I'll bet that nobody else has or has heard of this problem!

[strangeboobs]

When I had my last baby bfeeding was an utter disaster, I was moaned and at ridiculed by midwives on my ward saying to me

Of course it's going to hurt, baby's latched on perfectly

I was quite sure that baby wasn't and noticed after three weeks of agony and my baby vomitting up bloody that it would be better to formula feed. I was gutted as it had never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to feed. I didn't buy a single bottle or steriliser, not a thing.

I had noticed that my nipple on the left never quite recovered, I had my hands full caring for my baby so didn't really worry about it. Roll on a while and I have found out I am now pregnant again and this time very concerned that I won't be able to feed this baby when it comes. Why did my nipple never recover? Is it odd to have one normal one and one which is flat? it wasn't like this pre baby.

I have changed my name as I'm quite embarrassed about the whole thing.

As a fellow mum who was gutted not be able to breastfeed, you have my sympathy but I don't think you should be embarrassed about any of it.

Yes both sides, but only one nipple was "damaged".

I would contact a bfing counsellor while you are pregnant so you can prepare and find out what it is.

here

one of mine's rather flat on the bottom, got a bit missing from disastrous latch. still works fine. someone else here has mentioned she has the same, but i'm not going to broadcast it on her behalf!

yes do get bf support ready and lined up in advance this time.

If one of your nipples has changed in apppearance and become flat or inverted I would make an appointment to see your GP asap. It does sound a bit odd and I'm not sure breastfeeding could cause that.

It only happened to me over the period I was feeding and then it never returned back to how it was. Even dh mentioned how different it was and he doesn't notice anything.

Hello
I'm new here. Like strangeboobs, I was absolutely gutted that I couldn't breastfeed my first child. It was only when I thought we would have to have a surrogate for our second pregnancy, that I found out that a woman can breastfeed even is she has never been pregnant.
That got me thinking, so this time, I have done mountains and mountains for research!

Sadly, the first time, I didn't realise it might not work, and just took the advice to formula feed. This time, that will not happen!

Our second child will hopefully arrive safe and well on 10th April. Until then, I'll be avidly reading all your tips.

I have discovered that the hospital has a breastfeeding specialist, and she is coming to see me before the birth. After that, I have discovered that our La Leche League have counsellors who will come to visit for a fee. So, apart from practical experience, I've got every angle covered!

sb - my nipples are a nightmare! I'm still bf my first child though so I don't know if they are permanently changed (though I suspect they are). I just thought I'd describe the problem I had incase yours was similar and it helps to know that after a lot of trouble I am now feeding successfully.

I had naturally flat nipples which I didn't realise would be a problem - since they are not completely flat I was told that it wouldn't be an issue (wrong in my case).

We started badly with a very poor latch on both sides, I think mainly as ds didn't really have anything to "aim" for as I was just told to kind of stuff a handful of boob into his mouth... I ended up with the skin on one nipple almost entirely worn off (eurgh!) and the other one with what I can only describe as a hole in the side. This is making me feel quite ill remembering!

I had infections in the nipple which were inhibiting healing and obviously it was excrutiatingly painful to feed. Once I started to use antibiotic ointment and expressed for a while to give them a rest they healed remarkably quickly though - literally 3 days.

The key though was seeing a bf counsellor face to face. We worked on my latch so that it didn't hurt to feed. It took a good few sessions.

Now, both nipples are quite scarred. The left one has a bit out of it where the "hole" was but isn't flat any more. I suspect it's permanently fixed and I will find bf any future children much easier. The right one is the weird one - It sticks out properly at the top but the bottom is still flat as the skin there is quite taut and thickened. I can still feed from it though, it's just a bit dribbly sometimes and it took longer for it not to hurt.

Anyway, that was just a very long way of saying I think you are going to find that you are very normal indeed and that if you get professional support then you've got just as good a chance as anyone for having a better experience this time round

Why not contact a counsellor now so that you can talk about your worries?

thank you for sharing shona. It really does help.

There were so many things wrong last time, mostly bad advice, and I didn't do any research, or have any support.
This time it is all in place, so maybe it will be better. I didn't do latching properly either, I didn't really ask or receive advice about it, but this time, nobody is going anywhere until that baby is totally latched on!