Pain 1hr after breastfeeding- help!

Hello all,

I'm after some help with a situation which is starting to threaten the breastfeeding of my son :(

He is 4 1/2 months old. We have had a very positive feeding experience for the first 3 months. I have had too much milk and also some problems with blocked ducts and white spots but we have got through all of that and he is thriving.

This new problem is a stabbing/burning pain I experience well after feeding. It is between 45mins and 1 hr after feeding. It is a white hot flaring of pain, not after every feed. Sometimes it is after 2 or 3 of his 6 feeds, can be in either breast (but always from the one that is fed from). The pain can last for up to 1 1/2 hrs and when it happens over night I get very little sleep :( On the days when I get the pain after every feed I end up very teary and exhausted. This has been going on for more than a month now.

My nipples have also been damaged in the last few weeks and my poor little boy has had a few vampire feeds, as my nipples have bled during feeding.

I have been treated for thrush (with the Daktaren gel for my little boy, and the cream and then with the diflucan on days 1,3 and 5 for me), this didn't seem to help (but did have a REALLY painful day when I came off them). I have also been treated with antibiotics which also didn't help. My Dr is out of ideas, and I'm worried that I have a persistent thrush infection (in the US they do MUCH longer treatments), I am also getting an ultrasound as suggested by a breast surgeon.

The main problem is that no one has any idea whats happening with me. 1/2 the lactation consultants are sure that it is NOT thrush, while the other 1/2 are sure that it is. Also, I feel like I'm falling between the lactation consultants (who can't prescribe anything, but can tell me that he is attaching properly etc) and the Dr's who don't know what it is (and whose solution is to give up breastfeeding).

Anyway, thanks for reading, I've been going on a bit. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Or are there any suggestions as to who I could talk to about the problem. I'm in Perth but I'd be interested in any specialists in Australia at all (who are specialists in this???)

Thanks so much,

Indy

Hi, there,

It sounds like you are experiencing significant pain - but lucky for you you have many of the world's specialists in breastfeeding right there in Perth.

Get on to Cathy Garbin 0407 778 183 or cathygarbin@cathygarbin.com

Let us know how you go