Cracked nipple first feed

[NewMummyJelly]

Hello
Baby boy was born on 5 April.

I am struggling with breastfeeding 😞😞 I got off to a bad start as I went to theatre straight after baby’s birth and was supported by theatre nurses instead of midwifes in the recovery area which meant I didn’t get support with the first feeding. I’m not blaming the hosptial at all.

Unfortunately my right breast developed a nasty crack right away. It still hasn’t healed. I’ve tried Sudocrem, breast milk, hot flannel, letting air to it, lanolin cream, calendula cream and a silver disc.

I stopped putting baby on the sore breast to give it a chance to heal and I used it for expressing instead. But I got advice to put baby back on the sore breast as soon as it was less sore so I did this but the wound is as bad as ever again.

I express 50ml to 70ml in 30 min, is this good or bad? It’s so hard to know.

The worst bit for me was that baby was weighed and didn’t gain any weight in a week. I was devastated as I am feeding, feeding, feeding. The HV said baby looks to be sucking without swallowing. I sometimes hear baby swallow in big gulps but then I hear nothing and think he’s just there for comfort.

I woke up with a rash on the sore boob at the weekend and went to Hosptial. They told me it’s engorged and gave me antibiotics so the rash has now gone away.

I saw a lactation consultant on Tuesday at the Hosptial and she diagnosed posterior tongue tie.

We have an appt for that in 2/3 weeks.

I have to give baby some formula reluctantly the last few evenings because he was on the breast and screaming/crying, it’s a horrible hungry cry. I didn’t know what else to do as I had no more expressed milk for him and the breasts weren’t making him any happier.

I want to breastfeed my baby but it seems like one thing after another. I’m also desperately tired from the feeding, pumping and worrying about his weight.

Will the tongue tie procedure make a difference do you think?

Should I leave baby off the sore boob until it’s healed?

Thank you

Congratulations on your new baby!

Well done for getting as far as you have with breastfeeding - you have done amazing!

I really struggled with baby 1, baby 2 was better but was a bit like yours - good on one boob but not the other.

How are you holding baby? I managed to get round it - rather than swapping baby to the other boob I just slid baby along so they were in the "rugby" position. I did put baby on the sore boob but soreness slowly dwindled over a week (I don't know if this would be right thing for you, just what I did so baby could get practice - horrible for me obviously).

If you have the money you can pay privately for a tongue tie snip and it's usually done within days rather than weeks. It doesn't necessarily resolve the issue instantly but may help with the latch.

Also if you have the money I would recommend a IBCLC certified consultant - they helped me with my first.

I don't if in the time of covid there are local breastfeeding clinics near you but they are good for support.

Post baby is such a knackering time! Esp. When you are breastfeeding and you're the only one that is able to do it!

It will get easier but there is so much going on in this early weeks. Wishing you all the best!

Hi there
Thanks so much for replying to me with so much encouragement.

I need to master the rugby position as I am doing it awkwardly at the moment. I haven’t slid baby along but that’s a great idea and I’ll do it.

We had a good night last night: I fed him on the breast, some formula, I pumped, more breast, more formula and he slept in between. Good nights like last night give me strength that it’s going ok

Thank you xx

Hi OP. Before you got to the tongue tie part, I was thinking tongue tie. My baby had a posterior one too. The gulping is the baby managing to catch some milk during the let downs, but the position of their tongue means they are unable to compress the breast to extract the milk themselves in between letdown. Your baby will be clamping down on the base of your nipple with his gums. Hence the pain Ana sore nipples.

I second getting the tie snipped privately if you can afford it (about £135), rather than waiting 2/3 weeks. Once it is snipped it often takes between 2 and 4 weeks to see a huge improvement, as baby needs to relearn how to use their tongue. Meanwhile, Google biological nurturing/laid back breastfeeding, as a great position to get a good deep latch while they're relearning. And lots of skin to skin. Use paced bottle feeding in between so your baby doesn't get too hooked on bottles. And keep up the expressing too, even whilst supplementing with formula.

It's difficult I know, I've been there. But after the TT snip, it improved a little day by day and we were able to quickly stop the exoressing/bottles x

P. S. You could try a nipple shield on the sore breast for a a little while?

Also, do keep up the expressing to maintain your supply. Your baby is struggling to access the milk, so even all the hours of feeding will not be increasing your supply necessarily, in the short term. If you pump at least 8 times in 24 hours, your supply will increase day by day. You'll probably notice a significant increase every couple of days. It feels like such hard work, but you shouldn't have to do this for long, after the TT snip.

OP, check you haven't got a fungal infection. When I tried to bf my last DC, the skin on my nipples was very thin and delicate, and I had to give up. It turned out it was a fungal infection. It didn't look how I expected a fungal infection to look.
But by the time I found out, DC was bottle feeding and my milk had stopped.