on the verge of giving up

[Corky]

my wife has been breastfeeding for 5 days and is suffering extreme painand some bleeding from the nipple. she has so little energy post birth that she's got the shakes. she wants to give up and i don't know what to say to her. has any one been here before and can someone offer any advice?

Enid, agree that expressing and kamilosan will help ease the pain while you feed your daughter from your other breast. I fed my second son virtually single-breastedly for 6 months because one breast produced much less milk due to removal of lump and milk ducts.

Enid - I had exactly this problem when dd was about 4 weeks. I expressed from 1 breast and fed from the other for 3 days. I then gingerly put dd to my right breast expecting the same awful pain as before only to find that it was completeley healed. I think you may need to give it more than 24 hours to full heal though

Well, I have slathered on rescue remedy cream and just now I had a go at feeding dd2 from it (had left it a good 8 hours but was getting very full so thought I'd try). I really concentrated on the latch, sort of wodged my nipple up and tried to get her to open her mouth as wide as possible so I could cram as much areola in as I could. It hurt MUCH less! So maybe its just our rubbish latch. She had a good feed and I kept stopping her to improve the latch (she sort of slides off until she's only got the nipple in) and it went pretty well so feeling much more positive thanks everyone

Enid - maybe I am too late but I do think it's the latch... try holding your breast (the painful one) with your thumb at 9 o'clock and your fore finger at 3 o'clock (IYKWIM) to get the areola and nipple well presented, get her to open wide (as you know ) and once she has latched... DO NOT LET GO for at least 6 or 8 sucks.... everyone always lets go too quickly.... so you may have to try a few times

Good luck

P.S. Agree, express while it gets better !

Is fore finger the same as index ??? I meant index in any case... well the finger after the thumb... sorry mother tongue is NOT English !

Enid - another thing to do with the painful breast is offer it second over the next few feeds. This makes the latch less painful because the baby is not so hungry having fed from the first breast and does not feed so vigorously. Also alternate the position of the baby at each feed so that the sore bit is not always being sucked. Have you tried the rugby ball hold with dd under your arm well supported? Make sure as well that dd is 'tummy-to-tummy' with you. I remember getting really sore nipples with ds number 2 because I got blase about how he was fixing - noy paying enough attention because I had successfully B/F before. Older babies can attach themselves well in most positions but newborns need to be facing the breast directly. If you can feed rather than express I would because in the long run it is less hassle. The pain will probably reduce over the next few days since it was not a problem last time.

Enid I too had a bit of pain for a few days and was half expecting the same pain as first time round, but no it only lasted a few days. If i remember correctly it was just after her first growth spurt and feeding nearly all day, toughened up now.

How's it going Enid?