Help-day 4 struggles. Lansinoh or moist wound healing

[Summertime10]

Hi everyone, baby was born on Saturday evening and was very keen for his first feed. He kept bobbing on and off and the mw who delivered him said she may have felt a slight tongue tie. Since then we've been feeding with the support of a NHS breastfeeding support assistant who has visited me at home every day helping me with positions and latching but isn't trained in tongue tie assessments (management won't put her on the training apparently).

Baby is very keen to feed and latches well at times with long, deep sucks and good swallows. He does, however, slip off a lot of the time and create a shallow latch which, combined with his chomping, has got me incredibly sore. He's very alert and nappy output is good, it's just me that seems to be suffering.
I initially used lansinoh which was easing it slightly but my nips were still sticking to my top which was unbearable when peeling it off. Since yesterday I've been using multi mam moist wound compresses which feel amazing as the wetness means they're not sticking to any material, however the instructions said they should only be used an hour at a time twice a day. At the minute I can't face taking them off, will it do any harm and should I stock to lansinoh the rest of the time?

So far I've resisted using nipple shields or pumping and have arranged for an independent lactation consultant to visit us tomorrow to assess baby for tongue tie with a view to getting it cut privately on Monday if he does indeed have a tie.

Does anybody have any pearls of wisdom that may help me in this situation or experience of how they've managed in dark days like these? I'm so down and should be enjoying my newborn but the pain is awful at times.
Thanks for reading.

Hi Summertime
Congratulations on the arrival of your little one. It sounds like you are doing amazing.
I would push to get a proper assessment of tongue tie, as that could continue to cause problems if there is a tongue tie.
Regarding sore nipples, my advice would be to wrap yourself in a blanket and plonk yourself on the sofa without a top on and let the air get to your nipples. Keep using the lansinoh cream and they should heal.
Good luck!

I used Lansinoh and breast shells. It keeps the wound moist and keeps fabric off your skin so it doesn't stick. I found it really effective.

I think I'm one of the few people who found Lasinoh to be totally useless!
A midwife told me to wait until DS had finished feeding, rub the breast milk that was left on the nipple around the nipple and let it air dry for a minute or two. I was skeptical but my nipples were fine after a day or two!

Thanks all, I'll try those tips! Just had baby's day 5 weigh in and he's only 4.2% under his birth weight, so far all I'm in pain and things are pretty shitty at least he seems to be doing OK. I really needed that boost.

A great tip for sore nipples is to soak a couple of unused breast pads in water and freeze them. Then put in your bra when frozen to soothe.

I also found when I stopped applying so much lansinoh and let my nipples air dry they healed much quicker.

Thank you. The lactation consultant diagnosed a posterior tongue tie this morning and we're paying to get it cut privately on Monday. She's given me some nipple shields to use get me through the weekend and reduce the pain I'm experiencing. I'm also continuing with the lansinoh and gel compresses for healing.

My routine was rubbing a little milk into my nipples, letting them air dry then using the Lansinoh. I found Lansinoh good for actual wounds but not great for the general sandpapered feeling of my nipples.

I loved the multimam compresses and often put them on for an hour, then reused the same ones once or twice more before using a new set as they were so soothing.

One of my breastfeeding support workers suggested putting olive oil on my breast pad to stop my nipples sticking to them but I never got round to trying it.

Oh goodness yes, I've been through this twice
With my first I never cracked it and had to give up, heartbroken
With my second I persevered and fought so hard and won!
I agree with PP on lots of things -

air is better than lansinoh, let them dry and heal

Get latching advice. Mine seemed a breeze so I hadn't questioned it, but a breastfeeding counsellor showed me a way to do it that reduced the pain on sore nips which saved me.

Agree re breast milk being an amazing healer.

If you need to rest nips and skip a feed or two and give formula, you MUST pump instead. Otherwise you enter a vicious circle where you're not producing enough, baby isn't getting enough, so they start trying to feed more often, laying waste to your poor sore nips and .... gah! It's vital to keep up with the baby. Even if you don't express enough for a feed. The act of pumping is the key, give your boobs the message.

I did this religiously and so baby never left me behind and once the tongue tie was sorted and I'd perfected the latch I was able to ditch the formula and go back to full breastfeeding.

Took me more than 6 weeks and every day I would cry and think each was my last feed, and suddenly, two weeks after the tongue tie was fixed, i turned a corner.

I really hope the same is true for you!!

Hi OP, just wondering how you're getting on?

Hi, thanks for asking.
We're now 16 days in and we had baby's tongue tie snipped a week ago. Progress was initially slow as he worked out how to use his new tongue and we were worried about the lack of dirty nappies for a few days. They're all back to normal now and he's feeding a bit better, however feeds are still very frequent and he's not yet keen to try without the nipple shields. I was fully prepared for cluster feeding but the reality of them are just soul destroying! He gained 90g in three days after the snip and hopefully we'll be back to birth weight very soon.
I'm all healed and feeds are pain free but it's just the amount of feeds that's getting me down a bit. I fantasise every day about moving to mixed feeding but I'm trying to make it past every day and hope to get my supply fully established before making that decision.