Very painful breastfeeding 4 weeks postpartum

[PheeLou21]

Hi,

I gave birth to my little boy 4 weeks ago. I have been breastfeeding him since day one, almost exclusively (we give him a tiny bit of formula as a top up at night if I'm finding it too painful).

I have found breastfeeding extremely painful since the very first day. He was born with a tongue tie and we had this corrected at 1 week old. I was hoping that this would improve the pain and make it easier for him to latch but 3 weeks later it is still extremely painful.

There have been days that have been better than others, but even now my nipples are very sore the whole time he is feeding, and often I have sharp shooting pains in my breasts in between feeds.

My boys latch looks good to the naked eye however judging by the pain I suspect it's not quite right.

I have seen the lactation consultant 3 times and nothing she has suggested seems to be working. I suppose I am wondering if what I am feeling is normal, or if something still isn't quite right.

Questions are welcome if I've missed any information!

Thanks!

It sounds like baby is not opening wide enough. Do you have a fast let down or oversupply of milk?

I experienced something very similar with dc2. I had a really fast let down so baby would clamp down to try and lessen the flow and make it more manageable. Although it wasn't that bad while feeding, I would get really bad shooting pains a few hours later. I was told that baby was effectively minimising blood supply to the nipple and the shooting pain is when it starts to come back. If this is the case then you could try feeding lying on your back, or hand express the first let down into a cloth so it's not so fast for the baby.

Also need to make sure you have excluded thrush.
If your lactation consultant is no good, maybe you could try calling la leche league? They gave me really good advice when I was starting out.

I had this. My baby is now 6.5 weeks and it doesn’t hurt anymore. I can’t say I know why - I have no idea - and my nipples are still visibly damaged so are hopefully still healing. But I wanted to say that I had started to doubt it’d ever not hurt and dreaded every feed, and it’s so, so much better now.

Sharp shooting pains between feeds sounds like nipple thrush?

Thanks for the replies so far!

Fast let down is a possibility as I have always had quite high milk supply.

I have no other symptoms of thrush and nor does my little boy but I might give the GP a call on that one to be safe.

The sharp pain in my breasts between feeds gets worse when I feel cold so I am constantly wearing 100 layers trying to make sure I keep warm!

It's good to hear stories of improvement though around the 6 week mark - I will persevere!!

Are the ends of your nipples ever white?

@TakeYourFinalPosition yes I have noticed them looking a bit white and pale at the ends! Not every time but I definitely have seen it

I think thrush too. You both need treating and do not let them fob you off!! It doesn’t always present obviously with white stuff but you’ll know within a day or two if the medication is working.

I had nipple thrush and it felt like agony and shards of glass. I will say, breastfeeding was just painful at the start anyway for me even with a good latch due to flat nipples that needed their bonds breaking. No pain at all after 6/7 weeks but my goodness it was hard work at the start.

Speak to GP re potential thrush and get latch checked to be sure

Thanks all! Will call the GP tomorrow to get some thrush treatment and see how we get on x