Reynaud's agony

[FiRaffe]

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone could suggest a way to get through Reynaud's syndrome breastfeeding.
My latch has been checked and i'm keeping relatively warm but it hurts so badly i'm pleading that DS will finish his feed.
The last feed has me in so much deep breath pain the tears are running down my face still 20 mins after he's stopped feeding.
I just don't know what to do.
Thank you

Sorry I have no words of wisdom but your post struck a chord with me as I gave up bf after a few weeks due to the agony (was beginning to resent ds for the pain). I had no idea that Reynauds could have been responsible for the pain - is this a fact? (I have Reynauds too).

Have just googled it and it doesnâ??t sound like the problem I had.
Sorry you're suffering, I hope someone else can help.

Do you know for certain that it's Reynauds? I'm asking as a tongue tie can mimic the symptoms and feeding can be complete agony.

It was diagnosed by my gp, but it does seem to make sense with the symptoms of have.
He does click occasionally but it's a new thing. He's 7 weeks now and we were fine for the first month or so, it's just so frustrating

I had that! The pain was awful for the first 4 months of feeding. It did get better though and we're feeding at 19 months now. I still get the colour changes but not the pain.

Kellymom has a great article on it (google nipple blanching).

Things that helped me included putting hand warmers in my bra, taking paracetamol or ibuprofen when the pain was really bad, using the exaggerated latch technique and I also found the pain improved when I stopped expressing.

There is a medication you can take for it (it's in the kellymom article) but my GP wasn't very clued up and her nervousness put me off taking it.

It's such a painful condition, I hope it improves for you soon!

Thank you. Glad to hear that there might be an end to this pain!!!!

I'd try and see someone from La Leche League or a specialist lactation consultant (IBCLC), not just a peer-supporter. The clicking suggests the latch isn't right, even if it looks fine from the outside. You can get blanching, clicking, vasospasm etc. from a tongue tie. Worth exploring before going down the medication for Reynauds route.

It was actually my GP who recognised it for me, and suggested seeing a breastfeeding specialist.

Thank you. No la leche near here unfortunately, but went to a breastfeeding café on Monday. Will be going back for more help next week, hopefully will get to the bottom of things.

For future MNers looking for answers:

• Kellymom article
• Jack Newman article

keep warm and massage olive oil
check for tongue tie, posterior tt are v. hard to get diagnosed, insist, esp. if you have a forceful letdown too and/or you have blanching when the weather is warm
Nifedipine is the drug of choice if all else fails (GP might need persuading)

flowers to you OP, it's hard.

Hi DD had undiagnosed tongue tie until 6 weeks, plus I suffer from Reynaud's. Personally I found heat therapy pads (I got Lansinoh ones but I'm sure other brands are available!) which you microwave and pop in your bra/top, plus liberal use of (lansinoh) nipple cream (honestly I'm not on commission)
I had her in December so I did suffer more with the Reynaud's at this time. Once the TT was snipped and I was used to cream and pads I've hardly had pain since, other than a few bouts of blebs.
Good luck

Thank you. Might have to look at posterior tongue tie as he hurts me now and it's not exactly cold!