Newbie here with BF question

[bubbakin]

Hello all,

I found out at the weekend that Bubba 2 is on the way! I know it's very early days (only 5 wk) but with DS1 I had terrible trouble breastfeeding & I really want to avoid this next time. My nipples got so sore it was excrutiating, i had 3 midwives check his latch & all thought it was correct. For some reason my nipples were getting torn to pieces, my DS would come off with nipple on his mouth. I tried to keep going but in the end it was a midwife that agreed I should stop (with my DH desperate for me to stop as he hated seeing me crying everytime I tried to feed), plus the open wounds on my nipples had become infected. So I expressed for 8 weeks, but as I was like daisy the cow & DS was a poor sleeper & only napped for 20mins twice a day it was just too stressful & I had to switch to formula. I felt a failure & really upset so this time I want it to work! With DS1 I tried nipple shields, I used Lanisol (sp) cream, breastmilk left on nipple whilst airing them in the garden (we have a very private not overlooked property - but TBH I probably was gone past caring!) After 8 weeks of expressing my nipples were still bleeding a bit! I did try throughout the 8 week period putting DS back on but the cracks would open up immediately. My mum, bless her, was a godsend & she could never understand why after DS had fed off me my nipples would come out slanted on the top, she said they should be like cherries off the top of a cake! So this time round I want to know if there is anything I can take or do to toughen the blighters up (they've got white scar marks on them from DS!)

Other than that I'm so excited about the pg & look forward to sharing advice & stories with you all.

Thank you
Bubbakin

congrats on your pregnancy!

your ds1 sounds just like mine was, and he was tongue tied, although we didn't realise this until after I had given up breastfeeding;
latch seemed fine, but he couldn't stay latched on properly so was slipping and causing a lot of nipple damage.

second ds was born, and midwife noticed he had a tongue tie, so we had it snipped at 3 weeks (those 3 weeks were agony!) and it was fine after that

third ds i got them to check him as soon as he was born but he doesn't have it.

The best advice I can give you is to research breastfeeding support in your area. have a look on La Leche League GB website to see if there is a group in your area, or on thebabycafe.co.uk
groups are open to pregnant women as well as breastfeeding mums and just give you a place you can go if you do run into trouble next time!

I had excatly the same with dd, and also have the scars to prove it took 12 weeks of agony before we got established, with breastfeeding.
Have had ds 10 months ago, and started from day one with nipple sheilds at every feed, also had his tongue tie snipped straight away, but that's another story! (dd never had hers cut, hence the problems) I slowly reduced the nipple sheilds use feed by feed and by 10 weeks were bf without at every feed.
Good luck with your pregnancy, and hopefully you'll be fine this time with feeding, stock up on the Lansinoh

Hiya - can totally sympathise. I had a nightmare time with DS1. nicknamed him the barracuda. I was at the stage where my toes were literally curling and i was crying every time he had to latch on. I gave up in the end because I didnt want it all to be such a negative experience. I live in a very rural area too and had no support whatsoever and actually found a lot of women very militant which just made everything worse. With DS2 I took the attitude that i would give it my best shot and use the occasional bottle if it helped. It was entirely different - a real pleasure. I was also given a tub of lansinoh but it was more like a wax than a cream - stayed on for ages and was brilliant. I cant remember the name of it but am sure if you ask about?
Best of luck this time round

Poor you, what a story. Please dont feel like a failure - I cannot believe your perseverance, your descriptions made my toes curl. You did amazingly & your little one had your milk for those all important first weeks.

Sounds to me like he wasnt latching on properly for whatever reason. As previous person said I would get lots of info from local support groups, contact bf counsellor in unit where you will deliver, if there is one, or failing that get another mum who has BF to actually come & sit with you for half a day after your little one is born. You need to make sure the first few times that the bub gets latched on properly so you dont start that whole vicious cycle of pain, cracks etc. I'm afraid to say that in my experience the midwife/assisstant in NHS postnatal ward either are too busy or not adequately trained and start pulling your nipples etc. So find someeone else to help, good luck & congratulations on your lovely news.

Thank you for all your responses. I had my mum on hand who breastfed me exclusively for over 12mth ( I refused a bottle!) and she just couldn't see why it wasn't working. I also contacted a bf support person, but living in a rural area they were 50min drive away so offered help over the phone, she was lovely & I used to put her on loud speaker with my mum there to help with her instructions but to no avail. I had no pain BF in hospital it kicked in about day 5, but then I did have an emergency c sect so maybe the initial discomfort of that took away any slight nipple pain!! Who knows! DS wasn't tongue tied either or have a high palate. Our local pharmacist told me in the old days they used to rub alcohol on their nipples to toughen them up, not sure whether to try or not!! I think an important thing for me to remember is not to worry about it as each LO is different & maybe next time we'll master it without too much pain! Positive Mental Attitude & all that!!! I'll never forget one child free midwife who sat with me & said you just need to relax, loosen your shoulders & just relax!!! Could have hit her!!!
xx

haha i'd have felt like hitting her too, but she may have a point!

i had initial probs with ds3, painful feeding, though nothing like ds1 and ds2

i saw a fab lactation consultant who said the same to me! bad positioning due to the fact i was scrunching myself up and holding him too high!

Lansinoh, lansinoh, lansinoh. [GRIN] Really helped me hth.

Oh, you already tried it... Sorry for not reading properly!

I found it really painful to begin with with dd, then used kamillosan ointment on my nipples, worked a treat. Unfortunately had to give up bf after 5 weeks as I was not producing enough milk and she was losing weight. I too had huge amounts of guilt and was really upset about the whole thing. I felt the midwives and health visitors put too much pressure on me to bf and no advice was given at all on formula feeding. I decided to change to formula and I didn't even know how to make up a bottle. I think yes, breast is best but mums should be informed about the alternatives too. Anyway, this time round, I'm going to try to bf again but this time I will be so so much more relaxed about it. And if it does not work, well, I won't be crying myself to sleep.

Good luck! And try the Kamillosan! Available from all good chemists. I've bought mine already and I'm only 15 weeks