Does breastfeeding hurt?

[Friedseasalt]

For info I formula fed my little one 5 years ago. Due in a few months and really keen to try and BF. Trying to educate myself as much as possible. However, a lot of stories I read online are about how painful/sore it is and it’s scaring me. What essentials do I have to buy to help? I am absolutely clueless tbh.

I'll be honest, for me, yes incredibly painful. I remember once DH handing me the baby in the first six weeks and bursting into tears because I was so tired and couldn't bring myself to be in pain too.

I say this because the whole, it's totally natural and painless line, which I fully believe is the case for some of women, made me nearly give up.

Instead I reached out to local groups for support and cracked it. After that I LOVED feeding and did it until a year and a half. Logistically it was so easy and saved a lot of money.

I'm fully behind the fed is best mantra and no one should BF if they don't want to but I do think that it should be made clear in some cases it's not a simple road but that doesn't mean you can't, get support (There's loads) and commit to it and unless medical professionals are concerned, many women can get there.

Of course for those who can't or don't want to, thank god for wonderful formula, keeping babies healthy and strong.

Many women can be absolutely pain free with good positioning but rarely get support to achieve good positioning. Sometimes things like tongue tie make a pain free latch tricky and the margin for error with any tiny baby is small so some feeds are better than others. Every feed when you are very engorged is less comfy at first. The Lucy W recommendation is a good one.

I BF 3dc and found 'let down' excruciating painful at first with all of them. I was really glad someone had warned me about this or I'd have thought something was wrong. It was only for the first few seconds or so but really toe- curlingly painful! A bit like the pain when you with a UTI if that makes sense. I loved the convenience of BFing though. For me it was definitely worth persevering for how easy it was once established. I know that's not true for everyone. Definitely agree with the recommendations for lanisoh for any soreness etc. I used to slather that on after feeds in the early days.

This rings very true for me. The 'you're doing it wrong if it hurts' was a very unhelpful mantra that I heard a lot at the beginning. I had a lot of pain for the first 6 weeks or so until my nipples had toughened up. Then I ended up breastfeeding my LO for almost 4 years, so it was totally worth it and I'm glad I didn't give up at the beginning because 'I was doing it wrong'.

It hurt for a couple of weeks with dd1 but she had a tongue tie. It was very sore with dd2, so much so I used nipple shields which were excellent and did not effect her latch etc. Lanolin nipple cream before and after. It can be a slog in those first few weeks but having a newborn generally is! Then it becomes easy and convenient.

Dd2 slept amazingly too, not all bf babies wake more in the night.

It gets a bit rough when your milk comes in IME. The colostrum stage is ok nipple wise, it triggers afterpains at the start of a feed, then nipples start complaining and you have to get used to the let down feeling.

But by week 2 that goes and then it's just the leaking thing and when feeding is established it's fine.

Rub milk in and air dry. I found using nipple creams gave me thrush.

I think breastfeeding is a skill that both mothers and babies need to learn. Just like any skill it is easier for some than others. Similar a good teacher or lots of experience in watching others can help learn that skill. With ds1 we both found it tricky to learn and it was very painful but with some great advice and lots of practice we got there. With ds2 and 3 it was so much easier.

So different for everyone. I could never get the latch right with both mine and it was very painful. Bleeding nipples are not fun. I tried mixed feeding, lactation consultant, pumping, nipple shields etc but I gave up after 6 weeks. In contrast my sister had no problem breastfeeding her two. Good technique is important but sometimes it's more difficult for baby and mum for various reasons. Definitely worth a try though.

Not painful, a bit sore for the first few days while the nipples get used to it. You can buy Weleda balm which helps. I found latching on tricky with first, had help from health visitor & used la leche league website for info, but in end we worked it out. As long as baby is gaining weight try not to stress too much about them ‘getting enough’. To begin with I found lying down side to side feeding easiest, and also used a nursing cushion.

Honestly, it depends. It can hurt/be sore at first, but not always. It's definitely usual for there to be some soreness while your nipples get used to it (both in terms of toughening up and how to allow/guide baby to latch properly/effectively) and baby is learning too. If it's really painful, then you should ask for assistance as it's highly likely that there is something that needs correcting (could be a simple latch issue, could be tongue tie). The soreness doesn't usually last too long (if it did, nobody would breastfeed for months/years!).

DC 1 - significant tongue tie, breastfeeding was very painful at first and complicated by initial latches being terrible (because I didn't know what I was doing and latch wasn't checked by midwife early enough) and causing a lot of damage (I still have scars and misshapen nipples today!), but we persevered. His tongue tie had to be cut twice (once at 5 days, once at 6 weeks), which didn't help... the toe curling pain did last for weeks and in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have put myself through what I did (it was traumatic physically and mentally, but I was determined to breastfeed and didn't want to "fail" 🤦‍♀️), however breastfeeding was eventually established and pain free. I breastfed him until he was 2.5. I've included this experience because although it does sound awful, it is real and it would be unfair not to say that this can happen, but please bear in mind that my experience with DC 1 isn't typical for the majority of women (and the extent of the pain could have been avoided with better initial breastfeeding support). I 100% back the "it shouldn't hurt if you're doing it correctly" approach, because toe curling pain when breastfeeding isn't normal (soreness certainly can be... but soreness and pain are very different).

DC 2 - mild tongue tie (never cut)... the latch was a little sore but completely manageable for a few days while my nipples were getting used to being used again, then it felt completely normal, no soreness at all about a week in. My experience was completely different (and the experience of being able to breastfeed so easily without issues was actually quite healing). I breastfed him for 2 years.

DC 3 - significant tongue tie which was picked up by me (when she was screaming and still in the birth pool 🤣) before I even latched her on for the first time. This meant I was super careful when latching her on, but it was still quite nippy and sore compared to DC2 (better than DC1, though, because I knew how to avoid a damaging latch). Her tongue tie was cut about 5 days in and the latch (and therefore soreness) was immediately much better. I got away with very mild friction sores which healed very quickly (never blistered, unlike with DC1!) and it was only ever sore, not painful (goes to show how avoidable my experience with DC 1 was). The soreness was fully gone by about 2 weeks in and I'm still breastfeeding a year in.

Lansinoh (or any lanolin cream) is great as it eases friction when feeding and therefore reduces soreness... it also aids healing if you have any sore areas on your nipples. I highly recommend attending an antenatal breastfeeding class and then going to breastfeeding groups/clinics afterwards if you're at all unsure of anything.

I think it's different for everyone. Both times I just put the baby on the nipple and they fed and it didn't really feel like anything, just an occasional little tickle when they sucked harder. I never had any cracking or bleeding or soreness. With my 1st they asked if he was feeding and I said I don't know, he's doing something. (He was.) With my 2nd she was feeding within a minute of coming out.

By contrast a friend had nipples that bled so bad the baby spat up pink milk. Another had fast let down and her baby was constantly spitting up milk.

I hate it when people say 'it shouldn't hurt if you're doing it properly'. I think it makes mums feel like they're doing it 'wrong'. I think it's more helpful to look at it as a new skill that both mum and baby need to learn and like any new skill, it takes practice to 'get it right' and that's normal and natural. During the time it takes to get the hang of it, in my experience (two breastfed babies) it is painful. How long that pain lasts varies, but the worst of it, was a couple of weeks.

I don't know a single breastfeeding mum that didn't experience some discomfort in the early weeks and I also don't know a single breastfeeding mum who didn't feel like giving up at some point. It's tough to start with, but I'm personally glad I pushed through, because I found overall it was a positive experience. Super convenient if nothing else!

If the latch is right it doesn’t hurt BUT I think at the beginning it almost always hurts on some
level as like someone said above it’s learning a new skill for both mother and baby.

I think midwives don’t really emphasise enough how a baby naturally improves in their breastfeeding ability too and after a few weeks you don’t really need to worry about how to latch them on as they become such experts at getting it right all by themselves. I just get my baby anywhere near my boob now and he latches on like a pro with zero effort from me 😂

At the beginning I tried to be very on it with making sure my baby was latching correctly and I would unlatch them and try again if it wasn’t a deep enough latch. With my first I still had quite a lot of soreness and lathered on the nipple cream before and after a feed every time and used some nipple shields for a while and that stopped it from getting too bad.

If it continues to be sore after a few weeks it’s worth re checking other issues that could be at play such as tongue tie.

Research how to position your baby for a good latch. The midwives will help you with this after giving birth. I didn’t find it painful at all. No cracked nipples, no let down pain. Let your breast ‘air dry’ after each feed if you can. I breastfed for two years and found it to be a very positive experience. Good luck.

It doesn’t hurt for everyone. For me if the latch isn’t right it’s a bit uncomfortable but I enjoyed breastfeeding from the start.

It didn't hurt at all for me.

For DC1 it was a little bit painful to start but then was a dream, DC2 didn't hurt at all, ever. I bought nipple guards and all sorts when I decided I wanted to breastfeed but didn't need them - the most painful bit was when they got teeth and decided to bite me.

i actually experienced no pain or discomfort breast feeding, I was very lucky. The hardest bit for me was my delayed milk coming in as my baby was so hungry and distressed and so we had to bottle feed for a week or so. It's a hard first few weeks getting everything working properly but it isn't always painful.

It hurt for me with both of mine and I couldn’t carry carry on and switched to formula both times. Felt like my nipples we’re being sliced with razor blades and made me dread feeding times as it hurt so much. My friend was also feeding at the same time she fed for 9 months, she also said it hurt but was able to carry on

I bf two babies, and had definite pain with both. With the first I had very sore cracked nipples for the first week or so, but was able to manage that with nipple shields and lots of lansinoh, but the real issue was the let down pain. For me that was toe curlingly excruciating for the first 30 seconds or so of every single feed. It gradually got better and by six weeks it was pretty much painless, and from that point felt very easy. I did also get mastitis at about 10 days which was horrendously painful, the worst pain I've ever had I think. I went on to bf for a year though, so we got through it.

With the second baby I still had the sore nipples, but only for a couple of days really, and I had the let down pain at every feed, but it only lasted a couple of weeks this time. So I think the body toughens up as you go along.

If latches on correctly it doesn't hurt but you may at first experience a pulling sensation inside which isn't painful but may feel uncomfortable as it's something you've not experienced and it soon passes.

Also, different shaped nipples may experience difference sensations.

However, in my experience it never hurt and I was never sore and I breastfed mine until they were all around two and a half years.

I think it varies - I was lucky and it was never painful for me. I bought nipple cream but never used it

It's a bit like a pair of new walking boots, initially it hurts a bit but then doesn't hurt at all. If it hurts after the first few days or weeks then get help and advice. You don't need anything apart, although a nursing bra is useful but not sensible to buy until about 2 months post partum when your boobs settle down. You may need a few other things but won't know until you need them. I've fed 3 and only bought bras and tops, oh breast pads are useful to buy in advance in case you leak but I never have.

For me, I had 1 day of pain. I had a night of cluster feeding at about 2 weeks and a very unsettled baby and she wasn't latching properly as a result. The next day it was sore but that was the only day

Not for me. I never had to use balm or anything. I actually thought I wasn’t doing it right at first because you hear so much about it being painful and I had no pain whatsoever. It was quite hard on my back though.