Pain and feel like giving up - handhold?

[BabyOrSanta]

DD is 18 days old. EBF so far. Labour was good but I had a tear. She's overall a good baby.

Last Sunday I was unwell so I went back to the hospital. Got given antibiotics.
Tuesday night DD wouldn't feed properly and it hurt. We'd previously gone through the cracked/bleeding nipples and she was a dream to feed. Friday we went to the doctors as she has thrush in her mouth and I've got it on my nipples. He gave me Canesten and said it should clear up her's too.
Last night I expressed and cup/bottle fed to give me a break.
This morning it's almost killed me to feed her and I had to unlatch her as it hurt so much.

Has anyone been through this? It hurts so so much and I don't know what to do. It feels like a cat is licking my nipples repeatedly. Plus she hadn't gained at her last weight check (which hv said was fine) so I think I'm putting myself under a bit of pressure to get milk in her.

Please tell me it will get better again?

Just bumping to see if anyone else has been in this situation...

I haven't got any experience of this but didn't want to read and run.

Sounds like you are having a tough time of it... What's the prognosis for the thrush treatment? Expressing some feeds to give your poor boobs a break might help.. Have you got a pump?

Thank you for replying!

I have expressed and I was quite amazed how much I managed to get out! Unfortunately she ended up spitting a lot of the milk out (both bottle and cup). Plus she really wouldn't settle and there was definitely no feeding to sleep!

The doctor has said to use the cream over the weekend and then go back on Monday if it's still not better (I can't see how it will be...) and he'll call the health visitor... not sure what that's going to achieve as I could phone them. Unless he's asking the health visitors what to prescribe I guess?

She does seem to have less spots in her mouth now but I'm very aware we could keep reinfecting each other so this could last a while and I'm starting to dread every feed.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon so these are only guesses... Would nipple shields help for a day or two do you think? I could never get in with them but some of my friends have found them really helpful...

I tried them when we were going through the bruised nipple phase but neither I nor DD seemed to understand them!
I think I will try them again though as anything has got to be an improvement, right?
Thank you for reminding me about them!

With thrush you have to treat both the baby and yourself. You may have problems getting this treatment as your baby is so young, but it is worth persevering with asking.

If you do decide to give some formula to get her weight up it needn't affect breastfeeding long term. Up to you but might put your mind at rest.

That's what I thought re:the treatment. I can understand why he doesn't want to prescribe her anything but her need to eat outweighs this, I feel.

I do have a small amount of formula in and may see if she'll take it later - the last few days it's been less painful to feed in the morning but afternoons and night time are hellish.

Just need her (and me) to feel better now please!

You can get little starter packs of formula which might be helpful if you wanted to give some in the short term... They are a little 60ml bottle with a sterilised teat so you just open the bottle and go - no sterilising etc.

I combi feed my daughter by choice (a couple of top ups in the evening) but BF for night feeds and through the day but when she first arrived I fed her formula more frequently... I just cut it down and upped my supply when my nipples were a bit more healed.

Hopefully the doctor will be able to give you some more effective treatment and something for your baby too.

You are doing so well... Breastfeeding is hard and painful sometimes and I had such sore nipples at the beginning it was unreal. Someone told me that I shouldn't give up on a bad day and that really stuck with me and has been really helpful.

I really hope you get a significant improvement over the next few hours!

Go back to tune GP or speak with your HV (who can talk to the GP) as baby will need Nystatin for the thrush. You will both need treatment until 4-7 days after symptom have gone, otherwise you are just passing it between the two of you.

Thrush can be a bugger to get rid of as it's infectious so you need to follow the hygiene measures.

https://www.laleche.org.uk/thrush/

Use kitchen towel to dry my boobs after the shower saves washing towels daily. Hot wash all muslins, bedding, bras and anything that comes into contact with milk.

Nipples shields won't really help and lower your supply but work on getting a really good latch each time. Oral thrush is painful for them, so she might struggle a bit until her symptoms go.

Thank you Luna for the encouragement!!! I really need it at the moment. I knew it would be hard to breastfeed but this is just beyond what I imagined!
It's also good to know that I can combi feed if I have to but it won't affect my supply as much.
After one good feed earlier it's all gone to pot again and it's really grating.
The doctor said call tomorrow and he'll sort something but it's getting passed the receptionists that's the problem...

We got thrush when Dd was 8 days old and the doctor prescribed drops for her and cream for me. We used nipple shields as it was hellishly painful but it cleared up in a day or two.

One bit of advice on the thrush would be make sure you wash all bras and breast pads in a super high heat to kill the bacteria.

On the giving up, don't be too tough on yourself. Combo feed until you feel up to it if you want and don't feel guilty. Take it one day at a time and remember this too shall pass

Dot Thank you!
Would nipple shields plus expressing keep my supply up, do you think?
Everything is being washed and washed - I'm pleased I bought so many muslins!

Would you play roulette with the doctors receptionist or would you just phone the hv service? Either way, I'm prepared to get up early and phone round!

espoleta did you have any problems getting the drops prescribed?
This doctor has a bit of a reputation for not prescribing things if he can help it, especially if he thinks it will clear up on its own. Even if it would take months...
I just want it to go away and feeding to be good again :(

I'm sorry to hear you're having a bad time of it. The exact same scenario happened to me.
The antibiotics made me a thrush factory as the antibiotics killed all the good bacteria along with the infection!
My DS was prescribed nyastin drops and I had cream for nipples which I had to wash off before a feed. Thrush can be uncomfortable for baby too when they feed so this can cause upset when feeding.
I also suffered from cut, bleeding nipples and I really empathise with you. Every feed was a nightmare and I dreaded him coming near them.
For me I was given special dressings for my nipples. I expressed my milk until they healed then began breastfeeding again about a week or so later.
My DS had a suspected posterior tongue tie as he was chomping on my nipples rather than sucking. Perhaps you could speak to your local breastfeeding midwife/specialist to get your DD checked out?
My DS didn't need a tongue tie snip as I helped him get the hang of things by adjusting his latch.
Perhaps you could look into this via your HV.
My best advice I could offer would be to not be hard on yourself and make sure you get plenty of support.
Sending you hugs

I'm not an expert but to my knowledge, bfing is a supply and demand business... If you are replacing a full feed with nipple shields / partial feed then expressing the rest then you are protecting your supply... It's only going to be for a couple of days after all.

You can increase your supply if it falls a bit when you are expressing, just keep doing as much bfing as you can.

This might be a bit naughty, but if you can't get a Drs appointment as you can't get past the receptionist, call 111 as they can often get you an out of hours appointment with a local GP.

No problem getting the prescription. We had just got feeding on track from a bad tongue tie and everyone was keen to keep bf on track

Routine did you cup or bottle feed when expressing? Do you think this made a different to baby's latch when you eventually went back to the breast?
And (no offence meant here but) thank god someone else has been through this! I've asked others who have had babies and none of them have gone through it!

Luna we did try 111 on Friday morning but they were booked up until after the surgery was open so said to go there which was fair enough. I would do it again though.
And the shield/express thing was my thinking... at least we'd have the option to go back to it.

espoleta I'm hoping the hv will put pressure on the doctor to give her something...

I expressed and then fed via a bottle for about 4 days I think. I had to be readmitted into hospital because of a postpartum infection and it was this time that I expressed and bottle fed. I will admit this was easier to do because of the super expressing machines the post natal Ward had.
I asked a midwife if she thought I could go back to breastfeeding easily & she told me not because my supply wouldn't be sufficient as I had been expressing.
This was complete duff advice and I'm so pleased I ignored her & persisted with sorting it out. I got a local breastfeeding support to come out & check my latch e.t.c
She told me to pretty much bunker down on my couch for the next 2 days with plenty of snacks and food and do nothing but feed. It worked!
As for the thrush that cleared up in just under a week. I found that the antibiotics and the drops did make him quite unsettled and colicky though.

I found the Kelly Mom website the best for advice on thrush xx

Phoned the doctor, no appointments, they'll talk to him and call me back. 2.5hours later, no call back. So hopefully sometime before 5.
The receptionist very accusingly helpfully said "he did write you a prescription on Friday, have you bothered using it?

Phoned the HV and she's out of the office but they're getting a message to her.

So all in all a complete write off productivish day

Receptionist sounds like a bitch. If you can't get an appointment then try 111 after hours... I'd also be complaining to the surgery about the attitude of the receptionist... I know they have a difficult job but this is about a tiny baby feeding. Not a grown up with the sniffles and they should be taking it seriously.

I know everyone thinks their baby is the most important thing in the universe but...
she's 19 days old and struggling to feed. The only way she can feed is if the doctor prescribes something to help her.
I'm still waiting for a call back - luckily DD is feeding slightly better but that's what she's been doing. She's okayish in the day with a fair amount of pain to me and then we're both (? I assume) in pain at night and she won't settle.
So in some ways it would be good to phone 111 tonight as at least she'll be screaming then (not that that's a good thing, but it would prove my point).

She still seems okay in herself though but I think she's just having a "maintenance dose" of milk rather than one which will make her grow.

I've found a bf support group to go to tomorrow and I'm planning on getting her latch checked as something has changed. She's latching shallower than she was for the first two weeks which isn't helping matters. It also means she's not able to get much out of the shields and she's spitting out the milk from a bottle...

In my head I'm thinking, millions of women have done this successfully throughout time, why can't I? Why am I failing? Why was is so good for the first two weeks but not now?
Which is pointless but the thoughts still come into my head.

Anyway, rambling now. Will see what the GP says if anyone ever phones back...

Yes, millions of women have done this but certainly not easily! I am sure there are a lucky percentage of women who find breastfeeding a doddle but I'm not convinced they are the majority!

I couldn't bf my first child and I was absolutely devastated. I've managed it with DD but it's not been easy... You are not alone with your struggles.

You need to see a GP... I'd definitely be calling 111 if I was you and be very clear that DD isn't feeding well and won't take the bottle successfully either. Is she producing wet nappies today?

Fantastic that you are getting some face to face support tomorrow. You are doing such a great job.

Thank you

She's still having wet and dirty nappies but not as frequently. Still within the "normal" range AFAIK.
She's still alert when she's awake and not as fussy except for sticking her tongue out and putting her hands in her mouth more than usual.
My nipples have the same red bit they had but also more further up. They're still stinging like mad and I'm refusing to go outside as it's cold and this makes them rub against my top more.

I've been googling loads and I think she may have some sort of tongue tie which I'm going to ask about tomorrow.
Also planning on drawing "warning! Infectious" triangles on my boobs. It would amuse me.
And getting her latch checked as everything feels wrong.

DM is giving me a wide birth as she thinks I should just give up like she did and feed formula. I'm so sleep deprived I'm answering back unfortunately for her.
I have nothing against FF by the way! It's just a hell of a lot of hassle compared to BF!

Tongue tie is a PITA and makes feeding SO painful. Definitely worth getting it checked out and if she does have one, it can be separated and will make feeding so much easier. When DD had hers snipped I could tell the difference almost instantly. Feeding also got easier overall when her mouth got a bit bigger - I think their teeny mouths mean a bit of chomping earlier on!

My DM also thought I should FF - that's her answer for everything. I think it's just their generation...

You are doing well to persevere and honestly, a couple of formula feeds will not harm your supply in the short term, you can always build it up after when everything has settled down a bit. Keep us posted!

I still remember the pain of feeding my first baby with thrush in her mouth so also in my nipples, and she is now 20 years old, so I really do feel for you OP.
I did try bottles but she had none of it. I just used the thrush cream which once it got under control was amazing, but in the meantime it was excruciating and I dreaded every single feed. I cried before quite a few of them just because I knew how much it was going to hurt. I can't now remember how long it went on for but it can't have been that long as I bf her for approx 6-8 months.
I hope it goes soon