breastfeeding, sore nipples, partner stress,smoking dilemma need a chat!

[jessianolly]

i am trying so hard to continue breastfeeding but never seem to have enough milk. now i am too sore to feed and have got so upset about it all that i had a cigarette after quitting ages ago. my partner is also being horrible and i need a friendly ear!! anyone out there???!

Yep - I'm here : )

How old is your baby?

Bf helplines can also listen to you: NCT's is 0870 444 8708

Soreness is horrible - but often it can be fixed.

hi and thanks for replying!
elizabeth is 9 weeks and jessica is 20 months!
i dont know whether to continue through the pain or give a bottle. i also hate myself for smoking and it has all got a bit on top of me today

Soreness at 9 weeks isn't normal, jess, and it could be one of several things, all of them (usually) fixable.

If you have always been sore and feel your supply is never quite 'maximal' then it could be your dd's positioning could be made more effective and less painful.

Forget about feeling bad about smoking - yes, nicotine does get into the milk, but it disappears after an hour or so.

But give one of the helplines a call. They won't tell you what to do or judge you, but will offer support and information so you can decide for yourself.

thanks for your help. i rang the help lines and saw health visitor and it turns out we both have thrush! getting treated and things loads better.
feel 100% better today and going to attempt the day without a fag!
thanks again.
how did you find out about the nicotine being gone after an hour? would love to find info on effects of smoking but not even the health visitors and other proffs seem to know?

Good to hear things are getting better.....the info about nicotine was based on its 'half life' - \link{http://www.howstuffworks.com/nicotine2.htm\explained here} as 60 minutes.

Half life is the time it takes for a drug/medication to remain 'active', and for it to start 'disintegrating' so in fact strictly speaking the nicotine is still there after an hour, but it is at that point becoming increasingly 'inactive'.

Repeated smoking, or frequent smoking, or frequent exposure to passive smoking, or to traces on clothing or on the breath of smokers, is obviously far from being a good thing for babies - but the effect is on a scale. At the 'least bad' end of the scale, one fag every so often well away from the time you are feeding is (in my view) not worth beating yourself up about.

hello again

thanks, you're great at making me feel better!
ive been away for a few days, walked out on the other half furious on sunday. back now but things arent too good. anyway, how are you?