Breastfeeding

[YoungmumB]

Hi, I've been feeding my baby boy for 2 weeks now I ended up with such badly cracked nipples after 5 days there was blood in his sick. I started using nipple shields and they were helping although I struggled to manage to get them off while I had mastitis. I'm still using the nipple shields but am now finding that my nipples are still really sore.
Did anyone else find breastfeeding really painful no matter what they tried?

Have you had any face to face support? If the latch is a bit off that can result in sore nipples. Lansinoh is excellent for helping to soothe and heal. Tbh I did find it quite painful in the early days, it got better though.

I found BF painful for the first 6 weeks or so. My first DC would only feed with a nipple shield. My youngest DC (6 months) didn't need a nipple shield, but it was quite uncomfortable at first. As long as the pain in manageable, and you want to carry on, keep going. It will get better soon!

Thank you. I've had lots of help from breastfeeding support and he actually has a really good latch it's just still painful. I really want to feed I'm just finding the pain on top of the lack of sleep so hard to deal with.

Mine improved when I let my breast pads get soaked in milk. The advice to change pads often and air dry the nipples didn't work for me at all.

I remember that pain and dreading every feed. Has baby been checked for tongue tie? And have you tried different positions if you’re able to? With my youngest I found it more comfortable feeding lying on my side and things progressed from there.

There’s a really good Facebook page called UK breastfeeding support which you might find helpful if you’re on Facebook. I used the search function lots on that page in the early days to look up past posts about different things. It really helped.

Yes it's awful. I had this for about 6 or 7 weeks with a couple of small relapses after. I honestly don't know how I pushed through it and I don't know if I'd be able to do it again tbh.

If it encourages you in any way, when it was sorted breastfeeding was the easiest thing in the world and I was glad I could stop baby crying in any circumstance. It was super convenient!

Being honest I absolutely hate breastfeeding. They make it sound like the most natural, easy thing in the world when you set off but it’s so hard! I’m only dragging myself through as I know it’s best. Although I combination feed to give myself a break every so often! I’m up to nearly 6 weeks now. I’ll be honest, the pain does go away but it’s still constant.

Maybe keep going to the feeding support group. That’s what I’ve been doing and they seem to pick up on something else each time to make it a bit easier :)

Combination feeding has saved my sanity, and meant I have actually continued with breast feeding. I don’t know if that’s something you want to do :)

Thanks everyone. It's nice to know that most people struggle but it does it easier, I felt like I was just a total wimp! I'm going to stick at it and hopefully it gets less painful soon, I never prepared for it being this much work.

If your nipple is quite badly cracked you could try jelonet dressings. They really helped my nipple heal along with nipple shields.

Try hydrogel dressings between feeds to help your nipples to heal. I agree with PPs who have said that an incorrect latch can lead to cracks, but when I was in the early stages of breastfeeding my two I also had cracks and pain so I think sometimes it's just your nipples getting used to their new function! If you manage to persevere and take some measures to help the cracks to heal then you should see an improvement soon. Good luck!

I was in so much pain breastfeeding I would have preferred to do labour again(!) Like you I bled and felt sick when my DS fed. It hurt for the 11 months I fed him but the bleeding and cracked nipples stopped about 6 months. I felt conned by message that breastfeeding was lovely etc. I stopped BF when I went back to work and was so happy it was over. However talking to my friends I would say this is exception not the rule so I imagine the pain for you may well subside after a few more weeks.

I would like to add it is differnet for every baby. My 2nd DS was a dream to feed. My DD was lovely too although sometimes I get mild uncomfortable feelings when I feed her.

Power through if you can. When I look back now I feel like a superhuman as it was so hard but I'm glad I kept going. On the other hand please be kind to yourself and if you end up giving it up, just remember not everyone finds it that hard and you've done amazingly well to get to where you are. Keep on getting support - you're doing great. Good luck :)

What you're experiencing is normal, I had similar pain and difficulties with my first despite specialists telling me she had a good latch. I also dreaded each feed for a while. Good news is that it did get much better, I recall there being a lot less pain at 4 weeks and practically no pain by 6 weeks. PPs have given good advice on Lansinoh and pads/dressings to allow healing

After the first couple of months, breastfeeding was a dream and so convenient for us so Im really glad I did persevere.

After every feed, rub a little breastmilk onto your nipples and let it air dry. The pain certainly gets better. At the beginning it was painful even if my hair swept against my nipples or towelling after a shower. DD is 4.5 months now and I hardly feel her latch, it's become that desensitized. The first 6 weeks are painful no matter what, but if you look at 6 months without having to sterilize or heat a bottle in the middle of te night it's definitely worth it imo.

Definitely look into a possible tongue tie, it can cause awful pain whilst feeding.

Are you using lansinoh?

Oh I feel your pain OP

You can get gel dressings (I think they're called Actiform) from your GP. My HV phoned him up and asked him to prescribe them for me. They really helped the healing. It does get better. Those first 6 weeks can be hell then essentially once your nipples toughen up it won't be painful anymore. I had exactly the same with both my DC and went on to feed DD for a year and I'm still feeding DS at 9 months.

It’s awful at the beginning but if you want to continue breastfeeding you just have to (if you can!) power through the pain. It DOES get better but it’s painful and relentlessly hard work at the beginning. I found it helped to set myself targets and when I felt like giving up say things like ‘if I still feel like this tomorrow’ so you don’t give up on a bad day and then regret it.

Be kind to yourself though, lots of people mix feed and that seems to work well

It took us about 8 weeks of total pain to get to a breakthrough... Lanolin/Lansinoh helped healing as did applying milk. Ended up glad I persevered just a little longer as became very easy and convenient. Hot water flannel/ compress can also ease things. La leche league also helped. Good luck.

Thanks again for all of your replies! I know the health benefits are worth it in the long run so I'm just going to get through the pain and hopefully it will all get easier in the next couple of weeks.😊

It did get better for me OP - and I hope it does for you too. I was close to giving up but persevered with nipple shields, ibuprofen and some nipple cream. That said if it's that bad give yourself a break and don't feel bad about it.

I had painful nipples from day one till about 6-8weeks with all three of my kids after going to every support group and having them come round they all just didn’t know what was wrong. In the end I started pumping or giving one bottle a day to help myself cope bc it was really getting me down and I was dreading every feed. Finally after I had my third a midwife just said ‘maybe you just have very sensitive nipples’ which to me made sense as I really do. After 6-7weeks they magically stopped hurting and now feeding is very comfortable. I hope yours stops hurting soon xx

I came on to post exactly what shixty said.

Definitely get the tongue tie thing checked by someone who actually knows what they’re looking for and can refer you to get it corrected straight away.

I found it excruciating for the first few weeks with all of four of mine, as did most of the other mothers I know.
It’s so relentless, on such a sensitive part of your body - you’d be very lucky if it wasn’t sore!

If it’s too much and you’re finding it impacting on your mental health though, please don’t feel bad about a little mixed feeding or switching entirely.

My eldest is a teenager now and there’s no discernible difference btwn him and his peers based on their early nutrition.

Are you putting on cream before and after feeds? I used lansinoh and a mother care own brand (I liked this as it wasn’t sticky like lansinoh) it got me through those first few weeks.

No one tells you about the hell that is cluster feeding and nipple pain.

It does get better but be kind to yourself. I found expressing helped establish my supply which meant the baby got more milk so fed less often so it didn’t hurt as much. Do you have a pump?

Tongue tie is a real possibility. My DD2 had an almost 100% tie that wasn't spotted by any medical professional. It was because I was in so much pain feeding that I literally used google images to diagnose it myself and then had it confirmed at a Baby Cafe I attended. Having it fixed changed things massively. I still used nipple shield for a while (and actually used them for 6 months with DD1). DD2 is now 16 weeks and she's just started feeding without them and there's no pain. Never thought we would get there!

Breastfeeding is hard. You are doing brilliantly.

I had this for about 3 weeks, even the same blood clots from the nipples. I found multi-mam patches helped loads and loads of nipple cream. After those 3 weeks suddenly if didn't hurt anymore and it became so easy and convenient we fed to just over a year. Dc2 due in 4 weeks, dreading those first few weeks with feeding but am stocked up this time and a bit more prepared xx