As I am the self proclaimed expert on feeding with shields (lol), I recommend getting the Avent large shields. The Avent ones have a cut out for both nose and chin so that they still work the breast with their chin as they are meant too and they can still smell you .
My LC said to try and get the largest possible so that the baby doesn't get into a bad habit of not opening their mouth wide enough when you want to change back to normal.
My LC had also diagnosed dd1 with a bubble palette, I ended up feeding her for 15 months with the shields. If you can try and feed one side with shield, one side without, that way he doesn't get too use to the feel and will wean off them easy later. Dd1 never weaned because she got use to them and didn't like my nipple (I had to use them longer than I should have though because of the extent of damage, reoccurring mastitis and her palette.
They saved me though. I remember waking up one morning to feed and just crying because I couldn't put her on because of the pain.
Could it be thrush? The of sign I had nipple thrush was pain, cracks and bleeding. Ds never had white dots in his mouth. The thrush makes the skin slow to heal. Lansinoh makes it all worse.
So you have sore nipples between feeds? Any breast pain?
I had a really good talk to the LC, she got me to describe exactly what happens during feeding, how the pain is and what it looks like under his tongue. She said she doesn't believe in a "minor" tongue tie and it sounds as though he can't get his tongue forward enough to do the proper "wave" action so he's moving it forward and back and that's causing the pain. Because of the cost of her coming out here, she recommended an appointment with an oral surgeon first, and then see her.
I told her there were peads at the local hospital, but she doesn't trust any peads in Adelaide with tongue tie, especially once bub is this age. So I called their office and have an appointment for Friday afternoon. I've gotta go to the Dr first to get a referral letter. They said if it does need to be cut he may do it then and there, she couldn't tell me if he would have an oral sedative or not.
But now that I'm going down this road I think of the pain it will cause him, he's lying there smiling at me and blowing raspberries, it makes me not want to do it Then I think of the pain of feeding him and I don't want to do that either. And the cost, if this doesn't help, or there's something else I can do, I'd rather not spend this much. I'm kind of at a point of not really knowing what to do, I just wish we'd had it looked at so much earlier
As for thrush, I have no idea. DD had oral thrush once but I never had any pain or anything with it. Everything looks and feels fine apart from the worn part of skin.
Things are never easy and they it all seems very overwhelming at times when there are so many decisions to be made, especially when it involves our kiddies. I have no experience with tongue toe but if they snip it there, I would assume at the very least they would use a numbing gel.
We did little tongue exercises with DD because the midwives thought she couldn't get her tongue our far enough at first. For the life of me I cant remember what they were. No idea if they helped but if DS is tongue tied I cant see that this would help either.
Pain like you are describing is awful. You poor thing that moment when your toes literally curl into the carpet is sickening. I wish I had more to offer. I do have loads of these though
Hun I haven't been in your shoes but I want to help... If he has a tongue tie, he could have problems later in life, with speech... He could start to have problems getting enough milk... The best thing to do is get it snipped, soon as you can. It might not even be a problem - you've got an appointment, go get it looked at and make some decisions from there.
Just remember if it does need to be snipped, they will have heaps of experience and will know how to do it as painlessly as possible. And if he cries, just think of it like an immunisation - little sting for a life time of benefits. And breastfeeding provides instant pain relief and feel good stuff for both of you so stick him on the boob as soon as its done (if you're able).
oh, sorry, I totally missed your update.
This is good, you're making progress. And mate, seriously, you need to do this. You've got months more breastfeeding ahead of you - don't go through any more pain than you need to. A snip might hurt for a minute, but stopping breastfeeding would have a bigger impact on him (and keeping going like this has serious cost for you).
Thanks everyone. I cried a lot this morning just thinking of it, I was trying to convince myself it was getting better and he'd just grow out of it. But it's not better, it still seriously hurts and I don't want him to have issues with speech or eating. I guess I needed a bit of a push to go ahead with it.
I kind of don't know what's worse - putting up with this until Friday or putting him through that. Either way I think I'm going to be a mess for a little while I've still been putting the Lansinoh on or breastmilk if I can and then going topless for the last two days unless going out. That seems to help for a bit, he goes on the right mostly and that one feels alright, but if he wants the left too much it doesn't take long for it to be agony again. If I get enough break in between using that one it's not as bad.
I think now I just need to suck it up and make that referral appointment.
So I did it. Have the referral appointment on Thursday and will get her to check his lip and look for a posterior tie too. I had a good chat to a friend whos DS is getting and lip and tongue tie lasered tomorrow, and a bit of a sook to DH when he got home. I'm feeling much better about it all now, and while I'll probably still be a wreck on Friday I'm looking forward to working towards fixing this.
I'm only just reading this now.
=( sorry to hear it is so hard for you two atm. big massive squishy hugs. you need to get it sorted, it will hurt now. but in the long run it will be better.
Massive hugs. It is one of the worst pain experiences out there.
Get yourself some rite aid brand breast discs (NOT breast pads). You can't get them everywhere - I couldn't get them at woolies but could at Coles. I had the kind of pain you're experiencing for about 7 months, plus 10 bouts of mastitis with my second, and they were what enabled me to get thought it. Infinitely better than lanolin.
We've got those discs at a chemist in the next town, I'll write it down for DH. Unfortunately I won't have a car tomorrow but DH has offered to go get whatever I need on his way home from work.
Oh teeki, lots of hugs. DS1 didn't have tt but we had issues with attachment that led to the same pain your describing. I remember hating bf time, and tensing up at the thought. I'd curl up my toes attaching him and often swear. I didn't do anything though until I was at the point of saying "I can't do this anymore". And DH wanted me to stop because he couldn't stand watching me in pain. Mine were bad, I couldn't even touch them at all, and a towel was like sandpaper. Once we got attachment correct it all improved extremely quickly. I had to position nipple into his soft pallet as he wasn't attaching totally correctly, though it looked correct from my pov.
I did the milk, air, sunlight and lanolin. I found these pads that had a type of healing gel on them that really helped to soothe and heal my nipples. Will try to find the name of them.
We had our GP appointment today. Very quick because I already have the appointment for tomorrow, but she had a look and she said yes there's a tongue and upper lip tie, and if it's causing issues breastfeeding she's got no issues recommending a referral to have them snipped.
Tonight I'm in a bit of pain and feeling off. I've been avoiding the left side because of the pain, so then I got worried that the way I'm feeling could be the start of mastitis due to not draining it. It hurts more of the breast now, it hurts to touch. So I tried expressing while DS was in the bath to see if there'd be any relief. It was actually worse, there was blood in the milk from a crack and the pain was constant, whereas when DS feeds on it it's just for the first 30 seconds or so.
So I'm completely second guessing myself, it's stupid. The right side is totally back to normal, no pain. If it was the ties causing the problem, wouldn't it be ongoing? Now I'm worried it's actually thrush in the left breast. I just don't know anymore
It's always possible there's more than one issue there Teeki. Keep going mate, and keep asking for help - you'll get there.
Has DS fed off the left side to drain it? How is it now?
Re: For the first time, breastfeeding is hard :(
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Things are never easy and they it all seems very overwhelming at times when there are so many decisions to be made, especially when it involves our kiddies. I have no experience with tongue toe but if they snip it there, I would assume at the very least they would use a numbing gel.
that moment when your toes literally curl into the carpet is sickening. I wish I had more to offer. I do have loads of these though 
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