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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

is breastfeeding in reality sore but no health professionals admit this?

55 replies

fabmrsv · 21/02/2008 13:08

apologies if this is mega inflammatory but i am trying to understand the truth re breastfeeding. all the health professionals tell me if i am doing it right it will not be sore yet all my friends say it was sore at least at the beginning? what are other peoples experiences of this? i have just started breastfeeding my newborn and really really want to succeed but despite being told i have latched him on correctly i am finding it quite painful. it does seem to be less so if i can really try and get the nipple in right to the top of my baby's mouth but when i try and do everything they have told me to do it is just proving impossible to do so and i can't work out how to get it further in. the hv and bf counsellor have looked and said he is latched on but whilst they are saying this i am in pain and my experiences so are that health professionals just dont' want to aknowledge that. i do feel at the end of my tether and would like to hear how other people have found breastfeeding and the 'truth' of it

thanks

OP posts:

LadybirdG · 21/02/2008 13:10

I can only speak from my experiences

with DD, it took me days to latch her on properly by myself, MWs had to do it every feed (was in hospital a week), and it was incredibly painful, like mini razor blades!

However, with DS I didn't have any pain at all - I think because I was latching him on correctly from the off

HTH

Do persevere, I truly loved BF my DC and someone will be on with practical advice on latching on

lailasmum · 21/02/2008 13:11

I think some people find it sore some don't that's why everyone tells you different things. I found it quite sore for a long time even though everyone told me I was doing it right but it did get better so its worth hanging on in there. I also think sometimes those who take to it easily don't understand just how painful it can be.

cyanarasamba · 21/02/2008 13:12

Personally I did not find breastfeeding at all sore. My DS has just turned one and I am just about to stop breastfeeding.

I understand this is fairly common though and I'm sorry if you're having a tough time. I hope someone on here can give you some good advice.

LadybirdG · 21/02/2008 13:13

pain lasted about a week iirc

pukkapatch · 21/02/2008 13:13

it is painful at first. it is sore.
my personal theory about it is this. breasts as an organ, dont actually get used before breastfeeding. they are parts of our body that sit their , uelessly, until it is time to use them to feed our newborns. and the first time you use anything, it will be difficult. like not useing your legs for a few days and htne using them will hurt
so, that's why i think they hurt at first, even though latch is proper etc.

claraquitetirednow · 21/02/2008 13:13

I get so angry when I hear people say it shouldn't hurt if you are doing it properly. Bollocks to that - no-one likes to admit it, but breastfeeding HURTS (at least for most of us - I am sure some lucky sods will come on here and say otherwise but for me - twice - and almost everyone else, it hurt).

Getting the latch right is important though as hopefully this will mean your nipples won't crack and bleed, like mine did both times - and hurt even more. Like total agony. Like if I had a third child, which I am not planning to do, I am not sure if I would breastfeed again.

However I promise you it doesn't hurt forever and once your nipples are hardened up it is so much easier than faffing with bottles. Lots of other reasons to breastfeed, but the thought of not having to get up in the night and sort out a bottle kept me going at the worst times!

Good luck - you can get lots of advice on here if you need it.

Tutter · 21/02/2008 13:14

only sore for a week or so each time for me

Tutter · 21/02/2008 13:14

(each time = each ds)

Tutter · 21/02/2008 13:15

sorry you're struggling - am sure someone more helpful than me will be along soon

GreenGlassGoblin · 21/02/2008 13:29

for me, yes, it hurt but only for the first week to ten days, and only badly for the first 3 or 4 days. Then it stopped hurting at all and was a joy for the next 21 months. It really was. I loved feeding, DS loved being BF.

Lansinoh cream was invaluable in those first few days.

rascal1979 · 21/02/2008 13:30

phew! I was starting to think maybe I was doign something wrong! I have had various people nurses, and BF counselor say I'm feeding fine and latchon great but I'm sore! Think it could be over use at the moment as DD can only feed from my right breast - but that's a whole other story!

deaconblue · 21/02/2008 13:35

I'm sure someone will disagree with me but I found using nipple shields invaluable with this. I started when ds was about 10 days old and I got my first crack in my nipple. could then feed painlessly while it healed and ended up using them for 6 months. I ahve heard they can cause supply problems but I never found this. Even if you only use them to get you past this painful stage I reckon that's a lot better than feeling like giving up because of the pain.

sundew · 21/02/2008 13:36

I agree with everyone - it does hurt for the first week (I still remember the toe curling sensation when my dds latched on). I found that with my dds if they were latched on properley it would hurt for the first coupole of minutes but would then be OK.

Lansinoh cream is great. I also used the breast shields from Boots when my nipples were really sore - although my midwife with dd2 was very disaproving - tough .

Persevere - it is worth it in the end it means when you go out all you need is a spare nappy and change of clothes.

Good Luck

nervousal · 21/02/2008 13:44

Guess I'm just one of the lucky ones then because for me breastfeeding wasn't at all painful - maybe I just have "super nipples"??

ruddynorah · 21/02/2008 13:52

yes i hurt too for the first couple of weeks. it wasn't nipple pain, it was more like inside the breast. i thought it was my body getting used to let down. was toe curlingly awful. i persevered, became the easiest thing in the world. i couldn't even tell if dd was latched on or not, didn't feel a thing.

tiktok · 21/02/2008 13:54

Soreness is very common, but not inevitable.

Soreness that gets worse over the first days is a sign the mum and baby may need to be helped to acquire a more comfortable attachment - this is not to say ' if it hurts you are doing it wrong', as that is blaming and annoying.

I have supported many women who have been told attachment is 'fine' and yet it is still sore. Many, in fact most of these women I (and other experienced bfcs) can help....and a few I can't. I don't always know why I can't. Some babies also have a tongue tie, or maybe some oral anomaly, that interferes with comfort and maybe some women have super-sensitive nipples.

I do get annoyed at people who are dogmatic either way - it's as daft to say 'it always hurts' as it is to say it 'never hurts' if you're doing it right!

MrsMattie · 21/02/2008 13:56

It hurt like hell for me, but I'm not sure if we ever got a good latch, despite lots of advice and 'help'. Lansinoh eased it a bit in the early days, but I don't think I ever BF'd my son without it hurting . maybe if I had carried on longer it would have got better..? Who knows...

missorinoco · 21/02/2008 13:58

for me the let down was v painful. (toe curling is a good definition.) that used to last for about 2 mins of feeding, and was different to the latched-on-wrong pain. let down pain lasted 2 weeks, but improved after the first week.

now it's painless.

good luck.

Original poster

fabmrsv · 21/02/2008 13:59

thanks v much for all your advice and comments. thjat really helps to know i am not alone . now i also need to know how do you know if the baby has fed enough. he falls asleep but then later on seems hungry. i fed him at ten to 12 and he got about 30 plus mins in total. he has seemed fretful since and i have just fed him at about ten to two for fifteen mins and again he has fallen asleep but am not convinced he is full. how does one tell. also until recently i have been finger feeding with formula in addition to expressed milk. he slept for three hours between each feed. would it be so bad to finger feed him some forumula at the end of a (breast) feed? he is a very hungry baby and becaue i am so tired i don't know if i am producing enough milk

thanks

OP posts:

ruddynorah · 21/02/2008 14:01

if you think he's still hungry you just offer the breast again. if he doesn't want it he won't go for it. how old is he? it does take a while to get used to following his cues.

fluffyanimal · 21/02/2008 14:04

I agree with Tiktok that it is so unhelpful to say it won't hurt if you do it right. For me the only criteria for "correct" breastfeeding is if the baby is happy at the breast and getting enough milk! That's not to say that position / latch can't be improved to make it more comfortable for the mother. I wanted to wallop anyone who told me that I must be doing it wrong because it hurt - how could I, when ds was so contented at the breast and growing like topsy. My HV was fortunately full of sympathy and support, but had no suggestions for how to treat the cause of the pain, only on how to relieve the pain itself.

Psychomum5 · 21/02/2008 14:06

I was told when I had DD1, that as my nipples and areola was so pale, that I would have a harder time with soreness etc as my nipples and skin was obviously more sensitive.

the same MW said that anyone with pale skin and freckles would find it hard.....their skin is thinner (?) and so less able to cope with the constnat 'rubbing' in the first few days/weeks and so gets 'friction sore'.

no idea if this is any true'er than the 'correct latch = sore pain' arguement, but she was right and I was sore......as I also was with all my others (I fed all five).

BUT.....none of my other friends breastfed, so I have no idea if she was telling the truth, of whether it was her way of preparing me for the possible pain that I eneded up with.......and I was latching her on correctly too, as for the first few days I had constant help.

it did however make me more aware of how all my others did feed, as the soreness was different if they did latch on badly, and it was entirely different again when I had DS2 (DC5).....and he had tongue tie!

I think tho, that for the most women, there will be some initial soreness just because, to start with, you are constanly using the same part of your body over and over again......it is friction use rather than bad latching IYGWIM.

maybe I am comletely off the mark here, but that is my theory, and it helped me

tiktok · 21/02/2008 14:09

fabmrsv: look at the baby and not the clock
If your baby is fretful he can come to the breast again...and again...and again You cannot tell if he is 'full' and it's not always necessary to 'fill' him He can have little snacks sometimes and big meals at others.

Feeding formula - however it's done - can interfere with getting breastfeeding established and maintained.
Your tiredness will have no impact whatsoever on your breastmilk quantity, but giving formula after a feed certainly will....if you want to breastfeed, you'll need to drop the formula, truly.

Hope this helps!

tiktok · 21/02/2008 14:12

But the baby doesn't remove milk with 'friction', Psycho...or if he is, then no wonder it hurts

The milk is removed by compression which is exerted in waves, not by rubbing against the skin.

TinkerbellesMum · 21/02/2008 14:16

I don't think you are doing something wrong if it hurts, just getting used to it. Whether that is getting used to how to latch or how to hold baby or how it feels. I think it's a bit like learning guitar. Your fingers hurt at first but you're not doing it wrong, eventually you get used to it etc and it doesn't hurt.

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