Nearly 4 weeks and my left nipple still HURTS. Help!

[Hooplehead]

My LO is nearly 4 weeks old. I am a first time mom and the breastfeeding thing has been a bit difficult. I got pretty chewed up in the hospital despite the LCs saying everything looked fine. It took me about 2 weeks to heal up and get my nipples where they look healthy again.

Something is just not right with how things are going. I figured that after nearly 4 weeks, the kinks should be worked out and breastfeeding should be going smoothly. I have been going to a breastfeeding support group and it has been helpful. I know that my LO is getting enough to eat. I am feeding one breast at a time and he gets two ounces or a little more when he eats. It takes him 15-20 minutes to get that. He is gaining weight nicely, and has been gaining around two ounces a day. So, sounds good - right? So why on earth is my left nipple so darn SORE!

This is how it goes when he eats...I have to work very hard to get him to open his mouth wide and latch on correctly. Even when I think he is on right, it still hurts a bit. Sometimes when it does not hurt at first, he makes some sort of clicking sound with his tongue and then it hurts. If I release him and check out the situation, my nipple is all deformed. It is pointed out at the top and white at the tip with the bottom recessed like it has not been in use. It looks kinda like a tube of lipstick. It is worse at night time for some reason. I don't know if it is because he is sleepy or not. Oh, and sometimes I will pull his chin down once he is latched and that may or may not help. Usually doesn't.

I think I have a forceful letdown because he gulps pretty hard and fast and sputters at time when he first starts eating. Then he kinda chills out. On the left side, the LC with my group noticed that he was not working very hard to eat - but he still gets his two ounces.

The right side is a piece of cake - everything is hunky dory. I am using the football hold for both sides. I tried the cradle on the left to see if maybe the side my LO was laying on had any effect, it didn't and it was super hard to get him to latch on. I have also done the side lying position and it is the same as any other - great for the right breast, painful for the left.

I have been suffering through. Some days are better than others but I really wish that we could just have a nice pain free breastfeeding relationship. Is it too much to ask for? Is there something I can do to improve things - should I get the pediatrician or my chiropractor to check him out?

[kanga1622]

I don't have any helpful advice but wanted to let you know that you are not alone. DS has a shallow latch so while he is gaining well and getting enough, I am very sore. Finally at 12 weeks my left side has healed so that it only hurts to latch but is then fine. My right side is still blistered and scabbed but we push through the pain and adjust his latch to try for pain-free eating.

I'm hoping you will have faster healing and that everything becomes easier soon.

[kismetbaby]

Just sending some hugs your way mama. . .and hopefully an encouraging voice to say --it will get better and better!!! I know it seems like such a long process and a long time to be in pain--I've been there!--but it will get better and soon you will look back and realize it was just a small moment in your wonderful BF relationship.

I had so many problems in the beginning, which I was unprepared for. Poor latch, then scabbed and bleeding nipples, forceful let-down, then mastitis, then thrush and nipples that would just not heal. Not to freak you out, but I don't think I had truly pain-free, comfortable nursing until my babe was about 3 month old. It was HELL for the first six weeks and after that it got better, but slowly. It was never magically all better, but little by little, every week something would be better--the latch, my soreness. . .eventually we could even nurse side-lying and that's when I knew things were really getting better.

I was so depressed and pissed for months at not getting to have that wonderful BFing relationship I dreamed of. . .but now I do have it! My LO is 8 months old and very devoted to his "nursies". And it never hurts anymore, at all. At the time it felt like endless torture, but it was all worth it to me.

A couple more thoughts: its very hard for the body to heal when under stress and postpartum is very stressful, so I think that just adds to the time it takes to get to the comfortable BFing. So try to sleep as much as possible (NAP!) and eat well and take Vit (you can still take your prenatals and extra Vit C is always good). Make sure to keep an eye out for thrush which can make it even harder to heal. And just hold onto the belief that it will get better soon!

Not sure a Ped will be helpful, but a chiro might. I never did that with my LO, but in retrospect it might have helped his latch issues. Just make sure to see someone who works with infants regularly. IMO the real healer is time. . .remember that both you and your baby are learning to do this. Its a new skill for both of you and it takes practice just like anything else!

Hang in there mama!

[Italiamom]

First off, it sounds like you're making plenty of milk, and that your LO is gaining well. I wouldn't worry about that in the slightest. Keep in mind, too, that whatever you measure via pump, your LO will get more through natural nursing. If you can pump 2 ounces, your LO is probably getting more like 3-4.

The clicking that you're hearing... is it halfway between a click and slurp? Kind of like his little tongue is skipping across the roof of his mouth? And does it happen as your milk is letting down? If he is making that sound, it might be that he's compensating for an over-active letdown. Babies will sometimes partially spit out your nipple, or clamp their mouths in such a way as to try and control the flow. You might just be making so much milk on that side that he's trying to slow your flow!

There are things you can do to address over-active letdown, but at 4 weeks, I wouldn't try them. I know it feels like a lifetime (trust me, I was there, with VERY similar problems), but in reality, 4 weeks isn't really all that far along in the nursing relationship. A very large number of women have problems into the 8-12 week range.

And it sucks!

But by about 12 weeks, babies mouths are bigger. Their appetites are bigger. And their control is better. At 4 weeks your baby is still new to nursing! He's still trying to get his groove.

It does get better though. My similar issues started to resolve around 8 weeks, and were pretty much non-existant by 12 weeks. I'd give it a few more, and if you're still experiencing pain, by all means, contact a lactation consultant if you can. Explain the clicking, and they might have some ideas for you!

[jildez]

It sounds like you have gotten lots of great advice, but since it sounds like your pain had subsided and reappeared, i would encourage you to see if you have signs of a yeast infection- is your nipple red, raised ( esp the spots around your areola) or shiny? Is the pain a sharp shooting pain? do you have pain when you are not nursing? I hope none of this is the case, but yeast can be easily missed and when you have a forceful letdown, it can cause some damage as your dear one tries to deal with it, and those abrasions end up being a place where yeast can breed. Also, in some children, they end up clicking with yeast ( which breaks the seal) because their mouths hurt from the yeast in their mouths. Check out the stickies at the top of the forum and see if it is possible. It is treatable and the earlier you catch the easier.

[Hooplehead]

Would it be possible to only have yeast (thrush?) on one side and not the other? I looked in my LOs mouth and do not see any white stuff. Upon close nipple inspection, my nipple is pink and feels a little raw but that is it. There are no cracked areas...those have healed, it just feels raw. The pain I experience is pretty sharp but when I get a good latch, it fades quickly. Could it be the early stages of a yeast infection?

I guess I could treat for yeast just in case? I read the stuff on Kellymom and wonder if I do have yeast. I know that touching the side of by breast while he is eating burns. I know that sounds silly but it does.

I still wonder why he latches on the left in a way that causes my nipple to be so deformed and white on the tip - that is when it really hurts. When it does not hurt, my nipple comes out looking normal like on the right side.

I am going to work on introducing him to a bottle at about 5 weeks old and I am sort of dreading it since I am afraid that it will screw up his latch on the left even more... I will be going back to work at some point so I need to figure out what artificial nipple will work best for him. EEEEEK!

[Hooplehead]

Well...

After reading the resources you guys recommended, I think it is a yeast infection in my ducts, especially since my breast burns while he eats and continues to do so after he is finished feeding. It would also explain why it is only one side since my nipples are healed up and it would keep me from getting it on my right side? I called my midwife/office to see if they would be able to prescribe Diflucan. I got a triage nurse who asked a doctor who then told me to pump the breast for three days and call them if it is not better after that so I could go in and be seen. I told them that it would not be exciting since there is nothing to see.

This does not seem like a way to treat yeast? Plus, I have not introduced bottles so if I pump, I would have to dump and then have my right breast working double time to feed him which would then increase my supply - which I already have plenty of, and I have already had mastitis on the right so increasing supply on that side does not sound like a good idea.

I went ahead and called some LCs and asked their opinion, they all were puzzled by this and said that it does sound like yeast and since it sounds like my ducts are more affected that they should prescribe Diflucan.

Soooooo. While I was typing this I called back to my midwife/ob office, got a different triage nurse and she was on board immediately, apologized for my previous experience and has called in a prescription for me. Whew.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of where to research guys! I think you have saved me a great deal of pain and suffering!!!!!