excruciating initial latch on

[TwinMommy6]

Please somebody tell me this gets easier. My baby is 5 days old and I want to EBF his latch is perfect once he gets going but the initial getting him on the boob is so painful I want to scream and yell profanity lol.
Does this get any easier? MIL and DH are telling me to buy formula because I am in tears everytime he wakes up and wanting to eat. I refuse to buy formula because I didn't bf my twins and regretted it so badly I want to stick this out. Do any of you have any pointers or suggestions and does the pain eventually go away......I feel like I am failing this little guy and I don't want him to sense any of this :'(

 

[Maxy1]

How long does the pain last for and do you have pain at any other time?

Initial latching pain is par for the course for the first week or so and then improves. By initial I mean 10 - 30 seconds and then fine after that. This pain definitely improves and then doesn't exist. If it continues on after that then you will need to look at LO's mouth for any structural problems (lip/tongue tie) or your breast (vasospasm, milk blisters etc).

 

[TwinMommy6]

Its anywhere from 30 sec to 1 min. Usually about a min.
Good to know it goes away....I will keep trying. Thanks for the info

 

[armywife11]

That sounds like initial soreness to me as well. Breastfeeding isn't always truly painless at first like everyone is lead to believe, for some it is. The pain will go away but in the mean time you could try using nipple cream that can help ease the soreness a little.

I agree with the other poster on this topic.

 

[luna_19]

I had horrible pain just like you describe for about two weeks. It stopped.one day AMD never came back, hang in there

 

[Night Flower]

Get some nipple shields. They'll be your best friends.

 

[armywife11]

Get some nipple shields. They'll be your best friends.

Nipple shields can help but they can also hinder. Some people will have supply issues with them so if you decide to go that route I would contact a lactation consultant first, just to be safe. -- Just putting that out there because that information was not given to me when i was handed a handful of them by the nurses.

I used them with my daughter because the lactation consultant at the hospital was a joke and had no time to actually sit with me and diagnose the actual problem (lip tie) which resulted in a shallow latch and lots of extra pain. They did help but even when I weaned her off them I still had initial latch pain until my body got use to the tugging.

 

[bumpin2012]

I agree with Armywife - hold off on the shield. Its meant for babies who have a difficult time latching, most commonly because of lip/tongue ties, or flat/inverted nipples. Get help from a qualified LC ASAP, to look for ties.

I had a very tiny baby (less than 6 lbs) and large breasts so this pain you are describing lasted about 12 weeks for me. MOST women see a noticeable difference after 2 weeks or by 1 month. Lanolin will be your best friend in these next few weeks while baby grows a bit and your nipples toughen up.

Hang in there mama - you are doing great!

 

[luna_19]

I would avoid the shields also, they can potentially cause issues with supply and milk transfer.

I had a tiny baby also and my boobs were enormous after my milk came in, wonder if that was part of it

 

[leash27]

This lasted about a week for me and then stopped! I was in so much pain for those first few seconds that I would have to squeeze DH's hand and I did actually cry a couple of time too! We are now on Day 19 and it is soooo much easier already I can't believe the difference!

I will say that my mum and my DH also talked about moving on to formula when they saw how much pain I was in. I guess it's hard for them as they see you struggling and these is very little they can do to fix it! Hang on in there and make sure you are slapping on some Lansinoh as often as possible!

X

 

[Night Flower]

Ive never heard that nipple shields can hinder supply or cause issues.

I would say when I stopped using them(well I do use it sometimes, I have somewhat flat nipples) that they did hurt a few times but no where near as bad as when I tried to go without them a few times in the early weeks.

It helped me and I didnt have any issues. If they can cause issues, I am very grateful that I didnt experience any of them.

 

[armywife11]

Ive never heard that nipple shields can hinder supply or cause issues.

I would say when I stopped using them(well I do use it sometimes, I have somewhat flat nipples) that they did hurt a few times but no where near as bad as when I tried to go without them a few times in the early weeks.

It helped me and I didnt have any issues. If they can cause issues, I am very grateful that I didnt experience any of them.

I was unaware of it too, no one ever told me. The nurses and LC just said here these will help and walked away. I came home and read about them. I think most people can use them with few to no issues but it's one of those things you should be aware of before trying them out. They are helpful I won't deny that! They saved my life those first few days until I figured out what was wrong and how to correct it.

I didn't suffer any ill affects but I only used them for about 4 days then started the weaning process which was about 2 weeks. I had an oversupply but I also pumped those early days trying to get a small stash.

 

[Mwd1985]

Do you have any bleeding or scabs? If so, nipple cream!! You can get an RX from your doc called Jack Newmans all purpose nipple ointment. It saved me!

 

[Night Flower]

One thing I noticed with nipple shield is that the older my baby gets the more gassy she is with them. We've had to use the newborn gas drops a few times. Helps with burping her and getting her to toot the rest out. But sometimes I still use the nipple shields as they really help getting her to suckle when she is extremely tired and fussy.

 

[Mummafrog]

What you are experiencing sounds quite normal, the initial latch when baby suckles hard and fast is to cause your milk to let down and before your nipples have toughened up it can be quite sore! Also I realised after a while that the let down itself causes some pain so you might be having those two pains combined. Once your little one gets into it and does the long sucks and swallows and opens their mouth properly I assume that is when the pain goes? I would say that if this is the case it's likely that you're not doing anything wrong and neither is baby, but if it stays just as bad for another week (or as long as you want to bear it) then go back to talk to a lactation consultant and make sure all is well, that's what they are there for

It does go away, I still get initial latch pain at two months but it's not bad at all and it's the let down I'm feeling, rather than baby. Using formula might give you a break but not any kind of long term solution if you want to keep breastfeeding and it MAY introduce other issues too.

Hang in there, you're doing amazingly well

 

[TwinMommy6]

Thank you for all the advice ladies...its so nice to have a place like this for advice and encouragement. I was feeling pretty defeated yesterday I ended up pumping for his night time feed and gave my tata's a break it felt great. I also have been lathering the nipcream on...I don't think I was using it enough.

Thanks for all the support xx

 

[armywife11]

There are these cooling pads that you stick in the freezer for a bit. They are wonderful! They are made by lansinoh but I am not sure what you have access to verus what we have access to here, names, brands, ect.

 

[TwinMommy6]

I use the same brand nipple cream....I am going to try those today. Thank you

 

[LoveMyBaby786]

I had this the first week aswell! I wanted to cey and would take me a good extra few minutes to muster up the courage to get her on my breast at every feed. I would curl my toes and want to cry so bad!
I thought it would never get better but oh my god it seriously does! Now my nipples are just a tad sore but no more of that excruciating painful sharp pain! I let my nipples get as much air as possible and used the lanisoh cream after every feed. Trust me it will get better my lo is 16 days today so hopefully wont be long before the pain goes away for you

 

[TwinMommy6]

I had this the first week aswell! I wanted to cey and would take me a good extra few minutes to muster up the courage to get her on my breast at every feed. I would curl my toes and want to cry so bad!
I thought it would never get better but oh my god it seriously does! Now my nipples are just a tad sore but no more of that excruciating painful sharp pain! I let my nipples get as much air as possible and used the lanisoh cream after every feed. Trust me it will get better my lo is 16 days today so hopefully wont be long before the pain goes away for you

Thank you....thats exactly how I feel before every feed too.....he is one week today so hopefully another week and this will be gone kind of lol