It is soo painful, I want to cry.

And my right breast looks like it has a blister on the nipple.

I've tried cool compress' and it didn't help.

Any ideas?? I can't imagine not breastfeeding him, but I am not sure how much longer I can keep it up.

#1 Stop switching sides if you are. The initial latch on is going to be more painful - and it's stronger. Plus it will give each breast a longer break inbetween.

#2 the blisters (I've had them with every kid) will eventually go away. Go braless if you can, let air get to them so they heal faster. I never put anything on mine, but I'm sure that a herbal salve wouldn't hurt as long as it was either safe for baby or washed off before - otherwise lanolin is ok.

HTH and congratulations!!

I feel for you Jodi. I have so been there. Try re-checking the latch and be sure he has a mouth full of areola. I found at times I needed to use some breathing techniques from labor to get thru those first few days. Keep the faith!

Lanolin? I'm sorry, Jodi, I remember both of my nips were swollen, red, blistery, and sometimes bloody... it was latch issues. Get better soon! :(

You can do it! You are doing an awesome job already. I promise that it will get easier. Just breathe, breathe, breathe. Hot showers can help a little, lanolin will help to, but mostly the best thing to do is try to keep nursing through it and I promise that in a few more days it will start to get easier and less owie.

:hug:

Congrats Jodi! I've not posted in quite a while & haven't even seen your birth announcement yet, this is the first post I've read tonight, but I want to try & help.

Some ideas I have that may work:

~use a warm damp wash cloth before nursing, it will make let-down easier & helped ease my soreness some

~you said you'd tried cold compresses, what did you use? I used a bag of frozen veggies (peas are best). Put them straight on your nipples right before latching on. It helps to stimulate your nipple to pop out & helps numb it so the latch isn't so bad

~have you been using lanolin/Lansinoh after each nursing? If not I strongly recommend it, it will help soften your nipples & keep them from cracking.

~for the nipple that has a blister-is it possibly thrush? Does your breast hurt "inside"? Does the baby have anything white/cottage cheesy in his mouth or does he seem to have a blistery diaper rash? If so, try using some Gentian Violet (only a few $$'s at the drug store) on your nipples, in his mouth & even on the diaper rash area. You also need to get some Acidophilus or Bifidus. You take these orally & they kill the yeasties. You can even give him some of the powder. They also make a form of this just for babies, I've gotten it in powder form called "Baby Life", you just give them so much in their mouths.

~Does any part of your breast feel hot or feverish? Do you have aches/chills or feel like you have the flu? If so, you probably need to put a call in to your dr b/c it could be mastitis & if it is, I feel for you!!

~Is your main trouble with engorgement? If so, get a head of cabbage & tear off a leaf, cut into the big "vein" about 1/2 way through & put the cut side against your breast inside your bra. It will help alleviate the fullness & make it feel better. Use this method in moderation though, b/c if you do it all the time it can cause your milk production to slack.

I don't mean to sound like you don't know what you're doing, but I'm not sure what you do or don't know & wanted to get as much as I could think of right off the top of my head out there for you b/c I know how desperate I was for help in the beginning w/ ds, even after I had already nursed 2 dd's!

HTH's & good luck! BTW-I'll be online for a while, so if there's ANYTHING I can do for you, you can post here or PM me, I have a TON of bf'ing books I can look in for you!

Hugs hon. I remember those days. The only way for it to get better is to check your latch, and if fine, allow the nipples to toughen up. I know it sucks, but take deeeeeep breaths when you latch him on and I swear, I promise you, it WILL resolve and go away soon....it will get better I promise you. (((HUGS))) Pretty soon he will be latching on with NO pain at all.....I promise. :heart:

It will be better! Just one thing to watch for thrush. If your nipples are blanched looking after nursing (white colored like) it could be thrush. In that case don't use Lanolin, it will make it alot worse. I found that out the hard way and it took me 3 weeks to figure out I even had thrush, I just thought it was gonna hurt for awhile. lol By that point I had tons of blisters and scabs and they were bleeding too. Talk about pain!

I had to use the football hold on my one side until it healed alittle. It was so bad I had to bite a pillow for a couple seconds after he latched.

But it will get better! I promise! HTH!

Lansinoh, in the purple tube.
You can find it al Walmart in the nursing/formula section area.


Keep it up mama, this too shall pass.

Really!!

You're a trooper.

Curran was the only one I had long term pain...they say it should subside by day 10 and it did...hang in there! ONe thing he seemed to do is slurp the nipple in instead of opening wide and taking the whole thing in at once...

http://img4.photobucket.com/albums/v29/lifesabeach/alright.gif one nursing moment at a time...it really will pass...

:big hug:

Here are some good links to look at regarding latch.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/start/basics/latch-resources.html

http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVFebMar04p3.html


Do you know your local La Leche League Leader? If not, you can go to www.lalecheleague.org to find one near you :).

My thoughts are with you. I know how difficult it can be to have breastfeeding difficulties.

Hang in there :).
Arlene

Definitely call your local LLL leader-and have them check the latch-OK? I suck at asking for help-but really-it is good to have someone check onlatch...OK...and if you are hurting it is difficult to do that yourself...

{{{HUGS}}}

You already have mountains of good advice... just wanted to add a

You can do it!!!!!

I've been incredibly sore with both my babes. DS had thrush and DD was just a super sucker;) With dd, Lansinoh was my best friend.

:big hug:

Nelle

oooo, ouchie. Now I am thinking, that's gonna be me in a few weeks, LOL. I had it just like that with ds #1, and it does go away quickly.

Ditto all the Lansinoh recommendations, plus air drying as much as possible. Lie around as much as you can, mama.

Ds nursed til he was 25 months, so you can be sure it didn't last, or I wouldn't have made it.

Hang in there Mama! It will get better. One thing that helped me was little a gel disc that you lay on the nipple between nursings. I think they are called Soothies. They are with the breastfeeding supplies (nursing pads, Lanolin). It helps air flow and just feels sooo good. You can even cool them in the fridge or warm them under running water. They really did help!

Ashley

come up with a mantra you can repeat to yourslef when you're having a hard time while he's nursing.

something like the nike add, kwim?

JUST DO IT

JUST DO IT

JUST DO IT

or you can always use the one i used with my first nursling after i bottlefed the baby before her...

I *WILL* NURSE

I *WILL* NURSE

I *WILL* NURSE

i said this so mnay times, between that and my lll sisters, there was NO chance of me not succeeding.

It does get better. I would check for thrush, especially if the pain is internal. Also check to make sure the latch is correct. (Just like everyone said.) Hang in there!

i had the exact same thing w/ #2, so painful! It was an incorrect latch for us...i found that nursing in the football hold solved everything and lanolish and lots of airing out time! keep up the good work mama, you can do it!

Don't give up!
Call local LLL they love to help, really you are not at all bothering them to ask.

I found so much relief from nipple pain from a pair of nipple "gel" pads with soothing stuff in them. One brand is called Maternimates and my hospital's BFing clinic handed them out for free-- they are really expensive, but worth it. The others are called Soothies, and while they didn't work as well for me, they did help too. You can put them in the fridge and slap em on after nursing. Just be careful, though, as others have suggested, because if you have thrush these will make it worse.

http://www.breastbabyproducts.com/pricelist.html

http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/soothies_breastpacks.html

It does get better, but physical relief is good too.

Karla

I want to point out that yes, some pain when first nursing is common, but blisters do indicate a problem (either thrush or latch). You've gotten some great advice, and I highly agree with calling your local LLL leader. That's what they're there for. They would love to help you out and check out the latch. They've gone through an extensive training process, for this very reason, because they want to help mothers breastfeed. They can also help you quite a bit over the phone with the Breastfeeding Answer Book. Good luck!

I had a blister from a bad latch - it felt tons better as soon as it popped. (((hugs))) hang in there and call your local LLL and have someone check out your latch.

(when they are newborns and their mouths are so small even fully opened....it really did a number on my very sensitive skin!)

All good advice you have been given.

I just have one thing to add


wet tea bags on nipples are heavenly.

I found that they helped the pain a lot! (they are messy though!)

Hey Jodi! They also have these gel patches that they sell at BRU in the breast pad section. They are a cooling patch that you can wear in your bra like a breast pad. They are made my gerber. (there is also another brand called "soothies" but they are very expensive and only come with 1 pair or 2 pair...the gerber pack has like 10 pair).

Good luck, you can do it mama!!!

Oh OUCH! Boy do I remember those days. :( I had blood blisters with my first nursling. :( Here's what helped:

1)As someone else suggested, stop switching sides if you are. Just feed from one side until it's gone - baby should stay satisfied a little longer too since he'll be getting more hindmilk.

2) After feeding and every so often, express some breastmilk and dab it around on your nipple and allow to air dry. Breastmilk has incredible healing properties.

3) Expose your nipples to sunlight

4)You can get a pair of plastic shields that will hold your bra and shirt off your nipples. For me it was excruciating when any fabric rubbed my nips. The shields really helped. They have air holes, too, to let your nips breathe. Or you can go topless. :)

You can do it, mama! It will get better. :hug:

Congratulations Jodi!!!!!

With my last baby I had this and it wouldnt heal, turns out I had an abcessed milk duct. My midwife lanced it and within 2 days we were back to normal happy nursing. I hope this isnt what you have, but wanted you to know it could happen. I had never even heard of such a thing till then. Everyone else has given great advice, I hope you heal up very soon :)