Hunny! First of all CONGRATS!!!
You have done so well already!!
Now, about those boobs...
When they say it shouldn't hurt, its not right...DON'T LISTEN!
Sure, in some cases, it starts great, goes great & ends great, but not for us normal gals
Pain is the first sign of poor attatchment, but not in every case.
Have faith...it DOES get better. It may hurt at every feed, but I promise it'll get easier.
I was there.
DD1 - I quit feeding at 6 weeks coz I was dreading every feed.
DD2 - only made it to 4 weeks, then got thrush, which made things even worse.
BUT, I had no support...You DO!
Try using Lansinoh, put it on after every feed, no need to wash it off.
You can put a warm washer on your nipple just before a feed. It helped me alot.
Get your boobs/nipples out in the sun. It'll help toughen them up.
After a feed, let your nipple dry in the fresh air. Air them out heaps. Express a bit of BM, & rub it around your nipple & let it dry.
Remember to change pads after every feed to keep them as dry against your skin as possible.
RELAX!
You could also get some bepanthen. You put it on about 10 minutes before a feed, leave it 5 minutes, then wash it off then feed. It has an anaesthetic in it & can help reduce the pain. Just remember to wash it off, coz it can make baby's mouth numb, not a nice feeling
You can get some nipple sheilds too. I had thrush & cracks & just used them for a day or 2 while I healed. Never any longer, but they gave me a break while I got better.
My nipples are small. (Well I think they are compared to average.)
I only think that coz when I bought the sheilds I got the average size & they were huge on me.
So I think thats why it wasn't pain free for me.
Feeding for me is still slightly uncomfortable/annoying, but the pain is gone.
It took 6 weeks for me to work it out. Even then there were good & bad days, but the worst of it was over at 6 weeks.
You are doing so great & should be so proud of yourself!
I am!!
Sounds like you are getting it all worked out!
Last edited by ~clover~; March 7th, 2009 at 09:29 PM.
oh guess what I discovered the other day ... bonjella numbs the nipples lol Ash was carrying on cos of his teeth and would feed so I put it on him and stuck him straight on the breast and they went numb. Maybe you could try that? Don't kill me if it hurts though!
Skye is right. It's not ALWAYS poor attachment. Ashtons attachment was fine, it was just my nipples were sensitive and not used to being sucked on all day every day... who's are?! They do toughen up!
Look, it may well be that some mothers have pain when their attachment is correct, I'm sure that's so. And there can be other reasons for nipple pain when BFing. But SJ already said that she had a feed today when the pain went away, so that shows that things are improving for her, that the pain she was having earlier wasn't normal .
I think it's counter-productive to suggest that it's okay to have pain, that it's normal, when in fact for most breastfeeding mothers it indicates a problem with attachment. Yep, it might be okay for some, but for the majority it's not. And they could be reading this thread thinking that it's okay, they don't need help, they just need to persist through the pain. And then they end up with badly damaged nipples
Sorry to be a downer (and to hijack SJ) but I thought that needed pointing out.
Last edited by Janie; March 7th, 2009 at 09:59 PM.
You are right Janie...it generally is a poor attachment issue. I think it happens to us "perfect attachment" girls when the baby goes ON correctly, but kinda pulls back when the flow gets too much (as was the case with me). This is how I kept getting the "lipstick" shape. The solution is to take bub off and re-attach.
In the end my nipples toughened up on their own so I don't need to re-attach her myself, she just sucks the nipple back in her mouth again.
Ah..time heals all ills it seems, but in the meantime, you are right. You have to take care of those nipples and re-attach, re-attach, re-attach....so it stays correctly in her mouth.
I think you know yourself if bub is attached correctly, there is a difference between poor attachment pain and just nipple sensitivity. As you said Heaven you had a feed with much less pain, so you are on the correct road there. Also someone else said about the football hold, that could be good just to try her attaching onto a different part of the breast.
Yes obviously as I said, pain is the first sign of poor attatchment.
Sorry if it seemed like I said pain should be normal, or that you should ignore it.
I just wanted to point out that pain can be normal for some.
I stopped feeding my first DD coz I was told something was wrong & everyone kept drilling it into me that the pain wasn't right. I didn't want someone else giving up before they were ready.
I'm glad things are better so much quicker & easier for you SJ & that you are working it all out.
Sounds like you will do great.
Good luck.
Sara,
That's great to hear your nipples feel better today
I just thought I'd mention a cream I have for my nipples.... well mainly because one was so damaged and cracked to the point it was bleeding and I desperately needed it to heal.... but my LC got me onto this cream called "Kenacomb Otic" its an ointment used for healing something to do with ears generally GP's prescribe it for but she gets her clients to put it on their nipples and it truely helped me! So if you do find your nipple is a little grazed or damaged or cracked (hopefully they don't get as bad as mine did!!!!) then remember that cream and get your GP to write a script for you.
eta - Bonjella numbs the nipple.... that's a good one!! I was desperately in need of something that would numb my nipple at one stage when it was so bad and was even considering using ICE before a feed to numb it with.... but I didn't think Ava would appreciate that one
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