Any breastfeeding mums have any advice please? Suffering terrible pain breastfeeding
Hi, I'm looking for some help!
My son was born 9 weeks premature. He was in the hospital for the first 5 weeks, and has now been home for 5 weeks.
I've been expressing breast milk from the start using a pump the hospital lent me. At first he was too weak to feed from the breast so he got it from a tube or bottle, then gradually direct.
I still express and give him bottles at night as it's the only way he'll sleep at all. So he has a bottle every 2-3 hours from 8pm to 8am (ish) and then breastfeeding through the day. He feeds almost continuously, and when he's not feeding will only sleep on me.
I was just getting used to this, when he's started to really hurt me when feeding. before there were occasional instances of pain, but not every feed and not for long. It is now almost every feed, and it is agony for 1-2 minutes. It feels like he is biting my nipples during the latch and the early deep sucks. The pain makes me Yelp out loud and brings tears to my eyes.
The BF nurse in the hospital said my latch was fine, and since the pain started the Health visitor and a la leche league counsellor have both said there is no problem with the latch. I use a nipple shield already as he needed one to help being so small. My nipples feel bruised now, so that it is even painful expressing where it never has been before.
I'm at my wits end, I can't keep this up but I really want to keep breastfeeding. The HV advice was basically to say "it hurts sometimes, you're doing well, just keep at it" but I need more than that. It wasn't agony before, so why is it now?
Sorry this is so long, but I finally snapped sat crying while expressing and trying to rock the little man to sleep!
Replies
Hi Budacini, we're sorry your post has gone unanswered - we're just bumping your post, so hopefully someone will spot your post and be able to help.
Hey
it really shouldn't hurt! Have you tried lanisoh? That was my absolute lifesaver in the early days!!
id call your local BF expert again too and have a chat 💕
Hope it gets better soon xx
Thank you. Yes I've been using lasinoh from the start as the hospital advised it.
The BF counsellor and HV both could see no reason for the pain. The GP has given me thrush cream and medicine for my son, though they're not sure if I have thrush.
We've been taking it a few days and so far no difference, but I'll keep going a few more days to see if it helps.
yeah i thought thrush at first but usually it would hurt when expressing too? I know he's very little but he could be teething early?
My little one has two teeth now and when she doesn't want to feed she just bites so I totally feel your pain xx
I hurts when expressing but not all the time, the rest it's just a bit uncomfortable.
I hadn't thought of teething since he's small, but I'll have a look. Thanks, and I hope your little one gets less bitey!
You shouldn't be in that much pain budacini... it's really frustrating that your HV told you that is 'normal' & you have to put up with it!!!
Sounds like you are already trying a lot of the things I would think of (nipple shield, cream, thrush etc). As HH88 says... perhaps he is starting to teeth & that's it.
Any chance you have some blocked ducts? I had this on a couple of occasions & it was very painful! This is possible as you say he is freeding extremely frequently so it may be that he's not emptying the breast completely which can cause the blocked ducts then. Easy to fix though... try putting a warm compress on your breast for a minute or so prior to feeding which helps open up the ducts & promote let down & (this is going to really weird but it works!) lay him down on a flat surface (I found the bed easiest) then go on all 4's over him so he can feed with your breast right over the top of him... it felt ridiculous when I did it but it cleared the blockage & so the pain was gone... guess the gravity helped!
Also to ensure each breast is being emptied properly, you may need to pump the breast he has just fed on after each feed... I had to do that for the first 4 weeks as he wasn't eating enough to empty each breast & so I was getting engorged. So that is what my lactation consultant advised I did... once he got a little bigger he started eating more & emptying properly so I could stop the pumping after each feed. It doesn't take long as you only do the 1 breast he has just fed on so there will probably not be much left in there but it just makes sure all the rich fatty milk is out so it doesn't block your ducts. Also, if by chance he is emptying 1 breast and moving onto the 2nd during a single feed, make sure that you start him next time on the 2nd breast that he probably didn't finish. so... if he only takes the right for example, pump the remaining milk out of the right then next feed start him on the left. If he empties the right & takes a little of the left, no need to pump... just start him on the left next time before going back to the right. No need to pump the left on occasions where he empties the right & takes a little of the left as the time won't be that long before he feeds again and empties the left. Necessary to pump if he only takes 1 as then it'd be longer before he emptied that one as you would be giving him the other on the next feed.
Hope that makes sense!!
Let us know how you get on & if there's anything else we can do to help!
That's really helpful, I'll give them a go thanks. I think he is emptying each breast as he feeds for a long time and I'm not getting heavy or full apart from at night when there are longer breaks between feeds but it can't hurt to try!
Hi. First of all, forgive me for my English. I'm just starting to learn this language and came to this forum to read native speakers. I did not think that I would write on the first day. But your story is the same as mine. My third son was also born prematurely. He also was in the hospital for more than a month. Then, breastfeeding was for 3 years and 2 months. Now I'm breast-feeding my daughter. She is 3 years and 3 months old now.
It seems to me the cause of pain is bottle feeding. Your baby sucks your breast as a bottle. By the same principle. He makes a vacuum and your nipples feel bruised. The child shouid suck the breast and bottle in different ways. You can search the internet about this. Outwardly, this may look like there is no problem with the latch. You should only breastfeed. In this case, maybe over time the child will learn the proper breastfeeding.
My youngest two children never received a bottle and a pacifier, ever since we returned from the hospital.
I wish you successful breast-feeding.