I love Autumn dearly but she is trying to break me! I was looking after her on my own all Sat night and all-day Sun, during which time she fed hourly or half-hourly. Constant feeding. It must have been a growth spurt (she's 4 weeks tomorrow), because not only was she feeding more frequently, it was also for longer than usual. Since birth she's never fed for more than 5 minutes in one go, over the last day or so we've had several feeds lasting just over ten minutes, which is unheard of for us! In between feeds she's often awake and very fussy (also very uncharacteristic) - poor little thing seems exhausted and overtired but won't settle even on my chest.
I've been on solo duty because DH was working yesterday, but he's not working today so at 2 a.m. this morning I handed DD over to him for his turn at the night shift. She'd been up for hours, fussier than I'd ever seen her, and at 1.55 am (literally) I finally managed to get her to sleep, just before the handover to DH. At 8.30 am I then woke up (aching boobs) and I asked DH how the night had gone. He told me he'd also just woken up because DD slept through from 2 am to 8.30 am! 
Honestly I should just quit! Everytime DH does the night shift she sleeps through, and when she's with me she wakes every hour!! I cannot believe she went from hourly feeds with me to a SIX-AND-A-HALF HOUR sleep with DH!!! What am I doing wrong?!
Musical I did use nipple shields for 24hr as Purple mentioned, and they helped my nipples to heal a bit but I have to say they don't help with the pain of latching on at all! Definitely a last resort. The only thing that really made a huge difference was when my right nipple was just completely raw and pure agony, I gave the right side a 24hr break from breastfeeding completely. I expressed from the right side and continued to bf from the left, so for 24hrs DD alternated boob and bottle at each feed. She was about a week old. I'm not advocating this as a great idea for everyone, I only brought the bottle in so early because my right nipple hurt so much I literally could not put DD back on. It was express or just stop altogether. I was very lucky that DD accepted the bottle no problem and also quite happily continued bfing. After 24hr my right nipple had almost totally healed - it made such a quick recovery when given a break, so I was able to stop expressing at that point and wait until after 2 weeks before expressing again (one bottle a day for DH to use during his section of the night shift). Good luck with your bfing!
Scarlet this whole thrush thing is so confusing! My nipples are still stinging loads, but I wouldn't say my symptoms match the description of thrush really. I can't see any visible signs of thrush on my nipples or in DD's mouth. Plus although there's a rush of stinging when DD latches on, it fades as the feed continues. It hurts more between feeds than during. My imw suggested it could be the letdown, but when I feed DD I always get letdown in both breasts, yet only the breast she's actually on hurts. So confusing! Are you going to your GP about it? I haven't decided yet - there's no test for thrush so I'm not sure what more my GP can tell me than my imw.
Apologies for the mammoth post, and for not responding directly to anyone else. I'm just soooooo tired still, my brain isn't functioning. Sending out No Brooking vibes for all those potty training, also for all poorly No Brookers (both full-size and mini members), and wishing for lots of sleep for everyone!