Day 4 & dreading every feed

[dozydormouse]

Oh and I got some breast shells which helped too - unlike the nipple shields, wear them when you're not feeding to keep fabric of bra away from nipples and help them heal.

 

[Jary]

Breast shells are pretty good! Couldn't stand having anything touching my nipples so they were great. Helped save any leaked milk too.

 

[Hangin_On_AGS]

I know how you feel! I literally cringed everytime I would go to latch DD on and brace myself for the pain but i'd say around a month old as her mouth got bigger and my nipples got tougher the pain went away. Now I have no pain and love it!

 

[bsd]

I went through this very same thing I was so determined to stick it through but I almost gave up!

I'm really glad I didn't though because I promise you it does get better.. take it from someone who had to go to a lactation consultant 4 times and a midwife for it twice. It was a LOOONG rocky road for me but I promise you every baby is different, and it might not be that long for you! If OH wasn't there for me, or if I wasn't a SAHM I am telling you right now I would not have been able to continue BF because I was in the same situation! I absolutely hated feedings and would dread it every time.. I cried for days. I was so sad it wasn't working no matter how many times I tried fixing my latch. The ONLY thing that made it better for me, is when LO got bigger I think his mouth grew or something and it slowly started getting better.

My lactation consultant told me to pump on your bloody cracked nipples because they will never heal if the latch is uncorrect. The key sentence that made me figure out my latch is "nipple to the nose" which literally means you do not point your nipple to the back of their throat when you go to latch on.. you stick it straight up (towards your face) and put it in that way! I had no idea that's what you were suppose to do and once I learned it I started healing much quicker.

Also, I don't know what cream you are using but nothing helped me heal as quickly as what my lactation consultant told me to use... a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of neosporin and cortozone 10. Rub that on after every feed and they heal so quick! And it's safe for baby! As long as you don't feed after 10 minutes of putting it on. Those two pieces of advice was the key to my BF success.

Don't beat yourself up! If you are determined and you want it to work try toughing it out for a few more weeks and see if it's getting better. You also have another LO so I couldn't imagine how tough that would be. As long as your baby is eating you shouldn't feel guilty or anything like that. Feel free to PM if you need to.. I totally feel your pain hun it feels like just yesterday I was going through the same thing and posting the same thread.