'm anticipating pain on my left so am tense. She doesn't seem to open her mouth particularly wide on either side but is more inclined on the right for some reason. I've been to a number of breastfeeding groups and councillors but they've either said to persevere until she's bigger and better at feeding or have made suggestions, unfortunately none of which seem to have worked. I've tried the following:
Better position with get across my body - still hurts and kills my arm to basically support her weight the entire feed.
Nipple shields - still loads of pain and latching is really hard because she still refuses to open her mouth wide on my left side so she's essentially nipple feeding with a shield.
Midwife and HV have both said def no tongue tie.
Gp suspected infection but I've been on a week of ab. No change.
Holding nipple like a burger and stuffing it into her mouth. Works a little but she tends to latch ok then comes off after a few mins to nipple feed...
Feeding from right only and expressing from left to let it heal. This came closest to working but my right started to get sore because she feeding from it every couple of hours.
I think it all comes down to getting get to open her mouth wider which she seems really reluctant to do. I've tried all the tricks of tickling her bottom lip (nothing), brushing her cheek (nothing) and putting her chin on my breast and pushing nipple to her upper lip (nothing). She just still barely opens her mouth. Not yawn sized which is needed for a good latch.
Sorry for the huge post but any suggestions?