Begineer at Breastfeeding - need help from experienced people

[SarahLeosMum]

Hello, I have just had my little girl, she is 5 days old. It takes a long time to latch her (can take up to an hour) but the first two days were ok, quite a lot of feeding. The third night was awful with feeding all night. Since my milk came in about 24 hours ago I have had feeds lasting 5 mins to 50 mins at reasonable intervals but it has started to hurt while she feeds (not inbetween though). I am pretty sure she isn't on the nipple. My nipples are flat and my boobs are big (E/F cup). My nipples are much more pointy after a feed. My hubby says that if someone is pulling your nipple out that far for that amount of time it is bound to hurt and that the latch looks ok (like ones in books) and it will probably be better when my nipples get used to it. Is he right? If so, how long will it hurt for? Any comments/experiences welcome, this is making me really sad. Would nipple shields help?

Should maybe add that I really struggled to feed my son and ended up expressing for 6 months to feed him. I can't do that again. I got lots of help that time from professionals but it didn't help much.

How are you feeling in yourself? Could you get out to a Baby Cafe? They will have bf counsellors who can take a look at your latch. If you ring the Labour Ward of your hospital or your health visitor they can give you details of where the nearest Baby Cafe is.

failing that I would suggest calling a bf helpline here on the right hand side of the webpage

Congratulations on the birth of your dd!

i've always had about a week of discomfort (inc a bit of bleeding etc) before eveything settles... spent lots of time naked to the waist to let the air get to them! (and picking off the dead bits - sorry tmi!)
i also used to get quite strong let down reflex which felt a little like pain for a while!
if your latch is ok when you get her on, then it'll probably get easier with practise - she's still learning too. Just watch for thrush etc - quite common in the first couple of weeks.
i didn't bother with nipple shields except for trying to get ds1 used to plastic at ten months (!) he was a bit phobic! so can't help there - i suspect it might help if you are very sore, but no experience...
Congratualtions btw!

I had a similar experience - no pain for the first three or four days, then agony at every feed for a week or so. I had flat nipples and large breasts, and had to hold my DS's head in place with one hand and cup the breast with the other. I could see my nipples becoming more 'out' after every feed - as if he was stretching them permanently!

The pain went away after about 10 days, and I am still feeding him now, at nearly 11 months.

Congratulations, by the way

Congratulations on the birth of your baby! No real advice I'm afraid, as I have very prminent nipples (sorry, TMI! ) but this is a good site to work out where your nearest Baby Cafe is!

Hope it works out for you.

Please get in touch with your local La Leche League, or Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, so similar organisation so that a properly-trained breastfeeding counsellor can come and help you out in person. It could make all the different.

I remember my nipples being pretty sore for two or three weeks, then suddenly things seemed to settle down and get easier. It is often quite hard to get bf-ing properly established - try not to feel bad about it. Getting professional help can be really important (and unfortunately, community midwives and health visitors are often not very well trained).

I really would recommend getting help from a professional and face to face. A breastfeeding counsellor will check your latch for you. A cone shaped nipple after a feed is a sign of an incorrect latch I think. Do you mean pointy in that sense, or sticking out more?

I had a tough start to bfing, cracked nipples, blood, thrush, mastitis etc and trudged on without help. It was stupid of me really. I sorted it out in the end and have been feeding for 14 months now and love it.

Lansinoh nipple cream is wonderful, as is patience, perseverance and a belief that you can do it.

Good luck.

Congratulations to you. My baby boy is 11 weeks old, my other boy is 18 months and i struggled for the forst few weeks of feeding, cracked nipples that bled a lot and discomfort but after a couple of weeks that all settled down and so did the feeding, i think it just takes time. Perserve and get help, the NCT are good and find out about local breastfeeding groups, your HV will have the fetails so that you csn support. Good luck to you

I had very sore nipples for the first couple of weeks, my toes would curl everytime they latched on!I used nipple shields for a few days until the cracks had healed and it was fine after that, if i hadnt have used them i wouldnt have been able to continue bf as it was so sore!!It is worth gettinga professional to check your latch just to be sure.....mine was fine but i still had sore nipples for a while but it does get easier.

Thanks for all these quick replies. There is a Breast Feeding Network drop in thing on tomorrow so I will go to that and see what they say. I'll update this thread then.

It is really reassuring to hear people say that they found the first few weeks difficult and then it was ok, as I can cope with it being hard for a short while.

ShowofHands - after the feed the nipple stands out from the breast and is quite distinct from the rest of the breast, which is totally flat. It is like the top end of a pencil rather than cone shaped so hopefully ok.

BFN are very good. Hope you get the support you need.

as already said, get help from one of the helplines.

nipple shields should only be used with supervision.

I have seen a lot of mums say that after feeding on flat nipples, their nipples become more prominent. in the long term some of them even remain a bit 'sticky outy' so it it not a clue of a good or a bad latch. Another one with prominent nipples so I don't have personal experience.

I am assuming you are following the nose to nipple, tummy to tummy guidelines while sitting upright. With big breasts, are you putting a rolled up towel or something similar under your breast so that you don't have to support your breast? I have seen my big boobed friend finding a breastfeeding cushion invaluable.

Since you are having difficulties latching, then perhaps you can try biological nurturing? it allows your baby to self attach using many of the innate reflexes, some of which are inhibited when we adults lead the attachment. It means that you can lie semi-propped in bed so your back and shoulders are resting and let your baby do the work that she is born to do.

Try doing this with minimum clothing on the two of you as skin to skin is a powerful tool for the baby. Also you are not restricted to the baby lying horizontally across your body but can shift your baby into any position you both find workable - ie, 360 degrees. around the breast.

the biological nurturing website has some great articles describing the process.

Hope you managed to get to help.

I'm a big girl up top and whilst I haven't had quite the same number of problems hopefully you'll find the following useful;

Try different ways of doing the feed ie lying down, under arm.
Pull the nipple out a bit of flat will help you see what you have to get where (iyswim)
lots of nipple cream between feeds

nik

Hi, I wanted to post an update. We went to the Breast Feeding Network clinic yesterday and again today. They have given some helpful hints and I've got things to work on. Baby is getting enough milk I think but I'm starting to get a bit sore. I'm going to carry on going to the clinic 3 times a week until it starts to get easier. Thanks for your help.

lansinoh def helps it's v expensive (about 10 pounds a tube) but oh so worth it I wouldn't bother with anything else.

Hope you get lots of support, if you can get over the pain now ( I ended up taking paracetomols pre feed for the first coupe of weeks) I does get so much easier, I promise!!! just visulise this as a hurdle to leap over and you'll do it good luck

I agree with Doris - Lansonoh cream is well worth the tenner it costs so don't be put off by the price.

I was sore with both DSs for about 10-14 days - first time stressed that I CLEARLY must've been doing something wrong otherwise I wouldn't be sore, second time round, much more chilled out and accepted it as a normal part of being sucked to pieces for several hours a day by someone very tiny but very hungry! Just rode it out, with toes curling as thye latched on each time for several days. A lot of skin came off my boobs each time, and certainly my nipples were pretty much skinned alive (nice! - sorry if TMI) but once this process had happened it was
much more comfortable.

Glad you have some good, reliable support. Just feed as much as you can for as long as baby needs it, and spend time falling head over heels in love with your baby! I still love to just watch them sleep!

cONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR bABY girl! I can really sympathise. I had about ten days of DS taking up to an hour to latch on for every feed with lots of screaming. I would have given up without the support of DH taking him out of the room every five mins so I could collect myself together for the next attempt! It did get easier. I also had flat nipples which made it difficult for him to latch on to. I used nipple shields for about a week when my nipples were tender and I slathered lansnoh on after every feed, that realy helped. But the thing that helped the most was a called a "Sure Safe Nursing Glass Nipple Corrector" from Chicco. I bought it in a phamarcy. It's basically a glass bell shaped dome with a pippette style rubber balloon at the top that sucks your nipple out. I used to wear it for a minute before a feed and it would pull the nipple out as well as drawing out some milk. I would dribble this over my nipple before the latch on to tempt him! I would really recommend it. I thought I would always be sitting on a couch surrounded by paraphenalia to help me feed but now it's easy peasy and we both love it (five months on). Good luck