Excrutiating nipple pain

[gethane]

It started last week. But it was just a little sore at first. I had my period on Friday. And I've treated Zoe and I both for thrush, even though this doesn't feel like thrush.

My nipple looks FINE. NO redness, sores, scabbing, nothing. It doesn't hurt for me to touch my nipple. But when Zoe nurses while sitting up, it feels like someone is slowly sawing it off. And I can't help it, I even yell for the first couple minutes. It does hurt a little less after a minute, but its still very very painful requiring breathing to get through it. My right nip doesn't seem to hurt.

I'm afraid its some sort of positional teeth latch thing. The pain isn't as bad when I nurse her overnight in bed. I don't know if her teeth are scraping me or what. I've had painful nursing during my period with Slater, but that was more of a sore feeling that was annoying, but not excrutiating requiring yelling.

[zen_monster]

Originally Posted by gethane

It started last week. But it was just a little sore at first. I had my period on Friday. And I've treated Zoe and I both for thrush, even though this doesn't feel like thrush.

My nipple looks FINE. NO redness, sores, scabbing, nothing. It doesn't hurt for me to touch my nipple. But when Zoe nurses while sitting up, it feels like someone is slowly sawing it off. And I can't help it, I even yell for the first couple minutes. It does hurt a little less after a minute, but its still very very painful requiring breathing to get through it. My right nip doesn't seem to hurt.

I'm afraid its some sort of positional teeth latch thing. The pain isn't as bad when I nurse her overnight in bed. I don't know if her teeth are scraping me or what. I've had painful nursing during my period with Slater, but that was more of a sore feeling that was annoying, but not excrutiating requiring yelling.

Sounds EXACTLY like what I'm having.... no redness, swelling, scabbing and doesn't hurt to the touch... only when ds nurses on the left side... no pain on the right. It doesn't seem to be related to latch tho.

: I'm as confused as you are. I wish it were thrush or mastitis because then I'd know how to treat it but there are no symptoms of either.

[TurboClaudia]

the "sawing it off" description really, really, really makes me think it might be thrush. what did you treat with? you might consider treating with liquid citricidal grapefruit seed extract (GSE) if you haven't already. there are some gentian-violet resistant strains of yeast, some nystatin-resistant strains of yeast and there may be some diflucan-resistant strains of yeast developing now, too, so those treatments may or may not work for your particular type.

and baby may not show any signs of thrush at all.

and mama may only have pain at nursing as a symptom with no others.

see www.drjaygordon.com for more info about candida/yeast/thrush and how to treat it.

~claudia

[mimie]

OMG, that sounds exactly like what I'm going through. My DD is four weeks old, BFing was very painful, and then started to get better. All of a sudden, my left bb is killing me when she nurses, especially lying down. It is so incredibly painful, I yell and cry. There is no trauma to the nipple. I absolutely dread nursing on that side at night. I'm still taking painkillers from my c-section (Advil and Vicodin) to be able to handle the BFing pain, and I'm exhausted from the pain and stress. My OB (who has been very supportive and has kept refilling the Rx for pain meds) wants to prescribe antibiotics for mastitis, but it doesn't seem like mastitis at all! No fever, etc. I don't want antibiotics if it's thrush! Should I just ask her to prescribe Diflucan instead?

Anyway, I'm sorry to crash your thread - maybe between those of us who seem to be having the exact same problem we can find some good solutions.

[Valian]

I had pain like that when Ds would latch onto the nipple shaft, rather than getting enough breast tissue. Also, he would sometimes latch with his gums not covered by his tongue. From the outside, the latch looked just fine and the nipple didn't show trauma but OY IT HURT.

I have no idea if this is your problem, but a few things helped us:
1. I would compress the breast a little, making sure that Ds took enough into his mouth when he latched on and not letting him slide down as he nursed
2. once he latched, I would use my free hand to support my breast and just eversoslightly push the breast closer to him to keep the tissue positioned comfortably