Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Agonisingly painful boob :(

13 replies

chillyigloo · 04/11/2009 20:51

My baby is 3 weeks old and i'm solely breastfeeding. Over the past few days I've developed a really painful boob. I don't think it's mastitis as I'm not engorged or feverish and my breast isn't red or inflamed at all.

It's painful all the time, and gets worse during feeding (the feed that prompted me to write this caused my eyes to tear up when my let down started ) and when i breathe in it hurts just because of the extra pressure of my boob against my bra.

I never had anything like this with my 1st. Any advice?

OP posts:
Iwant4babies · 04/11/2009 21:00

Hi hun ... I had one really painful bout around the same time and I think mine was liked to the bra I was wearing! I changed from Mothercare to M&S nursing bra and the paid slowly eased. Hope this helps XxxX

peanutpie · 04/11/2009 21:00

Have you got any obvious sore areas or red patches? or maybe an area which looks dodgy? or is it the whole boob?

I probably had mastitis which developed into a breast abcess. I started with an obvious hot patch which looked red. It was painful and I remember taking paracetomel to ease the pain. The sore area then went to weird yellow colour. I showed it to some friends who sent me straight to the doctor!

I would take it (and you of course!) to the doctor if you are worried. I think I should have gone to the doc's earlier to be honest.

Iwant4babies · 04/11/2009 21:00

I meant linked! Giggle x

Original poster
chillyigloo · 04/11/2009 21:06

I'm wearing m&s nursing bra's which seem to fit fine. Certainly they aren't uncomfy and they don't dig in anywhere.

And there's no red bits at all which is what made me think it probably wasn't mastitis

Feel like i've been kicked in the chest by a horse!

OP posts:
peanutpie · 04/11/2009 21:08

Ps I wasn't feverish or anything by the way but I did have any obvious sore area. Hopefully it's somethingelse.

Aranea · 04/11/2009 21:11

The worst pain I've ever had with breastfeeding turned out to be a bleb, a bit of milk which had dried out and got trapped under the skin. It was resolved when I popped it out (eeuuww). Are there any little white bits on your nipples?

Original poster
chillyigloo · 05/11/2009 09:44

Right ... got appointment with gp this morning so we'll see!

OP posts:
peanutpie · 05/11/2009 18:24

Hi chilligloo
How did the docs go?

Littlefish · 05/11/2009 18:25

Could it be thrush? Do you have any stabbing pains, including after feeding?

Original poster
chillyigloo · 22/11/2009 13:00

The Dr thought it was "most likely" to be mastitis and put me on 7 days of antibiotics which improved it vastly but it didn't go back to normal. Been off the antibiotcs about a week now and it's almost as bad as before again so back to the docs again tomorrow. The joys of breastfeeding!

OP posts:
babybouncer · 22/11/2009 21:16

I often get 'blocked ducts', which are very painful and can lead to mastitis (although I've never had that). As I understand it, this is to do with the ducts becoming inflamed and the milk 'backing up' creating swelling and pain. You're supposed to massage the area while breastfeeding, but I've always found this too painful. Usually, I notice my boobs are more tender, then a certain part seems to become particularly sore, then it becomes more and more painful, until, without warning, it completely goes. Rarely lasts more than a week.

Hope you get an answer soon.

Montifer · 22/11/2009 21:40

Chilly, sorry your bf is painful.

I really struggled for the first few months with excruciating pain during and after DS's feeds.
(It responded eventually to conventional + complementary treatment for thrush, which I think is quite difficult to diagnose with certainty).
One side was worse than the other and I think it was related to latch.
Also had a lot of blocked ducts in the 1st 6 months.

GP, who is usually OK with non bf stuff was useless.

I found seeing local bf counsellors really helpful, Kellymom invaluable and ibuprofen helped a lot.

Still bf happily at 17 months now, hope it all works out for you too.

twolittlekings · 22/11/2009 21:48

Hi

BF can be really painful and when I 1st started I had bleed nipples which were excruiating.

I also had REALLY painful letdown for a while which added to it.

It could be a blocked duct. I am 4 months into BF now and only yesterday had a really sore boob that got worse over time. I found massaging with hot flannel and then expressing once I had fed helped to clear it out and today it does not hurt.

Have you looked in your baby's mouth - if there are lots of white spots on the tongue and cheeks it could be thrush. A friend had that and had no idea. She had to treat the baby and herself - you can't just do one and not the other or you will keep giving it to each other

Hope it gets better soon

New posts on this thread. Refresh page