3 days in with new baby (1st)

[Fibilou]

My milk has come in and I am feeding on demand. The midwife checked our latch on Saturday and said it was fine but my left nipple seems to have developed a blood blister type of thing. Also it's really quite painful when she latches on, I'm trying to get as much of the areola in her mouth as possible but the latching doesn't seem to get any easier. Once she's latched it's fine after the first 5-6 sucks and she seems to feed well.
Do I just need to work through this and let nipples get used to the feeding or could it be something wrong with latch ?

Sometimes the "let down" can be excruciating for the first week or two until your boobs get used to it, if the pain goes away after the first few sucks then maybe it is that giving you pain? Obviously the blood blister is a sign of something wrong but I can't help with that, just work on getting the latch right. BF is it's hardest in the first two weeks after that it is so much easier so hang in there it does get better, just a shock for your boobs ! Good luck!

Fibilou, congratulations on the birth of your daughter !

It sounds like she takes a few sucks to get the actual nipple to the back of the mouth. The nipple should not get sucked at all, it is more of an upwards milking motion of tongue against breast and roof of mouth if that makes any sense at all?

Look at some of these videos; I found them v useful. Google Dr Jack Newman and Kellymom for lots of evidence based BFing advice.

Also, have you tried holding her in the rugby hold (hold in left arm for left breast with baby's head in your hand, bum under your elbow and feet behind you) to get her on at a different angle to allow your nipple ot heal?

And then there is always Lansinoh...

My HV always stated that the expression "toe curling pain" was coined by a BFing mother with a bad latch .

BTW, not saying anything disrespecful about you MW, but lots of MWs/HVs/GPs do not know a lot about BFing. Is there a BFing group you can go to? Or contact La Lache League/Breastfeeding Network or similar? Or Bfing adviser at the hospital you delivered?

Good luck! She is only tiny; it does get so much easier with time and practice.

Congratulations!!!!

probably latch, blister is often caused by the babies tongue on the tip of the nipple. Ideally you need to get someone else to check. With my children I found that if I pulled the skin of my boob towards my armpit once the baby was latched on it changed the angle of my nipple in the babies mouth - pointing it further towards the roof of the babies mouth and away from the tongue. (assuming a cradle hold)

Changing to a rugby hold might help - it often seems to.

You are doing really well tho and yes to any degree things generally improve as the baby grows each day helps.

Can you see if there is a bf counsellor in your area who could give you some advice? I second that whilst mw's can be great, they don't necessarily know all that much about bf!

I had very sore nipples whilst establishing bf, though I was assured my latch was good. I had a blood blister in the first week too and it burst in DD's mouth (gross!!) but it soon healed up and didn't have any further problems. For me, I think it was just my nipples getting used to being sucked on all the time. The first few minutes used to hurt like hell, it was the milk letdown, but once bf was established I didn't get it anymore. Goodluck!

Congratulations on your new baby! Mine is now nearly 7 weeks old. Keep up the good work with BF, it is hard, I didn't realise how tough it could be, but it's worth it. For a while I would yelp in pain whenever my DS latched on - he just did it really vigorously, the latch was good, but he just did it hard to start with, and like you, after a few sucks the pain went.

Doesn't happen much anymore, just occasionally when he is really hungry! I don't know about the blister though.

Good luck

congratulations on your baby girl
i agree with pp's that the first couple of weeks is the worst and once youve got the hang of things it'll get easier and really start to enjoy breastfeeding your baby girl

Have just kind of winced my way through the feeds yesterday and there is a marked improvement now, I think it was nipples acclimatising to their new job after 9 months of being too sensitive to touch.
Little blistery thing has gone

And she was rooting on DH's hand yesterday, got hold of his finger and sucked it - he now has a renewed respect for the hardiness of nipples ;)

I got a blood blister on my nipple in the first week of feeding my new DD. She is my second baby so I had a vague idea of what I was doing latch wise but it still happened. Had my latch checked too and both the Nurse in the hospital and the Midwife at home said it was fine. Also had the pain for the first few sucks while my milk let down and the nipple got to the right place.

Now she's almost 8 weeks old and I've had no more blisters since the first one scabbed and dropped off at about day 6 and the latching pain has gone too (took about a fortnight). Still get a twinge in the 'other' breast as my let down comes in but it's not awful and just lets me know that the milk has started flowing. Only lasts for a few seconds too.

If your nipples were mega sensitive while you were pregnant, that might be adding to the discomfort but it should pass.

Keep going, you're doing really well

My DH gained his respect for nipples when DD got hold of my chin and sucked it while I was holding her - she left me with a love bite!!

Hows it going fibilou? Hope its all settling down for you....

Things are going really well. We had the MW today and she has gained 3.5oz at 11 days - so I am obviously doing something right.
She is having a bit of a growth spurt at the moment which is driving me round the bend as she feeds pretty much constantly from 4pm until 10 but at least does sleep through the night until about 5.30am.