Have you decided to breastfeed? Breastfeeding can be a really enjoyable experience but boy is it hard work. Nobody tells you about the breastfeeding pain! I spent the first 3 weeks in tears with both my my girls. It took sheer determination and perseverance to get through it but in the end it paid off.
First thing to say is, I promise the pain does go away. Even if you are doing it completely correctly it will still hurt. Your nipples have to adjust to being tugged at every day. Best thing for sore nipples I found, better than the gel you can buy, is Hydrogel Pads. I had lacerated nipples (yes they were as bad as they sound) but Hydrogel pads saved them! Have a look on the Boots website, you will only need one pack as you can reuse them for a couple of weeks until your nipples adjust!
There is a great video on youtube of a woman demonstrating how to get a good latch. It takes a baby a good couple of weeks to learn how to latch and the time between birth and them learning can be very painful indeed. Make sure you ask advice from midwives or a local breastfeeding support group as this can be the difference between success and failure. Best way to tell if a baby is latched on correctly is to see their bottom lip curled downwards. Here is the link to Dr Jack Newman’s site
Some pain though is not latch related. I had both mastitis and thrush and I have truly never felt pain like it.
Mastitis– I developed red patches on my boobs and had a high fever. It can be managed by rest and drinking plenty of water as well as making sure baby feeds from the affected boob to clear the blocked ducts. However, if left too long then you must go to the doctors who will give you antibiotics to clear the infection.
Thrush– I felt as though I was being stabbed in the boob every time she sucked! It also felt like a tugging and Ive honestly not known pain like it. The only way to clear this up is to go the doctors. Make sure they give you drops for baby’s mouth too otherwise you will be clear but baby will give it back to you via their mouth.
Still got swollen boobs? You may be switching sides too soon. Milk is made up of two kinds- foremilk and hindmilk. Foremilk is like the drink part of the meal and the hindmilk is the food that fills them up. At first the bay will guzzle down the milk as they are starving and the foremilk quenches their thirst. Many mums swap sides as soon as baby begins to slow down as they believe the milk is running low on that side. Wait! When the baby gets to the hind milk it is much thicker and requires more effort to suck out to baby will slow right down and often fall asleep. Gently stroke their cheek and they should carry on. Or change them to wake them up. After a minimum of half an hour (more like 45 mins when they are newborn) you can swap sides. They will then get a little more foremilk and that should fill them up. Then when it is time for the next feed you start on that second boob to carry on with the foremilk and eventually get to the hindmilk. And so on..
My mum taught me never to give up so I persevered until I finally got it right. However, breastfeeding isn’t the be all and end all so if you cannot do it then do not put pressure on yourself to carry on.
As long as baby is fed and mummy is happy then baby will be happy.
