when does it get less painful?

[thayet]

Undoubtedly this has been asked many times before.. but when does breastfeeding get less painful, on average? I had a *lot* of damage done to me early on due to poor latch, and it's still healing, but I keep getting new cracks! I'm doing everything I can do get it healing faster (Jack Newman's ointment, making sure latch is correct each time, etc). I also suffer from Reynaud's phenomenon so I get pain after each session as well.

For anyone who suffered these types of things, when did it get easier? LO is going to be 4 weeks old on Thursday and it's still pretty painful at the start of each session.. I dread it when he unlatches and relatches to try and increase flow grrr.

 

[Livebythesea]

My sis in law said try to take one feeding at a time. I thought that was good advice because I had pain on one side, didn't produce a lot of milk etc but I'm almost 5 months in and it's gotten SO much easier. Hugs

 

[rainbowskin]

It took about a month for my nipples to be tough enough and pain free. I used lanisoh constantly which really helped. I also had reynauds and almost quit bf due to it because I thought it would never go away. Good news is it went away for me around 4 weeks and never came back. In the meantime you can try and get some of those hand warmer packets or warm some cloths in the microwave and put them in your bra right after a feed. It seems the cold makes reynauds worse so keeping your nipples warm will really help. Hope things get better soon for you!

 

[w8ing4bean]

Id say about 4 weeks it got easier and started to click into place! We had a lot of issues including a 3 day hospital stay at 2 weeks, and luckily hubby had 4 weeks off work to support me.

Now its so easy! Shes teething tho so may be about to get painful again!!!

 

[babyjan]

I'd say about after a month it got less painful, hang on in there

 

[Snoopee]

Was agony for me until 6-7 weeks. Had cracked, bleeding nipples that wouldn't heal no matter what I did. Then one day it's like it just clicked, didn't do anything different. I know it's hard but persevere. People kept telling me to stop but so glad I didn't listen.

 

[Miss Redknob]

Took 4 month for me and my little man! If you have cracked/sore nipple try nipple shields to allow the cracks to heal

 

[CandyDay]

Have you had LO checked for tongue tie? That can cause pain when feeding. BFing shouldn't be painful. Have you had latch checked?

 

[thayet]

Have you had LO checked for tongue tie? That can cause pain when feeding. BFing shouldn't be painful. Have you had latch checked?

The pain is a result of the damage caused by initial poor latch (we weren't checked right away).. LO has no tongue tie. One nipple is like separated from the areola by a nasty gaping open sore.. it gets aggravated with each feed, even after going back on the shield. I'm seeing a LC and she says just stick with it, but I'm afraid it won't ever heal. I also had very flat nipples so I guess LO had to "make" a usable nipple out of what I had.

I went to my LC's BFing support clinic today and she says it looks like I have thrush.. so maybe that explains things. *sigh*