Milk blisters will force me to move onto formula

[Sana12]

Hello! FTM here, I've been exclusively breastfeeding my boy for almost 7 weeks now. The first two weeks were an emotional rollercoaster but I forced myself to get through it because I knew it will get better, and it did. Its been exhausting being babys sole source of food especially when hes cluster feeding and hes on me for 90% of every day, but we got into a rhythm and I got comfortable with it. I enjoy the bonding and convenience of it, and have been very opposed to using formula at the moment because I wanted to wean him onto it at around 6 months (or when his teeth come in and it hurts too much lol)
Over the last week i got milk blisters on my nipples that make them really sensitive, the smallest touch hurts so even picking him up and putting him on my chest is horrible. The biggest issue is that its made breastfeeding very overwhelming again. The pain isn't too bad once hes on but the first few minutes as hes latching on are awful and its made me dread feeding him, especially that hes on me every 90mins or so during the day unless I manage to get him to fall asleep for a bit longer, so I'm suffering through it but between sleep deprivation, general postpartum aches and now this im at my wits end. Ive spent the better part of today in tears and im really considering going onto formula even though I really dont want to and am not ready to stop breastfeeding.if i commit to formula and my milk supply dries up there's no going back and that makes me nervous too
I will speak to the health visitor about it tomorrow but I wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar experience regarding giving up breastfeeding due to pain, or dealing with milk blisters? Any advice?

Hey, my little one is 5 weeks old.

Solidarity with you!
I had milk blister last week. I read everything online and just ignored the advice not to pop it, and did so with some tweezers, and let me tell you, it was instant relief! Seems to have healed fine now and I don't have any pain.

Could you temporarily use some nipple shields for the pain whilst it heals?

I'm not sure what are milk blisters, do you mean blocked ducts? If so that can be the start of mastitis and the way to treat it is lots of ice and nurofen and feed baby as normal. Don't squeeze or apply heat or massage too hard as it will make the inflammation worse.

My baby had a problem with his neck which affected his latch so he chewed right through my right nipple in the first few days. My nipple hurt excruciatingly bad for about 4 weeks even though we sorted the latch, it just never got the chance to heal. I used to cry right before putting him on it, every time. I was fine after that until I started pumping at 7 months (I went back to work) which was another learning curve and I got mastitis. Still breastfeeding at 11 months so I got through that too.

There are a lot of challenges along the way. It's not easy. You are doing an amazing job already.

I had 2 milk blisters, they were painful; so I went against everything I read and used a needle (sterile) to pop them both times (in the shower). Also felt immediate relief- everything healed nicely. Just to add I was exclusively pumping and it was unbearable even trying to pump.

Hope you get some answers from the health visitor.

Can you pump temporarily to keep your supply up and let the breasts heal?

Defo have to deal with those and not let them fester. Yes it’s against advice. I have no idea who writes said advice but it’s certainly not breastfeeding mothers.

Needle, tweezers, nail, whatever you chose to pick the head off.

Then you need to draw it by rotating babe to drain down that duct. Some positions are difficult as babe would be upside down. So for these positions you dangle feed. All a bit crazy and you will laugh doing it 😂 but it’s a must really.

Long, hot shower and then when things are good and warm, start hand expressing in the shower. The heat, moisture, and a bit of gravity can all work together to clear clogged ducts surprisingly well.

also, nipple shields are amazing inventions. Our lactation consultant got us started with one when we were having trouble very early on. They are super thin now. Nothing wrong with using them if you need them. I ended up using one for the entire 3 years I breastfed. Tried to stop a few times but my nipples for shredded. It worked for us so there was just no reason to stop.

There's a great Facebook page called 'Breastfeeding Younger Babies and Beyond' - I've had good advice from there, it could be worth joining. I can't help with milk blisters but as for when babies get teeth - it doesn't make a difference unless the latch isn't right, you don't feel it. That's why they're milk teeth!

Im another one that’s been EBF my little one and used nipple shields the whole time. Not quite 3 years like a pp but 4 months! I’m also hoping to get to 6 months before I stop.