How long before the pain subsides?

[BeingATwatItsABingThing]

DS is 9do and I currently want to rip my breasts off my body. I’m in so much pain when he latches and then discomfort/pain when he’s feeding. Between feeds, anything touching them feels awful and it’s making me so angry at everything.

I’m trying new feeding positions which are making it better and I have got a support group session this morning. I have also ordered some silver cups which are supposedly good for healing.

My question is how long before I’m feeding pain free? He’s DC3 but I’ve never managed to BF long term before due to the pain but I really want to succeed this time. If this is going to go on for weeks/months though, I know I won’t be able to do it though.

You shouldn't be in pain. If you can afford it, get a lactation consultant in or visit one to get checked for tongue tie, or visit a walk in mum and baby service (completely dependent on your area of course). Additionally there is the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 03001000212

Just remember - it should not hurt. I know that it can do from experience but any midwife who tells you that's normal (as one did with me) has got their head screwed on wrong. Try to get some help - I didn't for about a week too long and got hideous mastitis, then struggled for another 6 weeks or so until I finally got someone in who sat with me and corrected my positioning and attachment.

@Borgonzola
Thank you. I know it shouldn’t hurt. I’m going to a support group this morning which will hopefully help. I had a lactation consultant with DD2 who will be my next call.

Does your milk 'let down'?
I was finding mine wasn't because I was really stressed (lots of reasons, won't bore you as not relevant here).
Not all women feel the let down, so it can be hard to know if your are one of them (I was). I had to work out how to tell my milk was flowing freely and because it often wasn't it was a bit of a stab in the dark for a while.
However, in the end I managed to. You need to be able to relax and not have cortisol rushing round, which is a bit of a catch 22 when you have problems (this was my situation) so you are tense and stressed etc, your milk doesn't let down.... Round and round. But if you can break the cycle that helps.

I don't know if feeding without fully flowing milk is the cause of your pain, but it could be part of things at least.

I had a nightmare getting the latch and baby screaming doesn't help you relax, so one of the things I was able to do was give baby a small amount of formula, stop the crying and then try, meanwhile use self hypnosis techniques to relax and... Then the let down would happen (not that I could feel it, only very subtly) and baby would feed well then. This was how I eventually broke the cycle of stress and no let down = more stress = no let down....

So, no idea if this is useful to you. So just in case.

Try Medela nipple shields, they take away most of the latching pain.

I’m currently exclusively BF child no.3 who is 22 days old. I exclusively fed my older two for 6 & 9 months respectively. With DS1 it was agony, screaming every time he latched due to blisters and sores on my nipples… he’s actually permanently damaged one nipple but I was determined to make it to 6 weeks. By 6 weeks his latch was naturally better due to his mouth being bigger and the pain & issues subsided. But it was very hard for the first month at least.

With DS2 i was struggling again with similar issues until i bought the above shields. This time round I have used them for every feed as soon as I left the hospital 14 hours after she was born! It’s a complete game changer and I’ll start dropping them for every other feed soon and transition off them now she’s 3 weeks. I’ve had no blisters or sores this time and it’s been so easy.

As you probably know the pain & damage is due to incorrect latch and with all three of mine I could never get it right for the first two or three weeks when they were tiny but as they grew it got a lot easier.

I feel the let down. It happens on both sides which prompted the use of shells to collect the milk I had free flowing from the other breast. That doesn’t hurt but I can definitely feel it.

Thank you. I’ll see about nipple shields if it will help as this is excruciating!

Are you taking paracetamol @BeingATwatItsABingThing?

Yes and dehydrocodeine for my C-section pain.

That's good as sine Mothers don't realise you can take paracetamol whilst BFing

Silver nipple shields saved my sanity. You wear them in between feeding and they protect your nipples. I found it really helped whilst they toughened up a bit.

Also get the infant feeding team to check for tongue tie - ours wasn’t identified until 9 weeks as it was quite mild and it’s been so much better since it got snipped.

The silver cups have been good so far. Stopping anything from touching them has helped if nothing else. My eldest had a TT which we got snipped. We’ve asked several people to check if he has one but nothing has been picked up so far.

It’s been a lot better in the last couple of days on the whole. There is still latch pain and general pain whilst my supply is regulating but much better. I’m hopeful this is a good sign.

How you getting on? Just seen this 🙂 I was in a very similar position tried unsuccessfully to feed first 2 babies and then kreally keen to experience it with number 3 as my last.

I started with Combi feeding, using formula whenever I felt I needed a break or if my boobs sore etc. e.g. I would often do left boob, right boob, formula as a pattern. There was even a day where I quit and didn’t feed for about 16 hours and only used formula. After a while I felt able to do two times on each boob and then a formula - etc etc. by 7 week he had no formula at all and we are still successfully breastfeeding at 16 weeks. What really helped me was my sister literally put him on for me (very experienced breast feeder) and I realised how it was meant to feel (ie no pain). This gave me a lot of hope and also made me keep taking him off to get the position right rather than try and cope with the pain. Best of luck!

Thank you @Tryingtohelp12. That’s reassuring.

I’m still feeding him but I have been tempted to stop most days either from pain or exhaustion. However, today has been a lot better again after going back to my feeding support group and them suggesting swapping mid feed when he stops. Stops one side feeling really full and they were both feeling bruised and battered.

I've decided to just get through each week and keep going to the support group as it seems to be helping.

Absolutely day by day is a great approach! Good luck. By about 5 weeks I felt good and by and 7/8 weeks I found it far easier than bottles. A lot less to plan and think about when heading out! I still express and he takes a bottles of milk most days so I still feel like I can leave him and go out if I want to I’m not totally glued to him. Not that I do ha I have three kids going out is rare!!

Pain between needs checking out for sure but for the first two ish weeks with all three of mine I found the let down/first minute of every feed toe curlingly painful then it was fine after that.
I used to have to grit my teeth through it! But it would settle after a minute then stopped happening after a couple of weeks, so it's worth sticking out if you can bear it, I ended up feeding each of mine till they were 2!

Do get checked out for the pain between though, that sounds like something isn't quite right

That’s reassuring. He’s my third too so definitely no time or energy for going out. 😂

It’s got better so I’m just waiting to see if it’s residual pain now. 🤞