Dr told me to give up

I have had extremely sore nipples for the past 2 months or so, but recently things have been even worse. The other night I just could not feed DD so had to give her a bottle of cows milk as I don't have formular nor do I have EBM on hand. Rang Tresilian the next morning and from what I described (sore nipples and occational shooting pain from nipple to the back of the breast) she thought it was thrush of the nipples so sugested I see my Dr. I couldn't get into my Dr but saw another Dr in the same medical centre who I've seen before and he's always been quite good.
He made me feel a little stupid to start cuz he said 'She'd have teeth by her age so thats going to hurt'! Ummmm well nope, no teeth nor does she bite me, I think I'd know if she was!!! He had a look and said theres no thrush there, he has no idea what else it'ld be so I should go and buy myself some formular. :cry:
I only got to BF DD#1 for 6 1/2months before she started biting and rejecting and both times my goal has been 12 months AT LEAST! I said I think I might just give her a FF before bed so I should then get a good break through the night and after a few days that maybe all my breast need to repair themselves (even though there isn't any noticable problem), his reply to that was 'once they have a bottle the breast is just too much work and she'll just reject you' :cry:

What do I do??? I want to keep feeding her but I am in so much pain! Has anyone breast and bottle fed without this leading to breast rejection???
I was thinking of using a NB teat so it was still an effort for her to feed?????

Any advice would be much appreciated!!! TIA ladies!

Chances are your doctor is not a lactation consultant and has NO IDEA what he is talking about.

So call the Australian Breastfeeding Association - 1800 mum2mum (1800 686 2 686).

At this age you should be able to give yourself a break for a few days without her rejecting you, if that's what you need to feel better. It does sound like you might have thrush, perhaps if you contact the ABA they will be able to get you some help so you can work out what is really going on? It sounds like the GP you saw is a douchebag with no knowledge of breastfeeding, so feel free to completely disregard what they said.

Oh hugs hun. I think the Dr has given you some shocking advice, in my humble opinion. This does not have to signal the end of your bf relationship. I am sad that he was not more supportive. FWIW, my son has teeth - lots of them- and he doesn't bite me (he only tried it on when he first got teeth), so his comments there are not necessarily accurate.

Recently I was having the pain that you describe. My DS would have been about 22 months. I thought I had a cracked nipple, and I was also getting the shooting pain too. It went away after a few days. It did hurt a lot at first. Can you get in to see another doctor? Can you just feed from the other side for a couple of days and express from the sore breast? Does it hurt to express from your sore breast?

I am sorry that I can not help on the breast rejection/bottle issue; I have no personal experience. But it sounds to me that he is making a gross generalisation.

This does not have to be the end of your bf relationship. You just need the right support and help, which you should have got today - and didn't.:hug:

Hi,

I am sorry you got so much negative and unhelpful advice from your doctor. You are doing a great job. It sounds like you have some sort of infection on your nipples. It can be sometimes difficult for doctors to diagnose this from your symptoms. Many doctors would prescribe something like Kennacombe creme (which contains an antibiotic, an antifungal and a steroid) Many women find this helps enormously. You will need to wipe off with a warm wet, soft damp cloth before feeds, more because it tastes unpleasant than anything else) Go to another dr and discuss this with him/her. Try to be careful with positioning. Hold your baby close. Sometimes mothers become sensitive to foods the baby is eating or saliva which may become a bit acidic when baby is teething. Sometimes it helps to wipe the breast with a warm wet facecloth after a feed.

Can you get to see a lactation consultant? Or see another doctor. oR YOUR mchn. If you do have thrush (and it sounds to me like you do, though I'm not a doctor!!) it is easily fixed. You just need some oral thrush treatment to put on your nipples, like daktarin gel. Also letting them 'air' (ie not wearing a bra for a while each day) and letting some sun onto them will help, as will natural yogurt (eating it and putting it onto your nipples). DS2 and I have thrush now and it can be very resilient, but essentially fairly easily fixed with some persistence.
TBH, I don't see that one bottle would make bub reject you, though it can. But for you to use a bottle once a day so you can get some relief is better than you persevering to a point and then saying stuff it and deciding you can't do it anymore because of the pain. Try to find someone else to give you advice, your doctor sounds like he has no idea! Good luck. I know how painful it can get :hug:

My DS had EBM bottles while I was working and BF at the same time.
There is a risk of rejection - but it is not what usually happens, it is relatively rare.
Make sure that any bottles you use have newborn or the next level up teats so that they still require serious sucking, and you will minimize the risk of bottle preference.

Have you considered using a nipple shield? It might protect things and allow healing too. I hope after all that that you at least got some treatment for the blasted thrush - or otherwise see your chemist.

The advice to call the Breastfeeding Helpline (1800 MUM 2 MUM) is what I would also suggest. Unfortunately not all GPs are up to date in their experience with breastfeeding, but the ABA are - it is your best source of breastfeeding info and advice. Plus you can call them ANYTIME!

I was also going to ask (as Kmn has), if you had considered a nipple shield. When I was experiencing difficultly, cracked nippled, searing pain in my nipple and shooting up my back, I used a nipple shield for a few days, which allowed the nipple to heal.

Def call the helpline and seek another (educated) opinion

All the best

Thank you all so much for you advice. Unfortunaytly where I live coming by a LC is pretty well impossible, but giving the ABA a call may just help.

Barb - I appreciate your suggestions. I'll try to get myself back to another Dr and ask about the creme. I will from now on give them a clean after her feeding, I really didn't think a thing about what she's eating!!! I do my very best to hold her close, but she does pull her head right back (which is also very painful) or push on me like a puppy dog and if I force her close and keep her hand away she fights then comes off and cries. That sounds aweful, I'm not hurting her at all just keeping my arm tight to keep her head close and holding her hand. I really wasn't sure if this was a new thing or if she'd always fed like this but its just never hirt before... Does this sound normal??? Should I try different feeding positions???

lilias - I hope you're feeling better soon too!!! TY for the advice!

Thank you all again so very much :grouphug:

What a fool.

DD was totally formula-fed from the time she was 3 weeks old until she was 9 weeks old because I couldn't attach her. I subsequently tried again at the 9 week mark and she had none of the infamous "nipple confusion" - no problem getting her to attach at all though I could never get a full supply. We used everything - bottles, supply line and nipple. She was happy to chop and change so please don't stress about giving her the odd bottle here and there until you heal.

DS2 was 9 months when he started daycare and was having EBM bottles there. He was still very happy to have boob when he was at home though. And formula doesn't taste as good either... why would they refuse lovely sweet BM and mummy cuddles to get formula in a bottle? :)
If 1 formula feed a day gives you the break you need to get your nipples back into shape then do it, but it doesn't mean the end of BFing!

Both my boys had all their teeth before they stopped feeding too, and I only ever got bitten a couple of time. They work out pretty quickly that biting means no food and they stop doing it.

That is terrible advice ~ don't listen. Ring ABA or go and see a Lactation Consultant as others have suggested. Your local health clinic should have one for free?
You don't need to be able to see thrush to have it. But it also could be Vasospasam. It is quite painful. I have had both thrush and vasospasam (for the first couple months of bf) and we are still going strong at 10months! Don't give up so easily. Your local health clinic or LC should have a breast pump you could borrow while you give your breasts a rest if need be. Both can be extremely painful and you have my full sympathy. Don't give up though xx Good luck.

:hug: back in soon to post.

Just lots of hugs hun. You have done a fabulous job with little Hadley! The girls have given fantastic advice and I can not add to it! :hug:

I'm sorry you were given such *wrong* advice. :shakehead:

My DD went through a terrible biting stage around 9/10mths of age and would bite me EVERY feed, every day for 2 weeks. Amongst that I experienced breast refusal also but with the correct info and support and persistence we both got through it :D Don't listen to silly remarks about babies biting, they were born to breastfeed, even with teeth! ;)
You are doing such a great job to be BF this long!! Good on you!! :clap:

As for the nipple and teat confusion, it is more likely to happen when the child is alot younger like in those early weeks if anything..... most babies seem fine with swapping between boob and bottle though! My DD had to have bottles (while still BFing) for top up feeds from 3wks onwards until around 4mths of age and she took to it fine! We eventually got her off the bottle top ups and my milk supply established (finally) after so many problems we had and all was fine and she cont'd to BF until 22mths :D

:hug: definitely give 1800 mum 2 mum a call!!

aww darling! This dr is a douchbag just as Traveller said!!! I can't believe he said that! It most definitely does not have to be over for you guys!

The suggestions on here are great! Call the ABA, try nipple shields, try those hydrogel breastpads, use lansinoh after every feed, use the newborn teats etc.

I am sure nipple/teat confusion won't be a problem! FX for you guys!!!!

xx

Also, like Barb mentioned, I had my LC prescribe me some Kennacombe ointment for my nipples as they were so badly cracked/bleeding etc and it REALLY helped!!! The relief was amazing.... also lots of drying your nipples out (indoors, not outside otherwise you may burn them!) and rubbing breast milk on them before and after each feed will help immensely :D (antibacterial properties of BM)

It can be common that older babies can get 'lazy' with their attachment, particularly around teething time, (this is what I found anyway) and hence poor attachment causing your sore nipples. :hug: that happened to me around the same time. Had to look closely at our attachment again.

Sweetie, you keep trying as long as you want to.

I bottle (ebm) and breast fed both of mine and they were fine!!!

My DD has been on mixed feeds pretty much since birth. We have had no breast refusal whatsoever. If anything, we have bottle refusal!

That doctor is a knob.

Thank you for all of your advice, encouragment and sharing your stories with me. I tried H on the formular last night to giv me a break but she hated it!!! :lol: There is no way she'd take it so I just BF her then gave her water in the middle of the night to settle. Haven't yet fed this morning but I hope they're just a little better this morning!!
Thank you thank you thank you, everyone, thank you!