Baby is 8 weeks and 1 day. Feeding was excruciating in hospital, so I expressed full-time from day 3 to 7 weeks. Have been breastfeeding with 1 express each day for 8 days now.
Expressing was painful, some times more than others. I treated myself with daktarin gel in case I had thrush. I really have no idea if it helped or not.
Breastfeeding is very very painful, especially for the first minute. I know it's often painful when your body is still getting used to it, but I'm at the point where I dread the next feed. Very occasionally I'll have a feed that doesn't hurt much at all after the first minute.
I am on my second tube of daktarin. I sometimes get shooting pains in my breasts. My nipples are very red and hurt pretty much constantly - even if exposed to nothing but air. Hurts to touch them, to dry them with a towel, etc etc.
I have seen child health nurse, doctor, pharmacist, and they all think it's thrush (although none have seen my breasts). But I feel like the daktarin isn't really doing anything (using it after every feed at the moment).
I just don't know if it's thrush or something else, like incorrect latching. I am exhausted from being in pain so much. Has anyone been through this, and what does it sound like to you?
I haven't had thrush before so I am not really sure about that, but my first instinct from reading your post was to get your attachment looked at and see if there are any issues. Early on I was experiencing very very sore nipples and thought my attachment was fine and that my nipples were just getting used to feeding. Then I saw a LC for a routine postnatal appointment, she pointed out one small thing for me to do and it got sooooo much better.
ETA - I should say my nipples were quite grazed from the dodgy attachment. Would you say the feel like they are grazed? If they do get some breast milk onto them and let them air dry.
Last edited by Sagres; May 11th, 2010 at 09:24 PM.
You've had a rough start, but well done on perservering so long. You really do need to get this fixed though - you can take this pain for only so long!
Hon, you NEED to see a lactation consultant or ABA counsellor - someone with expertise in breastfeeding and breastfeeding problems. It could well be something as simple to fix as incorrect attachment - an expert will watch you feed and help you from there, it's really the only way to get it right.
The ABA have a 24-hour helpline you can call for advice 1800-mum-2-mum
You can also look here for lactation consultant recommendations - they cost, but it's well worth it. Or your hospital may have LCs on staff that can help you out - give them a call.
Great advice from the others to seek help from a LC or the ABA.
If it is thrush, you need to be treating bub as well, or bub will just be re-infecting you. Check your baby's mouth for white spots.. that's a tell tale sign. Maybe get your GP to check both of you?
I'm sorry to hear it's been so painful for so long. Hopefully it is something that can be fixed quickly. Hang in there.. I'm sure it'll get better. Well done for sticking with it
Just offering some hugs. You CAN get through this. I swore blue murder during feeds in the early days. If it is thrush then you need to get professional advice. As Liz said- bub needs to be treated too.
I second third and fourth the advice to ring the ABA. They are brilliant and are used to people calling up in tears with screaming babies in the background... Please don't hesitate to call them as often as you need!
My only other thought is vasospasm. I had this and it was so painful in the early weeks. It is a constriction of blood flow to the nipple and is generally exacerbated by grazing to the nipple. It hurt to have my nipples exposed to the air and after showers was UNBEARABLE. My nipples would shrivel and be so sore!!! The latching on made me screach and then it would pass and pain would return towards the end of the feed. Do you have a history of poor circulation or chill blaines?
If you think you may have it, a warm washer on your nipples before a feed and cover them warmly after a shower should help. Mine went away by the 10 week mark I think, once bub had a better attachment, which improved as she got bigger and I was more confident.
We're still feeding 16 months on. It's so worth the perserverance!!!
Thank you ladies for your supoort and encouragement. I am feeding atm and have shifted his position a bit, which helped a little. Will get onto ABA tomorrow (I know I can call anytime but I feel bad waking up some poor mum if it's not life-threatening!). I also have a GP appt for Monday so if things aren't better will have a talk about the thrush.
I don't know if it's related but I feel like I've had my happy little sleeper disappear this week! Up until Sunday, he has been going 5-6 hours between feeds (even up to 9!) and sleeping really well in between. Now we're suddenly at 4 hours, with a lot of unsettledness in between. I don't know if it's related to the feeding - I've wondered if he's not filling up enough? I never feel like he feeds properly - he gets really sleepy and by the end I'm tickling him every 30 seconds to keep sucking. So then when I think he's just comfort sucking I take him off (too sore to be used like that!) - usually this means he has about 30 minute feeds. I've been offering only one side as he has had green nappies so trying to see if that helps. He's also having 4-5-6 poos per day (usually while feeding), and his weight gain since starting breastfeeding 9 days ago has been poor at around 140g in 10 days (up until then had been excellent. Dr says it has to average out sometime but is checking him again on Monday).
I just don't know how to tell if he's had enough and I feel like I don't have a clue what I'm doing. But I feel like no one person is able to look at everything that's going on - ABA or LC won't be able to help with the more medical side of things (nappies, thrush, weight) but dr doesn't have time to deal with breastfeeding. So I've just been doing heaps of research myself, but being in pain and with increasingly less sleep I'm not really able to experiment too much - I need answers now iykwim? If I have cracked/grazed nipples (and I wouldn't have a clue what they look like) then treating for thrush will stop them healing and vice versa. It's also hard to explain to a screaming baby that they just need to wait while I try a new position.
Thanks for listening - I had no idea bfeeding would be this hard!
I think it sounds like vasospasm too. I don't know much about it, but I've heard about it here on BB. Try putting a warm face washer on your nipple just befor you attatch.
I tried that once & it worked miracles! No pain with attatchment at all. I stopped feeding my first 2 & struggled with my third & I now think vasospasm is why. Although I can't be too sure. I need to do some research before I start feeding this bub.
He might be having a growth spurt & thats why he's so unsettled at the moment. It is common for a new baby to breast feed every 2 hours during the day & they often cluster feed early in the evening, then will sometimes sleep very well at night. These feed times can be all over the place though, with the longer sleep is during the day.
Every baby is different, so keep to his lead with the feeding times. 5 - 6 hours between feeds is fine maybe once a day, but I'd be offering to him every 2 - 3 hours, as that sounds like too long between all feeds to me.
Try getting in touch with a LC & the ABA & see how you go. Good luck.
Completely Desperate!
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You've had a rough start, but well done on perservering so long. You really do need to get this fixed though - you can take this pain for only so long!
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