Help, can someone save my nipples?!?

[Sadie789]

Day 10 of breastfeeding and I swear my right nipple is about to fall off. The other one is not far behind. The pain is excruciating!! When DC latches I have to kick and swear and wince for about a minute before it’s bearable but the pain continues the whole feed. Not ideal for feeding in the corner of Starbucks.

I’ve had midwife advice and she’s shown me about positions and getting the right latch which is fine but doesn’t address the existing pain.

I’ve googled and again there’s lots of vague advice on latches and top tips etc but nothing on what to do once the nipples are done in.

Does anyone have a strategy for me? Should I just start expressing? (Wanted to wait until at least 2 weeks) Should I only use the less painful one for a while?

I have breast shells which have helped a bit but cluster feeding means neither one is getting a real break. Nipple shields were rejected by baby.

So sore!!

You need a two pronged approach - treat the nipple pain (you can seriously not use too much Lansinoh - and it's safe for the baby to swallow too).

Also - try and get seen IRL a bit sooner than a few weeks if at all possible. You need the latch looking at properly and you need the baby assessing for issues such as tongue tie. Your health visitor should be first port of call although unfortunately not all are knowledgeable about BF.

If your HV gives advice you're not happy with:

Could a friend drive you and baby to a group which runs earlier?
Or try googling "breastfeeding support + town" to see if you can find anything else.

Try the national breastfeeding helpline, the NCT helpline and the La Leche League helpline.

If you have the money, look on here and see if you can get somebody to come out to you at home: www.lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/ (If you don't have the money, try contacting a local-ish one anyway - they may have a free or low cost group you can attend.)

Meant to add this as useful link as to why it is important to see somebody who is very experienced in BF/look past comments of "That latch is fine"

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/09/effective-breastfeeding-its-not-all.html