Very sore nipple - Help!

[lyndyloo]

I have been bfing for 16 months now and have suddenly got a really excruiating pain in my left nipple. Maybe I had a bad latch one night - I can get lazy at times but today really sore and painful all through the feed. There is a little blob of white on end of nipple (skin with milk under it I think) and at first thought thrush but maybe blocked duct? I have had mastitis alot so it's not that and there is no redness or hard lump. The white blob is tiny and sometimes the skin over it is broken and a tiny bit of blood comes out.

Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

Hi Lyndy - I'm no expert, but fed both boys until they were 3+ and had loads of mastitits too. My guess is that this might be mastitis in a different form. From what I remember, the needle sharp pain I got with mastitis later on was different to how it felt in the earlier months. The blob could be a red herring (if you see what I mean!) I could be completely wrong, of course, but neurofen and feeding from that side could be a good strategy until more advice comes along.

Best of luck.

Does it look like a tiny blister, or more like a "plug" of white in a nipple pore (like a blackhead, only white, IYSWIM?)

Not really solid like a plug tbh, more a blister I think.

It sounds like it may be a milk blister, Lyndyloo. Want to join our club?

You may find some helpful advice there!

Something similar happened to me when I first started breast feeding my DS. The white spot on the nipple seemed to be there for weeks and coincided with a lump further back in my breast which later lead to what I initially thought was three bouts of mastitis. After trying various methods to sort the problem, my husband found an article by dr Jack Newman regarding Blocked Ducts and Mastitis www.thebirthden.com/Newman.html.

After reading the article we begged our osteopath to try to unblock the duct using ultrasound (if it didn't work i was seriously considering giving up breast feeding all together). Around that time i also purchased a double breast pump since I had to return to work. My problem was sorted with a combination of ultra sound, continuing to feeding from the effected breast and using the double breast pump.

I am happy to say that the method worked and i haven?t had a similar experience since.

Thanks ladies. Slightly less painful tonight. Is either a blocked duct or blister thats for sure. The pain is sharp and continues after feeding. I HOPE it's not thrush but no other indicators of this.

Again cheers for your posts xxx

Hi Lyndy.

given your last comment about the pain continuing after feeding i thought I should add that my experience was the same and I also thought it was thrush... The doctor wasn't convinced since there were no other symptons in either myself or DS.

Yours may be a blocked duct or nursing blister.

Thanks ponka - think it's a blister tbh.