Any LCs around?

My nipples are bleeding and sore and I need to know if its ok to still nurse Abigail. I can suck it up and deal with the pain, but it seems to be upsetting her tummy. :( When she spits up, its pink or brown from all the blood she's getting with the milk.

She's latching right, and I'm using Lanisoh after every feeding. I went through the soreness with all of them until I got the callouses built up again. I think it may be worse with her since her mouth is so tiny and she really can't get that much in.

Sorry everything's so choppy. Typing 1 handed. ;)

TIA!

I'm not a LC, but I will tell you that mine bled horrifically when I started nursing; they are (well, were) inverted, and OMG the pain! I applaud you for saying you can handle it. ((((hugs))))

It's probably not THAT much blood that it would upset her tummy...when she pulls away, there are not streams of blood running down, right? Maybe just a drop here and there? Could it be soemthing else in your diet that is bothering her? Or maybe she's just a spitter-upper?

I'd definitely advise seeing a LC though...mine was horrified at my bleeding scabby nipples, and tried to help me with the latch, but that wasn't the problem, it was the inverted-ness. It's not normal to have that much bleeding, so maybe a LC could help you out with her latch?

Michelle

I nursed Kaya despite bleeding nipples. Try Phytolacca (*homeopathic) for it!! I wish I knew about it back then! :)

:thumbsup:

Originally posted by mkulas
when she pulls away, there are not streams of blood running down, right?

It's enough that I've been putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding when she's done nursing. She's not spitting up all that much, but it seems like she has a tummy ache. Plus, I know how I feel when I get blood in my tummy. Yuck!

I tried to call the LC at the WIC office, but she's not there until 2 and she has appointments all afternoon. :rolleyes: I'll try to call over there again later, just figured y'all would know now.

Btw, didn't mean you had to be an LC to answer. ;)

I continued to nurse Adrian through bloody scabby nipples--it hurt, it sucked but i did it anyway, lol! I was determined to breastfeed him though. At night however I gave him a bottle (this was in the early early weeks too, started when he was about 5 days old or maybe younger?) and i did sleep with no bra or anything like that and it helped it heal a bit faster--it would just irritate the heck out of me when I was groggy to have him nurse with the pain--I used the original Playtex bottles so he would have to suck to get the EBM out of it instead of just biting on it and having it drain into his mouth, KWIM? So it didn't affect our BFing relationship at all.

I hope they get better soon Mama! Oh and I also found that the Lansinoh kind of made it worse and then we got thrush--it didin't allow it to scab enough to heal, it was always soft and moist and it hurt me more that way.

The blood won't hurt her. But she may not be latching on right, so watch the pretty close. If you can't reach the LC, call a LLL for reassurance and info :)

Try Lansinoh to help heal the sores. Sorry you are having so much trouble !

the blood won't hurt her & it's surely less than it appears to be, kwim?

try nursing her in different positions, to lessen the pressure on the same places on your nippe.

are you laying down to nurse yet? football hold? anything to change it up with the way she latches will help you heal-as well as using lansinoh & going shirtless/braless w/staying dry.

have you checked her palate? does it feel unusually high? is her frenulum unusually short? i've had babies with both of thiese things, and it can be challenging-but very possible to successfully bf them :)

*LLL*-call, and GO.

my first thought was that you might be having a latch issue...? once you're already blistering/bleeding, any little tiny bit of deviation from a perfect latch will cause your nipples to not be able to heal or will just continue to make them worse...

my other thought was a tongue-tied/frenulum issue...

breastfeeding should not hurt... and those of you mamas who made it through painful nursings... i salute you! lol... i'm a little spoiled as my mom (who i was living with when my son was born) is a doula/lactation educator trainer/retired LLL leader, all around birth/breastfeeding Guru was there to help me along the way... i hope you can figure out what is causing the problem and get it resolved...

i looked up local LLL info for you:


For breastfeeding information, call our Houston Area Helpline at 713-383-2819


there's a huge listing of meetings/groups in the houston area here:

http://www.ykc.com/LLLHouston/

(ps - i'm not stalking you... just saw your location in your profile and thought i'd save you a few minutes in searching ;) )

wishing you the best -

Thanks. :)

not a LC either, but I did have horribly cracked nipples that bled awfully from the very first day I had alexis (she had a really small mouth too and could not latch) and they told me to just keep BF her....that the blood in her vomit was a normal thing and would not hurt her.

what I finally ended up doing to get through it was to get the nipple shields from medela to give my nipples a chance to heal. it only took 2 days and we were good to go. I know that a lot of people would probably say don't use them since it is a rubber nipple over yours, but it helped us and we did not have any confusion afterwards. I figured at the time it was better to do that and heal then to quit nursing.

((hugs)) to you!

Originally posted by jessica_momof6


what I finally ended up doing to get through it was to get the nipple shields from medela to give my nipples a chance to heal. it only took 2 days and we were good to go. I know that a lot of people would probably say don't use them since it is a rubber nipple over yours, but it helped us and we did not have any confusion afterwards. I figured at the time it was better to do that and heal then to quit nursing.

((hugs)) to you!

I'm glad that the nipple shields worked for you, and I know some women can use them without problems, but I just wanted to share my experience real quick, for something to keep in mind.

When I had my son, the lactatin consultant I had was terrible, she took one look at my inverted nipples and handed me the shields. It was my first child, I had never breastfed before, and I had no clue that they could lessen your milk supply. After a couple of weeks, still using the shields, because he could/would not latch on without them, he was nursing 24/7 and fussy, fussy, fussy all the time. The ped suggested I give him some formula :rolleyes: and the fussiness stopped. I decided to stop breastfeeding him, and I never got engorged, never really leaked even though I quit quickly, over a period of 2 days or so. Apparently the shields had made him not stimulate my breasts enough to maintain my supply and he was basically hungry all the time because my breasts didn't know there was a big enough demand! Grrrrr.... Needless to say, I found a new LC with my daughter and she said the new protocol is to not even offer the shields except for as a last resort, and then careful monitoring, and weaning off of them within a couple of days. It sounds like you weaned yourself off of them quickly, so that was good.

Just wanted to share that so no one starts handing them out right and left, lol. :)

Michelle

sorry- but if you have bleeding cracked nipples it is a latch issue for sure... get some help soon. breastfeeding should not be painful! yes if you have inverted nipples- but hopefully you knew that and used a nipple shell to help change that before you had a baby... but truly soreness should be very short lived- no blisters, no bleeding, no cracks, that is all not normal. we have come to think it is cause so many women don't nurse properly.

is the baby's head in the crook of your arm with her chin pointing up? is her belly next to your skin- so you can't see her bellybutton? is the nipple in the roof of her mouth? don't hold her head only her nape of her neck- you should see her nose but not her chin. think of it like eating a big mac- put your fingers at 3 and 9 if your breast was a clock- not the c hold that is taught so often- your fingers get in the way of her mouth that way. have her climb up the nipple- position her lower than the nipple with the nipple kinda pointed at her nose. so she climbs up.

don't wait until she is starving to nurse her- try latching her while she is just beginning to show signs of hunger. nurse her in lots of positions... use ice for soreness, tea bags for soreness- wet and regular not herbal, use your lansinol and air dry them- even a low setting on a hair dryer to blow them dry is good... but do go to a league meeting and get help with your latch.