Struggling with breastfeeding

[Mum082020]

Hi Mumsnet

I gave birth this month and I am really struggling to breastfeed. My nipples feel sore and cracked and really hurt when baby latches on. I've tried to speak to the midwife who wasn't very helpful. I've had to result to formula feeding my baby as I am worried he won't get enough milk. My baby is now 3 weeks old and nursing sessions with him last about an hour.

Does anybody have any tips to help with breastfeeding, I'm worried about my milk drying up.

Thanks in advance

Drink LOTS of water. I found that made a big difference to my supply. I thought I drank a decent amount before, but I was drinking a pint of water every hour or two. I was really thirsty so it was easy for me to do!

Get a good nipple cream. I used Waleda(I think that’s the spelling) which you don’t need to wash off before a feed. I went through a phase of cracked and bleeding nipples and it really helped. It is about £8 in Boots.

My daughter’s feeding sessions were 45 mins to an hour I think, so an hour sounds about right.

Hope everything works out for you. I felt very isolated in those early weeks and it must be so much worse right now.

Has your baby been checked for tongue tie?

It sounds like either tongue tie or an issue with latch/positioning. Both can cause pain and also prevent efficient milk extraction. Can you get in touch with the Leche League or NCT bresstfeeding supporter and see if someone can have a look at your latch.

I'm a breastfeeding peer supporter. Are there any bf support groups in your area that are maybe doing virtual meet ups? If not (or if there isn't one for a while) I'd recommend calling the national breastfeeding helpline on 0300 100 0212 / using their webchat service www.nationalbreastfeedinghelpline.org.uk

It sounds like it could be an issue with positioning & attachment - is your baby getting a mouthful of breast, rather than just nipple when latching on?

You could try searching for videos on the "flipple" breastfeeding technique or deep latch technique - I know many mums find these approaches helpful.

In the meantime, are you expressing to keep up your supply while formula feeding?

I had a similar problem and it turned out my sitting position to feed was bad. Once I corrected it, it felt strange and forced but once DS the as latched on correctly it was easy to relax. Congratulations on your baby.

Oh and I will just add that when he was 10 days old, I had to bottle feed DS for 2 weeks as I was on really strong antibiotics - I pumped to keep my milk up even though I had to throw it away - he went back on the breast with no probs and whilst my supply went back up he was combination fed.

I found the first few weeks of breastfeeding extremely hard and almost quit many times!! My baby is now over 7 months and we’re still going..it gets a lot easier! :)

I had the same with hour long feeding sessions and even hours of continuous cluster feeding in the evenings. This is all so that the baby stimulates your breasts to produce more milk but it can be absolutely exhausting, painful and upsetting when you don’t feel like it’s going well. I was always so paranoid she wasn’t getting enough milk and was hungry all the time and remember really dreading the evening feeding sessions! In contract my daughter now takes about 5 mins for a full feed and as their head and neck gets stronger they position themselves a lot easier so you’re not having to hold them into position as much.

As others have said, nipple cream will help but the soreness will settle down soon unless there’s trouble with the latch. In the early days I had to breastfeed laying on my side in order to get the latch right, it’s also a lot less labour-intensive than holding them for an hour! You can also try where you lay on your back and baby is facedown on your belly / breasts. This allows them to Bob around a bit and find the boob themselves which I found sometimes achieved a better latch.

If breastfeeding support groups are running (not sure with Covid etc?) id head to one of those so someone can actually take a look at a feed to see if there’s any latch issue. Or there might be something running via Zoom online meetings?

It does get so much easier but the first few weeks are tough and then you have tough phases where they’re going through growth spurts (like around 12 weeks) but when things do settle down it’s so lovely. I used to hate it and now really look forward to feeds.

At the same time if you’re just not getting on with it’s stressing you out, do what’s right for you. Happy mum happy baby and all that! you've done the first few weeks which are most important.