[laurac5]

DD is 6 months old, and we've been BFing without pain since she was 2 months old. But my midwife and my sister's doula, not to mention every article on the Internet, says if you have pain you're doing something wrong.

But I've never met anyone who didn't have BF pain during the first weeks.

For my part, I had sore, cracked nipples by the second day, and developed mastitis by 2 weeks. Talked to a LC on the phone but never had one observe. My midwife and her assistant observed at 24 hours and 2 weeks and said dd's latch was good.

So my question is: if it's possible to BF without pain in those first days/weeks/months, who has done it? Was it dc#1 or a subsequent baby? And what did you do -- i.e. how early/how often did you see a LC, what position(s) did you nurse in, what book(s) did you read, how much lanolin (if any) did you use, how many tries did it take to get a good latch at each feeding?

Thanks!

 

[Keeta]

I had flattish nipples, so I was in pretty bad pain for at least the first 10 weeks due to that. After the wounds from that healed, it was painless.

My nipples are forever changed (we've been weaned for 6 months now) so I'm hoping that the next time around won't be so bad (because they're not flat anymore!)

 

[JessicaTX]

With my first child I had no pain whatsoever, he was so easy to nurse! My second had a high arch, lip tie, and was a huge strong sucker. My nipples bled for 4 months, even with going to lactation consultants and getting latch checked.

 

[woodchick]

Other than the occasional nip or bad latch by accident breastfeeding has been totally pain free for me. With DD1 I pumped for 2 weeks (we didn't start on the breast until day 12, Nicu) and then nursed with a nipple shield for a couple months, but there was no pain. DD2 latched on immediately after birth, again, no pain. I'm tandom nursing now and it has been fine.

I always pray for new moms to have easy breastfeeding experiences like mine, but I know it doesn't always happen that way.

 

[JamieCatheryn]

I breastfed without pain, but our first weeks weren't without challenges: he was jaundiced and sleepy and my nipples were flat so I had to pump and bottlefeed, then use a nipple shield to transition back to the breast, and wean off the shield onto just the breast. No pain though.

 

[ChaoticMum]

I honestly had no pain other than with my 3rd where I had such a bad latch that he cracked my nipple - totally my fault as I was completely distracted by the other two and wasn't watching what I was doing. Once that healed, I had no pain again.

I had tender nipples yes - but never any pain. I had more pain from being engorged and having milk fill up into my armpit than I did from nursing itself.

 

[Llyra]

I had a lot of pain with DD1, but she was tongue-tied and had seriously bad latch; we found out later she had some oral motor control issues.

With the twins, even nursing both of them, I had no pain in the early months. I had some later on, when DS started trying to stay latched in his sleep and mouthing me, and when I got bit. But early on, we had no soreness or anything. So yeah, it's possible.

 

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

I didnt have any pain with dd or with ds. The first day I had a little water blister on one nipple and was able to correct that by fixing her bottom and top lip. But it didnt hurt at all.

With ds didnt even have the blister. Apparently I am one of the lucky few who never had pain with it. I did however have some killer let down pain with dd but not with ds.

 

[the_lissa]

I didn't have pain ever with either baby, though I did have some sleepy/dehydrated/jaundiced baby who lost too much weight problems with my first.

In my experience as a breastfeeding counsellor, most of the women I saw did not have pain, and most of the ones who did have pain had latch or yeast or reynauds other issues. I don't know if I saw anyone who had pain that was not being caused by something, though I've read about it online.

 

[Magali]

I never had pain.

 

[Dahlea]

I had some nipple pain the first couple of days, but it went away quickly, and has been perfect since then, except when he clamps down hard! He's my first.

 

[eurobin]

I had flat nipples. It was painful for the few days, maybe a week and then she got the hang of latching. It was smooth sailing from there on out. I don't think I really did anything special... I used the football hold in the early days, didn't use much lansinoh. I think we were just lucky.

 

[alegna]

1st baby (dd) tore my nipples up. Bloody, ripped up, etc.

2nd baby (ds) not even sore.

-Angela

 

[kayjay]

Argh, horrible awful pain starting sometime the first week due to posterior tongue tie. Seemed like my nipples started to erode. Also had plugged ducts right away. Couldn't stand to touch my breasts for first 6 to 8 weeks.

I have a friend who had a baby with tongue tie that they never corrected and she had zero pain.

Good to see others didn't have pain. It's encouraging for my next try.

 

[artgoddess]

I hurt a lot with the first. By about 4 weeks I was fine, but those first two weeks were awful. Truth be told I had painful sore nipples if I went into the frozen food section wearing a lace bra even before I had kids. So I was expecting it to hurt at first and figured it would correct itself. i really am bothered by those practitioners who claim "if it hurts something must be wrong." I think that is poor advice to give someone who is new to motherhood and completely paranoid she is doing everything wrong to begin with. With my second I was a little sore the first day or two. She latched on at 4 hours old and didn't let go until I made her so I could go pee about 5 or 6 hours later. I wasn't used to that.

 

[Keeta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by artgoddess i really am bothered by those practitioners who claim "if it hurts something must be wrong." I think that is poor advice to give someone who is new to motherhood and completely paranoid she is doing everything wrong to begin with.

I totally agree. I drove myself crazy those first two months trying to figure out what I could be doing so wrong. I wasn't - his latch was great, I didn't have thrush or mastitis. I had flat nipples (but I had never considered them flat - they still poked out, just not very much) and no one had mentioned, "hey you *might* have a pain the first weeks of Bfing because your nipples are flattish."

So those first 10 weeks were all about DS drawing my nipples out, and they remain that way still (even though he's weaned). But it was really really painful at the time. And I had help from my mom, doula, great LLL leaders, midwife - but no one could really give me an explanation for the wounds at the time. It was seriously depressing - I just wanted to know a) if I was doing something wrong and b) how long the pain would last.

 

[the_lissa]

I think it is good advice to tell people that if something hurts, something is probably wrong and I would consider flat nipples something that "wrong." I have seen too many women suffer needlessly through bad latch or a yeast infection because they thought everyone has pain or pain while bf is normal.

 

[neverdoingitagain]

1st baby-some pain, mainly just soreness though she did tear up my nipples a little.
2nd baby-no pain. Its possible that the fact I nursed through my pregnancy made a difference. Maybe, or dd2 was just easier to nurse

 

[Keeta]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_lissa I think it is good advice to tell people that if something hurts, something is probably wrong and I would consider flat nipples something that "wrong." I have seen too many women suffer needlessly through bad latch or a yeast infection because they thought everyone has pain or pain while bf is normal.

Yeah, I mean, ideally your midwife/dr. should probably do some kind of pre-breastfeeding evaluation to see if there are any potential bumps in store for you, including flat nipples - so you can prepare yourself armed with that info. I mean, maybe they don't want to scare you by saying you might have a few bumps, but hey, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised by being prepared for hard and having it be easy than preparing for easy (because I attended LLL meetings while pregnant, read all the BF books & webpages, etc) and freaking out with pain and questioning every single thing you're doing and eventually self-diagnosing the problem when dealing with an infant for the first time in your life.

:

 

[the_lissa]

Yeah it is a hard balance between preparing people and scaring people.