11 week breastfeeding still painful

[LCF2021]

Hello

I’ve posted before about breastfeeding my DD who is now 11 weeks old and I’m really struggling with it. I had some initial problems with my DS but went on to feed him for 15 months but any discomfort had resolved by the 11 week mark.

I feel I’ve exhausted all avenues now. I’ve been to breastfeeding groups, seen two IBCLCs, she’s had very very mild TT snipped and checked for reattachment, cranial osteopathy and I’ve now been told that she has a small mouth and a very high palate. I don’t know how much longer I can just wait for things to improve when I’ve honestly tried everything. Does anybody have any tips (I’ve tried all the positions btw) for babies with a high palate? Am I destined to not be able to feed her?

I've had a look and can't find any resources either.

If you think you've exhausted all of the support available and it's still painful, how do you feel about switching to formula?

@LCF2021 kit sounds like you have tried loads already. Has anyone suggested the koala hold? It was the only way I could get my daughter (she had a high palate after having a tongue tie) to feed until she had got to about 10 months when she was bigger and could do more traditional holds. She still likes koala hold sometimes now

My right boob stopped hurting at 11 weeks and my left boob stopped hurting at 13 weeks. We carried on feeding until 2.5 years old.

I also tried absolutely everything intervention but I had a son with a very very small mouth so he had to grow to accommodate me.

For me it was worth carrying on but of course there is no guarantee that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Could you consider pumping and using bottles?

Hi OP, I had this with my DD unfortunately although no TT. She had very high palate and was also a fairly small baby. Nobody I saw could suggest anything useful, it was extremely painful the whole time until I packed it in at 12w because the effect it was having on my mental health was awful, I'm sure that's what triggered my PND. I was a lot less stressed when I was fully formula feeding and my DD was and is fine. I'm now BF DS, 1 week in and it has been similarly painful but the difference is I feel it's getting slightly better actually now so I'm anticipating this is going to work out differently. I think it was my DD's palate, I dunno if it would ever have got less painful and I couldn't bear it past 12 weeks to see. And I have zero guilt about it. In fact I regret not packing it in sooner, instead of running myself into the ground with it and ruining all those first couple of months with my DD.