Breastfeeding - how long to break my breasts in

[Peppertime]

Hi, I’m breastfeeding my 4 week old and still finding that my boobs feel hot and my nipples are quite sensitive. I don’t think my baby has the best latch, which I’m trying to get help with. But I feel like all the messaging around breastfeeding makes out like it’s not normal to still have any pain or sensitivity at this point. I just wondered if it took any other mums a bit more time to break in and be pain free breastfeeding? Thanks

6-8 weeks. Get the nipple cream out

thank you for the real talk!

That’s awful but sadly not surprising given the experiences I’ve had myself. Individuals in the system can really make or break a woman’s experience I have found. I hope you managed to get the support you needed for the depression and have managed to recover x

6 weeks of agony and then it became much easier

It seems like so many of you found it took 6-8 weeks, which is so helpful for me to know. I wonder if there was more messages to new mums about that as an expectation how many more might be able to stick with it and get to that point rather than feel they have to give up as they think they are doing it wrong.

@Peppertime

It seems like so many of you found it took 6-8 weeks, which is so helpful for me to know. I wonder if there was more messages to new mums about that as an expectation how many more might be able to stick with it and get to that point rather than feel they have to give up as they think they are doing it wrong.

The thing is not all mums hurt. If you’re surrounded by women who breastfed like my sister was (on bil’s side) they can help fix things and teach positions where you don’t suffer any pain. My sister found the physical side of breastfeeding easy in that she had zero pain, but struggled with the mental aspects.

I also found that despite DS’ severe tongue tie, when I managed to find someone who knew their stuff about positions, the pain reduced dramatically. At the beginning I used to joke I was feeding a baby shark because he just couldn’t latch properly. Then the nct bf volunteer came and taught me a few ‘tied’ feeding positions her mum taught her and the pain reduced like magic.

@Peppertime

It seems like so many of you found it took 6-8 weeks, which is so helpful for me to know. I wonder if there was more messages to new mums about that as an expectation how many more might be able to stick with it and get to that point rather than feel they have to give up as they think they are doing it wrong.

Yes I agree. They also told me that the pain should never be above a "7" when latching and should fade to a "3" while nursing. This was absolutely not my experience weeks 2-5. There was nothing wrong, no mastitis and her latch was really pretty good but the pain was excruciating just because my nipple was raw. And the lactation consultants still recommended against nipple shields and pumping!! The first two months are tough but after that I do think it becomes easier than bottle feeding and can be quite nice for some moms for bonding etc (though I know for other moms it can be the opposite and there is nothing wrong with that) I also think that sleep training and scheduling is easier when bottle feeding than with breast feeding so there are positives and negatives to both.