Elbow pain is killing me

[Xavismom]

I've been bed sharing with my 9 mo DS since the night he was born, and we love it and have had zero problems except my elbows. The HURT so bad from the position I must sleep in to nurse ds at night. Its starting to affect all kinds of things, I'm having a hard time holding my ds without the help of a carrier, and doing anything that requires me to raise my arms above my shoulders (like brushing/washing my hair) hurts SO bad that I just give up. There have honestly been weeks lately where my hair did not get washed or brushed for over a week bc of this, and I hate that Its also painfull to straighten my arms all the way, and some days its like I CANT do it even if I ignore the pain, they wont go.

Does this happen to lots of us?? Is it normal and just unavoidable???

FWIW, I nurse him sidelying, and have tried sleeping with my underneath arm bent, straight, and/or propped on an extra pillow. I try to switch sides through the night to distribute the strain. If I'm awake enough to realize ds is not latched, I roll onto my back to (blissfully) sleep with my arms straight down my sides. ds needs a lot of comfort sucking at night though and has never liked a pacifier.

nak

[Asiago]

My thoughts are with you! I went through a period of shoulder pain until I realized it was easier to place my arm 'beneath' my pillow, then the pain stopped. Now I have no idea how I sleep, it works whatever position it is. I wake up feeling very good.
I hope you can figure out a comfortable position soon- I'm sure you will

[rzberrymom]

I started to get shoulder pain from the same thing when my DD was about that age. The pain was so excruciating that I had to have DH snuggle with her after I finished nursing. It was hard to stay awake through the nursing, but getting a spell where I could sleep on my other side helped tremendously with the pain.