Toughening up nipples ready for BFing, can you do this? How? Any other preperation tips?

[EnchantedWithEdwardCullen]

Im 27 weeks and boobs are leaking alot.

I want to toughen up my nips, they got sore so fast last time.

I have laninsol (sp?!?!) creeam, should i start putting this on already will that help?

I just really want to try my best this time

You can go along to your local NCT group. Many of them have a bumps and babies session, or will welcome you to a postnatal group to discuss BFing issues. Same with any local Baby Cafe

I don't think you can do much prior to the event.....

But - am currently BF'ing number 2, and would say - put nipple cream on religiously for the first few weeks of BF'ing, and - most importantly - make time to get the latch and positioning right. Very tempting with number two to just bung them on any old how - I did this, thinking a) I've done it before and b) I don't want to spend ages feeing so as not to upset firstborn - and ended up with very sore nipples at around days 10-14. So if you can, enlist help to entertain your older one at feed times so you can hunker down and get things right.

Also I expressed once a day from about 10 days and DH gave bottle - no probs with teat confusion etc. and was a little break from the soreness........

Also I didn't always find midwives - general hospital or community ones - necessarily in the best position to help with latch, position etc. as they are pretty busy people and if everything else looks OK (clean baby, clean house?) they may feel they need to move on and look after others. Specific lactation counsellor may be better - NCT or LaLeche league in your area - contact them prior to birth to talk through your concerns?

BTW, it's great that you're going to BF again having had probs last time - good luck. My DD is now 5 months old and I am really enjoying feeding her.

baby cafes are often run in conjunction with sure start centres. If not baby cafe then there will be other BFing support groups. Your HV will know where to find local help.

This is actually my 3rd baby. Failed both other times

theres BFing support group at my surestart centre on thursdays, might go to that.

That should have been a after 'failed both times'

Good luck with it; third time lucky and all that

as someone looking for a bfc who has now phoned various numbers and still not got through to anyone... i'd say getting through to a real person and getting their mobile number would be the best preparation for the big event.

Aitch - have you still not got through to a bfc???

To OP: no point in preparing the nipples, and nature does it for you anyway - the rest (comfortable attachment) is up to you and your baby and careful, knowledgeable help if necessary, at the time.

aw aitch; that's rubbish

I've never had a problem here and have always been called back within an hour or so. If you look on the local section of the NCT site, there will be email addresses for your local branch co-ordinators. Maybe email and ask that someone gets in touch?

I thought there was quite good support locally to you? Isn't there a BFing unit at QM? I found this list of local groups

Aitch I don't know whereabouts in the country you are but I have the phone number of 3 BF counsellors who I know would be happy to talk to you if you would like me to pass them on.

ahem, i have emailed also and had no response. lol. it's my curse. they've heard of me.

thanks for the offer, TPL, but it's really a home visit i want so unless they're local to sunny Glasgow?

tbh it's taking so long that dd will be old enough for me to risk taking her to a hospital drop-in anyway.

Not very local, no! What a pity. I hope you get hold of someone soon.

Top tip here. After you finish, use a little bit of milk & rub into the nipple sin. THat helps to soften & moisturise & generally keep that skin a bit more protected. Good luck all

hello! just had a quick read through this, so excuse me if i missed anything or state something somseone else alredy has... i agreew ith swampwitch and milk idea, plus drink plenty of fennel tea as this increases milk production meaning baby does not need to try so hard to get the milk esp during a growth spirt. i also know what you mean about the support for breast feeding, i could not get any! and my family were the best support, so i asked at my local surestart, has non so started one up, i now help as a breastfeeding councaler ( not spelt correctly) i still feed my Ds now and he is 23 months, after 3 lots of mastitus, thanx to another mother in my surestart who was a midwifery student, who had breastfed herself.
ask for help and keep asking untill you find it.
and whatever anyone tells you it does hurt slighlty for at least the first couple of weeks whilst you nipples adjust...my mum told me this and she fed all 12 of us!

Could start scrubbing them with a wire brush, that'll toughen them up, they'll be like bits of old leather by the time baby's born

(Off to wire brush shop as only 3 weeks to go!)

hi, ive not read the whole thread, baby lying on floor chewing his mat and screaching like a cat at the mo!! but i would advise you to get in touch with a breast feeding counsellor in person before your birth, contact nct or la leche league, or ask a hv (they may know something?!) and get their phone number beforehand.

You cant and dont need to toughen up your nipples as a good latch and position should give you pain free feeding.

However, both of my babies gave me very sore nipples for the first 2 months, the latter acutally cracked my nipp until it bled. ds1 had tounge tie, but even after that was sorted and postioning improved it still hurt. ds2 hurt also, positing was again improved and every type of help avaliable was provided, that included a very experienced and fantastic breast feeding counsellor and latch and position was fine.

This continued for about 2 months with both children. I continued as i was determined to get to at least 6 months. After around 2 months i suddenly realised that it didnt hurt anymore and it was relaxed and comfortable. ds1 fed until he self weaned at 10 months and ds2 is fully breat fed still at 5 months.

I am a fully trained breast feeding peer supporter and i know that they teach you that feeding should be pain free if correctly positioned and latched on, but the more people i speak to it appears that for some people it does just hurt for a while, but all of the people that i have spoken to that say this have also gone on to feed their babies happily, comfortably and pain free for at least a year.

But i feel that the best thing is to have a number of someone you can phone and say, help this hurts, or can you come and check my postioning. Also your local breastfeeding group should be able to give you a small sample of lansinhol, ahich is good for a few applications if you need it.

Have you ever heard a new Daddy complaining that the baby is sucking his little finger too hard - "he's going to rasp it off!". Short shrift in our house on that one! My tuppence worth is that i don't feel that it's as much a toughening up of the nipple - they remain soft and tender after slouging off any cracked skin they develop in the first couple of weeks - but more of a stretching to fit over the baby's tongue? If there was anything useful you could do it might be to pull/stretch the nipple/skin? Not that I've done this with my two - a couple of weeks of eye watering wincing at every feed with both, as well as all the "have you tried" stuff from HVs etc, piles of the "correct pillows" in the "right chair" with your feet at the "right level". Still worth it as by about six weeks you can just sling them up under your jumper anywhere....

I had my DD in Japan.
There, during pregnancy, it is standard practice to teach mums-to-be to do a daily breast and nipple 'massage' for the last 10 weeks or so of their pregancy.
This involves rubbing and twisting the nipple between the fingers in a prescribed way and massaging the base and side of the breast.
In the beginning you have to do this quite gently because it can be a little painful, but the nipples soon toughen up and get used to it.
By the time my DD was born I was ready for the riggers of BFing.
I never had any soreness at all, no bleeding or craching and no mastitis.
Maybe I was lucky, but I entirely put it down to the preparation and I am now doing the same thing to prepare for DC2 who is due in November.

I agree with magicfairy and superlemon. With DS1 it hurt to breastfeed him for about 3 weeks. I used to cry and grit my teeth and stamp my feet on the floor while he fed. I refused to give up because I was so determined to breastfeed but there were times when I thought "I just don't want to feed him anymore" and used to dread the time coming round again. Because everyone says that it's only painful if the baby's not latched on properly, I OBSESSED about him latching on, getting advice and doing the whole pillow, position, etc. thing. Nothing helped but DS1 gained weight and was generally ok. Then it just got better, I was only gritting my teeth for the first 30 secs of the feed and then not at all. I ended up feeding DS1 for a year.

My DS2 is 4 weeks old. Again, I always planned to breastfeed him and wondered if it would be OK this time, but it was EXACTLY the same. I was so pissed off that I was once again in pain and my nipples hadn't toughened up from the first time. But I could hear the milk glugging down his throat and he didn't lose any weight after his birth. So again, I stamped the floor and cried and stuck it out. It didn't take as long to become less painful, and now a month in there's no pain at all.

I know people mean well but I didn't find it helpful that breast feeding counsellors and midwives/health visitors all questioned the latch when I just needed to get to the other side of those grim first weeks.

Good luck!

My hosp ran a feeding workshop for mums to be, which I found really useful. It taught the technicalities of how a breast works (which helps me to understand - I like to know the nitty-gritty!) and you got to meet the breastfeeding advisor face to face. After dd was born (c-s) she was slow to feed so the same woman came to help me out. Basically I refused to go home from the hosp until I was happy with her feeding. Even then I went back after a couple of weeks to see her coz dd wasn't gaining and she reassured me. and then rang me at home a few days later to check on me.

What I wasn't prepared for tho was the fact that a wrong latch for 30 secs does damage that lasts for the next feed or so, so even when you get it right it still hurts from last time. Lansinoh was my saviour and I shall be applying it liberally next time!

Hi - I'm new to this so forgive me if I haven't read through all your postings thoroughly!

I gave up breastfeeding my first child after 2 weeks. I agonised long and hard about my decision and felt a complete failure but after I witnessed blood (my blood from my extremely ripped apart nipples)! trickling from my son's mouth during a feed, I decided enough was enough.

I had consulted a breastfeeding councillor who had confirmed that my baby's latch was correct and I was doing everything required. I truely believe that some babies feed better than others.

After having my second baby I dreaded that first feed - knowing the pain that would come with it and the bloodblisters after - but no pain! That's not to say it was completely problem free but only uncomfortable for the first few days. None of the bite-the-pillow agony I had experienced before.

I did "prime" my nipples. Nothing amounting to torture - simply rubbing them with an exfoliating glove in the shower every morning. I don't know whether this helped but I would certainly do it again.

With all the pressure to breastfeed in the press etc these days it's no wonder women are left feeling like failures. You don't see support groups for bottle feeding do you?! However my eldest child has never suffered for being bottle fed. He is extremely energetic and I can't ever remember him being ill!

I guess what I'm trying to say is - we all know breastfeeding is important - we are told so often, but surely a happy Mummy is more so? After all happy mummy = happy baby! Don't spend those first precious weeks in agony. It simply isn't worth it. Enjoy every moment with your precious new bundle. YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE!

Well like the OP, I had a bad experience with nipples when bf dd1. With dd2 I did nipple stimulation twice per day (to try to build supply more than for toughening nipples though). I also expressed 1/2oz per day for the last few weeks because it worked so well! I have had no nipple problems this time round and haven't needed creams etc. DD2 is now 6mths and still bf. DD1 lasted 6wks.

A friend of mine's mum told her to loofah her nipples when she was pregnant to get them ready ... I think I would've fainted.

okay, now i'm scared. does anybody know much about the use of nipple shields? i've heard the medela ones are pretty good. has anyone used them?
x

don't use nipple shields unless you have to - they can be problematic. BUT breast shells can be an incredible relief for sore nips. They look ludicrous, but they were a total lifesaver for me. I think Avent do them?