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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Please help me with bf pain before I seriously conisder giving up

34 replies

lilymolly · 08/04/2009 11:09

I am exclusivly feeding ds (9 days) and it is going well for him, weight gain, sleeping, going about 2-3 between feeds, loads of yellow mustard seed poos etc etc, so he is thriving..........

The problem is its agony for me

Several midwife have seen my latch and said its perfect, I have tried rugby ball and normal postioning to no avail.

I have no cracked nipples thanks to lansinoh, no mastitis, no real engorgment issues, but its still hurts like hell.
I have to scratch my boob as he feeds to take away the pain.

I had exactly the same issue with dd and I fed her until 17 weeks at which point I gave up due to the same reasons.

They both seem to be effective feeders, by that I mean both dd and ds will empty a boob and be satisfied in 20 mins, and have a really strong suck, neither of them lost any weight in the first week of birth and dd gained weight beautifully when she was bf.

Do you think its something I have to put up with and persevere or do you think there is something else I can do?

I am waiting until the infant feeding coordinator from the hospital calls me back, but is there anyone else I can try?

Please help I really dont want to stop

OP posts:
PlumBumMum · 08/04/2009 11:11

Are you sure there is no infection there maybe thrush?

warthog · 08/04/2009 11:13

what is the pain like? hot shooting needle-like pain when he sucks? or constant? achey?

Original poster
lilymolly · 08/04/2009 11:20

no shooting pain,no hotness, no signs of thrush etc.

Just a general pain and it feels like he is gnawing on my boob.

Just spoke to my best friend who is a (good) health visitor, and she thinks it may be postioning so ds is ready for a feed in about 10 mins, so I will try to perfect the postion and come back and see if anyone else has any advice. Thanks

OP posts:
tiktok · 08/04/2009 11:25

lilymolly - you certainly need an expert observation.

One thing you can ask when someone observes you feed is to check if the latch is deep enough and to rule out any tongue tie or other anomalies.

But honestly I have no idea what it could be - I'd need to ask you more questions about your feeling of him 'gnawing' and when and where it hurts exactly.

I hope you get help.

Bettymum · 08/04/2009 11:39

I had an awful awful early start to BF, again no real problems like cracks, mastitis or thrush but it was SO SORE. I thin part of the problem was that I have small nipples and DD was really struggling to latch in the early days. I know what you mean about the gnawing. My midwife suggested nipple shields in the first few days and they were a godsend, we got BF established and then I stopped using them after a week or so but would use them occasionally to help with the pain. I would be in tears throughout the feed sometimes, it was agony going outside and getting cold...but it slowly got better as she got bigger, and here we are 14 months later still going . So if you can bear it, it will probably get better as your DS gets bigger. But in the short term I would try and get to a BF clinic if you have one near you, and get some expert help. Good luck.

Original poster
lilymolly · 08/04/2009 13:07

Fed better this morning, made sure position was correct, tummy to mummy, nose to nipple etc and all areola spl? was in his mouth, and whilst it was not painful it was still uncomfortable, so we will see how the next feed goes, on the other boob at about 13.30!

Keep the advice coming girls x

OP posts:
LBsmum · 08/04/2009 13:26

Found BF very very painful for first 8 weeks ! saw several BF counsellors who all agreed latch / positioning was good, was treated for thrush and mastitis which didnt help, no-one could say what is was, though I persevered and it did get better, looking back I think it was because DS was such a 'strong' and frequent feeder he may have bruised me( bruised DH arms when rooting ) have no medicial opinion to back this up but felt as feeding paced out my body had a chance to get over the shock of munching baby.

I felt like giving up and most of the people around me thought I should too, dont no why I didnt but now consider carrying on was the best thing I ever did - good luck hope it gets better for you

CatIsSleepy · 08/04/2009 13:32

hey don't give up
am bfing 3.5 week old dd2 and it is still painful for me mainly on my right hand side-seems better on left for some reason
have a feeling it is her latch but am not quite sure what to do
it is exactly as you describe- a gnawing feeling

she's a bit lazy about opening her mouth wide enough i think
there's a lot of fannying about every time to make it bearable for me...partly because I'm afraid of it really hurting when she latches on

like you midwife said latch was fine and she feeds fast

it's frustrating as I though it would feel fine by now!

hope you get it sorted- let us know the outcome as i'd be very interested in any solution

MiniMarmite · 08/04/2009 14:11

Hi Lilymolly

Great advice from others here - sounds like you would benefit from a BF counsellor's help. I was in the same position as you and I am still BF my 7 month old soon so no need to give up.

In the first instance I managed the pain by using nipple shields for about 6 weeks. After that DS and I had learned the ropes and my bleeding nipples had healed.

Have you tried feeding lying down on your side with the baby facing you? I do all my feeds like this now (even though it means I have to do all my feeds at home)

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Original poster
lilymolly · 08/04/2009 14:12

Thanks, sorry to hear you are having the same trouble as me.

Little Matthew is still asleep and boobs are at bursting point, so going to wake him up and try on the other side this time to see how we get on!

Will post later

OP posts:
ruty · 08/04/2009 14:15

i had a deep crack on the side of my nipple for a few weeks recently and someone recommended silverettes to me, silver nipple shields. I was sceptical, but in agony when feeding, so i bought them. They were amazing, the crack healed within days when nothing else worked. Try to get some if you can. Truy brilliant. Sympathy with the feeding, i had this too when first breastfeeding, but it went after about the fourth week. Good luck.

ruty · 08/04/2009 14:18

for silverettes

dcgc · 08/04/2009 17:40

I am currently in exactly the same position. My little boy is 7 days old and last night I literally bit down on a wooden spoon during the feed as it was so painful!

I was in pieces as I really want to breastfeed rather than use formula but in the end I relented for the night until I saw the midwife today. She advised nipple shields and the odd formula feed (just to give you a break). Hubby went straight out and got me the Avent shields and I have to say they were brilliant. I now intend on going to a couple of breastfeeding classes to perfect the "nack" and hope that this will help.

Good luck! Hope you manage to persevere.

Original poster
lilymolly · 08/04/2009 19:47

DCGC
Did the midwife observe your latch? and was it correct and still painful?

Off to buy some nipple shields tomorrow

OP posts:
dcgc · 09/04/2009 12:49

Yes, that's the weird thing, a couple of days earlier one of the midwives watched me and described the latch on as "text book." I think my nipples were damaged in the initial days in hospital when I really didn't have a clue about breast feeding (it's my first baby) and they just got worse and worse. I figure at least this way they'll get chance to heal using the shields (in just a day they have massively improved).

I know a lot of the midwives and helplines will talk about "nipple confusion" but at the end of the day even if every time I feed I have to use shields I'd rather do that. Hope this helps you anyway

dublinmom · 09/04/2009 12:53

Might be obv or the way you're doing it already, but I have a hand under the boob DD is feeding from, to hold it up. Posititions better.

I found with DD! and DS that if I had an awkward latch on one feed it might hurt for a few days, even if other feeds are perfect. Might just need to hang in there.

AAnd take paracetemol for the pain if you need to.

fishie · 09/04/2009 12:55

poor things all of you, it really bloody hurts and i know that horror of dreading feeds.

i had trouble getting ds to do a wide enough gape until he grew a bit (bigger mouth!) and found that rugby ball hold meant i could get a bit more breast into his mouth. so try other positions. will also give nipples a bit of a rest.

i also found it was worse when ds was turned onto his other side, so just kept him facing teh same way and slid him round.

KiwiPanda · 09/04/2009 12:56

Lillymolly no real advice but just wanted to send message of support. I found BF very painful for a long time - I did have thrush but even when that cleared up I found it painful, I think I just had very sensitive skin and DD has a industrial-Dyson-strength-suck on her - all I can say is do try to carry on because it does get better, and I am very very happy that I stuck it out and didn't give up. DD is 16 weeks now and it's completely painless (though I'm still amazed that people say they can sleep through a nightfeed, painless, yes, but not completely lacking in sensation!)

So really this is just to say you have my sympathy, I know how depressing it is that something you feel ought to be natural and painfree is not. Best of luck.

allthetwinklystars · 09/04/2009 13:50

Lillymolly, I hope things are going better. I breastfed my dd without too many problems but when my ds was born I got a shock at how much it hurt! He was a strong sucker and very slightly tongue-tied, once he got a bit bigger and my boobs toughened up it got much easier. I found the more boob he had in his mouth the less it hurt both during and after.

He is 1yo now and I have to say it got a lot easier both times at around 8 months! I'm still happily bfing too. Not much consolation that I guess though. Anyway, it sounds like you are trying so hard to keep bf, well done for trying and good luck.

About breast shields - I know someone who used them but then her baby wouldn't take her nipple without them, so she ended up stopping bfing. I'm sure there are lots of positive experiences too, but just thought I'd let you know of a possible complication.

ruty · 09/04/2009 13:52

just to clarify the silver nipple shields are for use when not feeding - they help heal painful cracks.

Chocolatebunnyrabbit · 09/04/2009 15:48

Sorry to hear some of you are having a tough time of it.

With DS2 he took to feeding like a duck to water and I had no pain until 3 weeks and then exactly how you describe, no cracks no bleeding a text book latch and yet it felt so painful. And then the NCT BF councillor suggested thrush, even though there were no external signs. And she was right!!Thrush plagued me on and off until I stopped feeding but mostly kept it at bay with cannestan etc.

Find a BF councillor if you can, and ask them what they think.

Good luck to you all. Stick with it. I had to give up BFing at 6 months as I came back to work and I miss it dreadfully..

BR

Original poster
lilymolly · 09/04/2009 20:19

Hi Rang the breast feeding co ordinator from local PCT twice and left 2 messages and she has not got back to me.

Rang post natal ward, and they told me they would ask a comm mw to come out, they rang back 5 mins later and said they where too busy

Where will I find an independant BF councillor?
Do I have to pay?

I have no signs of thrush, and latch seems to be ok, its def my right hand side which is worse, but the rugby ball techniques is slightly more bearable but still bloody awful!

OP posts:
Sidge · 09/04/2009 20:29

I found the first 20-30 seconds of each feed toe-curling, for the first month or so. I had no latch problems, no nipple problems, no infection, my girls fed like pros and there was no apparent reason for the pain. I seem to have a very strong let down and I think that's what caused my pain. Certainly when I exclusively expressed for tube-fed DD2 I could express 4 or 6 ounces in a minute or two!

Can you try La Leche or one of the breastfeeding helplines? (Haven't used them myself but have heard good things about them).

The other thing you could do is take paracetamol regularly prior to feeds, see if that helps? That won't sort out the cause of the pain but might help in the short term until someone can see you feed.

Chocolatebunnyrabbit · 10/04/2009 00:14

lilymolly,
Does it hurt for the whole time he's feeding? Or just the first few mins.

BR

Lusi · 10/04/2009 01:06

I would recommend talking to a bf counsellor - even just over the phone they can be very helpful.
but
I had a similar problem with DD2. I think I remember a health visitor telling me it can be more painful for the first 30 secs or so when they start feeding when they are very young (remembering having to count -as it would seem longer to me than it actually was)...definitely got better..

I went on to bf DD2 up to her second birthday (I posted on here about how gutted I was that she gave up so easily)
but of course it wasn't so simple...about a week after her 'last' feed my partner told me (I'm a heavy sleeper!) that she had helped herself...she has done it again a few times - less than once a week( I think this is it now - coming up to three weeks - maybe I can stop wearing my pj top back to front!)
One time (next to last time) it really hurt. I think because she had to suck really really hard to get the milk flowing...
So based on this alone...could you massage your breast/get your milk flowing before you start feeding and also try and feed more often (I can feel you wincing!)- theory being that he won't be so hungry and therefore won't be sucking so hard...
If I have another baby and have a similar problem this is something I'd try...

Try and stick with it ..get as much help as you can - it really will get easier...