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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

who had excruciatingly painful nipples in first few days of breast feeding?

37 replies

mears · 23/04/2008 23:22

  1. How did you overcome it?
  1. How long did it last?
OP posts:
cadelaide · 23/04/2008 23:24

I had this with all 3.

1.lansinoh was excellent, only discovered it with no3

  1. 2 weeks max
cadelaide · 23/04/2008 23:24

toe-curling, i seem to remember

Original poster
mears · 23/04/2008 23:25

how about so sore you can't bear to allow baby to feed?

OP posts:
peasholme · 23/04/2008 23:26

in answer to OP: everyone, presumably. Well DEFINITELY me, anyway.

  1. grit teeth, improve latch
  2. 2 weeks, though eased of after first 5 days.
God, don't remind me. Still don't know if I was doing it wrong or if it is standard (midwives gave me knack all information)
tori32 · 23/04/2008 23:27

with dd1 I had sore nipples for weeks, used lansinoh cream/ breast milk before and after feeds.

dd2 (4 wks) one nipple for first few days because if it hurt I detached her and relatched because it shouldn't hurt if the latch is right. We got it right eventually after a week. I used breast milk and lansinoh again as well. Maybe my nips had toughened up with dd2 though

peasholme · 23/04/2008 23:27

NB went on to breastfeed for 2.5 years so it must have been OK in the end!
M: yes, so sore you can't bear it. Shuddering at the memory.
Thanks!

Monkeybird · 23/04/2008 23:29

weeks, not days. Overcame it by pure grit. And lansinoh, jelonet, crying, silverettes, latching advice, many calls for BF lines and eventually, I think, fairy dust. No bleeding idea what worked in the end. Practice I think. But it completely got better about 3-4 weeks in.

bigmouthstrikesagain · 23/04/2008 23:29

yes and I have excruciating painful nips right now as am pregnant and bf my 2yo - but am pretty hardened to it now [wince]

Monkeybird · 23/04/2008 23:30

Same for all 3 babies BTW. you'd think I'd have practiced enough wouldn't you? Maybe there were all tongue tied and I just didn't know.

BirdyArms · 23/04/2008 23:30

It took a lot of teeth gritting and toe curling to overcome it and took about 3 weeks with ds1. I was fine with ds2. I think that it helped that I was expecting it to be painful - a friend had described crying because of the pain whilst she fed - and also helped that I was very determined that I would breast feed. I agree that lanisoh is great and it helped me to carry on but it's not a miracle cure.

TheFallenMadonna · 23/04/2008 23:31

Oh yes. Much checking of latch - pronounced fine.

Just kept on going really, although I remember holding ds close to my nipple but not being quite able to put him on

But then it just stopped, after about 10 days or so I think.

pofaced · 23/04/2008 23:32

With DDs 1 & 2 excruciating pain for days 4-9-ish and then perfectly fine. DD3 no pain at all. Someone somewhere explained you are more sensitive to pain early on (?!) but big thing for me was to make sure they latched on properly. Bizarrely, using nipple cups which caught drips of milk (inserted in bra) healed the rawness: HV said the magic properties of the milk healed my nipples as they were bathed in it... Persevere but be careful of cracks as I had infectins which resulted in mastitis twice: unpleasant but not hideous

bigmouthstrikesagain · 23/04/2008 23:33

sorry

  1. can't remember exactly prob a couple of weeks.

  2. Cabbage leaf in bra (straight from fridge) really helped. Time is also a great healer. But did get sore again when I had Mastitis (4 times in 3+ years of feeding) but antibiotics clear that up quickly just go straight to docs if you suspect an infection.

lackaDAISYcal · 23/04/2008 23:36

DS -
never overcame it and gave up at 5.5 weeks as local support non existent and I didn't know about NCT, LLL, ABM etc (I now know it was a combination of bad latch, thrush and vasospasm)

DD

  1. used lansinoh, focussed on getting latch correct, used nipple shields to get me over the worst hump for a couple of feeds on day 6.
  1. hit it's peak around days 4 - 6 and then got very quickly better due to improved latch. Was gone by day 10.
lackaDAISYcal · 23/04/2008 23:42

mears, with DS definately so sore I couldn't face feeding. I remember sitting in my living room at 5am crying at the thought of getting him latched on (he'd be on and off again 10-15 times in a feed). I had no support as single parent. I even nearly shook him as I was soooooooo tired and sore and felt I couldn't take any more. Parentline counsellor suggested bottles, and as I'd been feeding bloody (it was pink) EBM in bottles and he was taking it better, I made the switch, gradually to EBM and inevitably, formula.

Looking back, he probably had thrush as well and it was just sore for him to feed

swampster · 23/04/2008 23:59

Nipples like Parma ham!!! BLOOD AND GORE!!! Lansinoh and cabbage leaves. Glad that's over.

swampster · 24/04/2008 00:00

Only lasted a couple of days but felt like forever. Once I got the latch sorted it was better very quickly - recite the mantra: nose to nipple, tummy to mummy...

Lubyloo · 24/04/2008 00:01

lackaDaisycal - your experience with DS sounds exactly like mine. I have never come across anyone else who had vasospasm. It is excrutiating isn't it - like a cigarette being extinguished on your nipple! I used to dread DD waking up and was in constant pain even when not feeding.

It's great to hear that you managed to feed your DD and didn't suffer with the vasospasm again. It gives me hope for the future.

lackaDAISYcal · 24/04/2008 00:05

lubyloo (your name is our nickname for our DD ), I had a bit of it around six weeks, but I was able to correct it with very particular attention to positioning and latch.

I think having access to MN and the wonderful support on here and links to other resources meant I was more clued up.

yay for MN

kneedeepinthedirtylaundry · 24/04/2008 00:11

Who didn't? Actually, I do know one person who didn't, lucky woman. EVERYONE else I know had horrible, horrible, horrible pain, including myself.

It was worst during latching on. After that, it dulled after a while to a bearable pain. I couldnt bear the thought of the latching on though, and had to grit my teeth through it.

It lasted for about a month. Grin and bear it. It gets much easier. Only determination to breastfeed got me through it. It might have been easier for our foremothers to take in the days before formula, if they couldn't afford a wet nurse - their motivation was the survival of their child!

dewmeadow · 24/04/2008 00:11

All 3 - excruciating for all 3. Two of them had cracked nipples and mastitis - had to go n antibiotics. This lasted 2 weeks with all of them and then nips toughened up.

Still bfing no3 - 9 months - and loving it (mostly!!) [proud emoticon]

KristinaM · 24/04/2008 00:18

yes

lasted 14 weeks as baby had clamp down bite reflex

he got better after cranio sacral ( sp????) therapy and i suspect grew out of it a bit

managed by expressing some feeds when nipples too damaged and occasional bottles of formula ( when too sore to express for long)

also discovered that i had post partum thyroiditis which adversely affected milk supply, so that got better when treated with thyroxine

Clayhead · 24/04/2008 07:32

Had it with both dc, definitely lasted 4 weeks first time round and about 2-3 second time, iirc. Overcame it with sheer determination and support from dh, bf for 1 year and 2 years in the end.

Can totally agree with kneedeepinthedirtylaundry when she says:

'It was worst during latching on. After that, it dulled after a while to a bearable pain. I couldn't bear the thought of the latching on though, and had to grit my teeth through it.

It lasted for about a month. Grin and bear it. It gets much easier. Only determination to breastfeed got me through it.'

MrsTittleMouse · 24/04/2008 07:44

I had it. I was told by the midwife that it is really common to wince as the baby latches on and that it does improve with time. Which it did. I did come back as she grew and we had to alter her position to get a good latch again (I phoned the breastfeeding guru at the hospital and she talked me through it).

Original poster
mears · 24/04/2008 10:17

Will print this thread off for sis who is having a hellish time breastfeeding twins despite my best efforts.

Ended up cup feeding yesterday and expressing. Milk not in so cupfeeding formula. Hope to get them back breast feeding today.

OP posts:
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