Breast neuralgia after feeding.

[Peridotty]

Hi, I have a stabbing burning pain in my right breast especially after a feed (but not all the time only after longish ones). The pain radiates from the nipple and all over the skin. It keeps me up for hours at night. My babys latch on that side isn’t great. It’s made my nipple misshapen. It’s excruciating to latch her. I have seen the doctor. She thinks it’s nerve pain and there’s not much I can do except improve the latch, use a breast pump for a couple of days, cold compress and painkillers. It’s been happening for 2months now. Anyone else had the same problem ?

Could be thrush in your breast. Happened to me and some fluconazole stopped it. Thrush isn't always visible and my breast looked completely normal on the outside but felt like shards of glass on the inside.

My first thought was also thrush. Have you looked into that possibility yet?

Thank you. Yes I thought of thrush but the doctor said it's normally in both breasts and not just one. I have had it only in one breast for two months. The pain is not after every feed either. It's usually there only when feeding at night. There's also no sign of thrush in my baby's mouth.

Hi @Peridotty
My baby also showed no signs orally but was constantly on and off the breast...does your baby seem comfortable feeding? Also it only badly affected one breast. If it is thrush, you both need treatment as it'll just pass back and forth between you even if baby is asymptomatic.

Other than thrush, it could be dye to a bad latch. Might be worth getting an LC to check it and advise?

Have you experimented with different positions on your right breast, for feeding? You may be more successful getting a deep latch with some positions than others. Have you tried laid back breastfeeding?

Also, how old is your baby?

@Fedfedfedup yes if she is hungry she is happy feeding. She does come on and off but I think that’s more cos she is distracted.
The pain started around the time as the bad latch! She started pulling on my nipple and being really rough with it. Bit me hard a few times! I tried using other positions other than cradle but she likes to rotate her head so that it lies in between my chest and pull my nipple into the middle (uncomfortable!!)
@Somethingsnappy she is now 10.5 months. Breastfeeding was going really well and pain-free for most of that time.

If her mouth hurts too, could that be the reason behind the shallow latch?

Although I see you did say there's no sign of thrush in her mouth....

Do you have more of a supply in your right breast than the left, perhaps with a strong let down? I'm just trying to think of reasons why your baby is doing a shallow latch on one side.... Maybe to try to control the flow if there is a string key down? It does sound like the pain could be coming from your nipples if one is damaged. Have you tried Silverette nipple cups? Lots of people swear by them.

Strong let down, not string key down!

Oral thrush can be subclinical I.e. not obviously visible in the mouth. It's only when there's excessive growth of the candida that it becomes obvious with white patches etc

So that is definitely worth investigating then (in response to the above post).