Help for new mom breastfeeding problems

[lmahn]

My baby is finally here! She is truly a little miracle, as the doctors told us at 18 weeks that she had less than a 10% chance of surviving, but she is here and perfectly healthy. My husband and I feel so lucky, can't believe she is really ours, and love her more every minute.

We are having BF troubles, though, and I could use some help.

The worst problem right now is that I have a really painful milk blister on my right nipple, and it hurts so much to nurse on that side. We've tried some of the suggestions on breastfeeding sites. I tried to lance it with a sterile needle, but couldn't do it. I've been putting hot moist compresses on it before she nurses, and I've been trying to nurse first on that side, even though it's awful. Does anyone have any other ideas of how to get rid of it, or how to at least get through this period? The whole BF experience for the last few weeks has been really rough. At first it was just sore, cracked nipples, then a plugged duct, then possible thrush or an allergic reaction to lanolin, then a blister last week which got better for a day and is now back. I've seen three lactation consultants, and we are improving -- I can feed the baby on my left side with no pain at all, most of the time.

The other strange problem we are having is vasospasms in my nipples, especially on the right. The nipples turn white and hurt like crazy for repeated intervals, usually after each feeding. Any ideas?

Sorry this message is a little scattered. No sleep and feeling really frustrated and scared that I am never going to get this right. I'm really committed to BF, but the pain is awful -- I cry through a lot of her feedings!! I'd be grateful for any ideas about the blister or the vasospasms, and any words of encouragement to keep us going. Thanks.

~ Lisa

Mama to Rachel Loraine, 3/25/04

[babymama]

Congratulations to you on the arrival of your miracle baby!
I am so sorry that you are having a rough time with BF. Don't have any expertise to offer, but I am writing with words of encouragement. I had a really hard time in the beginning too - DS was in the NICU and I wasn't allowed to hold him or feed him, then I got mastitis, then he preferred bottles and wouldn't BF, then he had problems with his latch. It took about 2 months before we were BFing exclusively. I remember that time just being really stressful. I remember the painful stinging when DS ate from the side with mastitis - it was a sharp, stabbing pain. I wished someone had told me that a lot of moms have a hard time with breast feeding. If I wasn't completely determined to BF, it would have been so easy to give up. Sounds like you are determined too. So hang in there! You can do it!!!
Best of luck.

Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[deenass]

HANG IN THERE! The first 8 weeks are SO HARD!!!!!!! And I remember when my son was 4 weeks old and someone told me that I thought "how can I do this another 4 weeks?" Just remeber, every day that you do it is another day that you did it...it is SO worth it in the end.

Is there a La Leche League near you (they have a website). I know a lot of people are afraid of them but it can be so helpful to talk to other nursing moms. So many people have problems in the beginning, it can be comforting to know you are not alone.

You mention 3 different lactation consultants ... is there any one you like better than the others. Often times they can all have a different opinion which can be frustrating and confusing. During the first two weeks I met with 3 (in the hospital, a private one I hired and one at the pediatrician's office). After nearly going nuts with the different advice I chose to only listen to the one I hired (she was the most available and would come to my house). It helped to just have one person guiding me and offering advice.

For warm compresses try wetting and wringing out a cloth diaper or dish towel, wrap it in saran wrap and microwave for a minute. It will keep the heat a lot longer and you won't be wet all the time (you can re-heat without rewetting for a day ... but change the towel every day or it will smell).

GOOD LUCK! You are doing and AMAZING thing for your baby!

[TraciG]

congratulations I wish u the best of luck
sorry no advice, just keep being as determined as u are !!!!!!!!

[suribear]

I don't have any advice, other than to hang in there and continue to seek help from LCs. Also contact La Leche League - they know their stuff!

Congratulations on your little miracle!

Kris

[Rachels]

For the milk blister, try lecithin capsules. Take 1200 mg 3x / day, and that will clear it up. Hang in there! It gets sooooo much easier.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[KGoes]

Just more words of encouragement. Every BF mom that I know has been at the point where feeding brings on tears - but I promise you that there is light at the end of the tunnel. My OB was extremely helpful to me when I first started BFing and had thrush, blocked ducts - you name it. He treated the ailments, offered support, and basically supplemented all of the information that I received from LCs and LLL.
You didn't mention whether or not you were engorged, but if you are, have you tried pumping or hand expressing milk to relieve the engorgement? That helped me with the pain of thrush, etc. Also, hot showers and massage eased some of my discomfort.
After all you have been through thinking for half of your pregnancy that you were going to lose her, you can handle this!!
Kelley
DD born 7/03

[quikeye]

Congrats on the birth fo your little one!

I have read about the white nipple thing-- it may be a condition known as Reynaud's ... I googled it & found this link (but I didn't read past the 1st few, so I'd google more & read about it):
http://www.asklenore.info/breastfeeding/print/raynaudp.html
Your LC's may know more as well; I've read about several moms having the symptoms during bf'ing, so it seems more common than I would have thought (never even read about it in my bf'ing books).

Best of luck!!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I can help with the vasospasms, I had that on one side. It can be caused by an incorrect latch, so be sure that baby is latching on correctly. Sometimes, the way you hold the baby on one side is different and the angle they are taking in the nipple is off, and that causes different nerves to be compressed during breastfeeding. You can try changing the hold you use on that side, sometimes the football hold is better.

If nothing else works, here is what I did. As soon as the baby pops off that nipple, clamp the palm of your hand over it and press gently. Keeping it warm, not letting the air hit the wet nipple, is what helped me to avoid the pain. I would hold it until it felt "normal" again and then let go, wiping any leftover moisture away as I took away my hand. Even putting my bra on right away didn't help, but my warm hand over it did seem to take care of it.

It gets better as time goes on. I don't remember when it stopped for me, but I don't have to hold my hand over my nipple anymore. :)

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[lmahn]

Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. I have been taking the lecithin supplements and the baby and I both have medicine for the thrush. The idea for using plastic wrap on the warm compress worked really well, and I so did the idea about cupping my hand over the sore nipple after feeding to help with the vasospasms. My LC and pediatrician both said that I should give the right side (the side with the blister) a break, so I rented a Lactina pump and have been pumping that side as much as possible. When I nurse her on that side, I use a shield, and that was helping for awhile, but now it hurts even with the shield on. The blister gets better, but then when I try to nurse her on that side without the shield, it gets worse again. When she nurses on that side, she sucks on the side of the nipple, to the point where that nipple no longer looks normal (sorry -- a bit graphic). I am not sure what to do. Her latch looks okay and often even feels okay, but when I take her off, it is clear that she was sucking on the side of the nipple, and then it really hurts afterwards. My LC said that I should look into the possiblity that the baby might need craniosacral therapy. I read a little about it on the web, and I think I am just feeling totally overwhelmed. I asked the pediatrician and he said the baby is fine. I don't know what to do from here. Sometimes nursing is wonderful and I never want to quit, but often I just feel so tired from nursing and pumping -- I feel like my entire day and night is spent feeding the baby. And I waited so long for her and was so afraid of losing her that I want to be able to enjoy my time with her now that she is here. I am not sure how long to be this unhappy before I should just give up.

~ Lisa

[mommyj_2]

Congratulations on your little one!
Breastfeeding gets a lot easier after about the first 8 weeks. Trust me, it is definitely worth sticking it out. I know it can feel like all your doing is feeding your baby, but even if you're not breastfeeding, you'll be spending most of your time mixing formula and feeding your baby with a bottle. Newborns pretty much eat all the time, but your baby should start going longer stretches between nursing after about 8 weeks.
If you can just make it through the pain and the initial adjustment period, it will get much easier. And, there's nothing that can describe how amazing it is when your baby starts to smile, and she takes a break from nursing to look up at you and smile.
I really hope your nipple heals up soon so you don't have to deal with the pumping and the pain.
I think the LC you found would kind of freak me out, especially if your ped thinks your baby looks fine. The most important thing is to trust your gut instincts. I remember my baby seeming to suck more to the side of the nipple even when he looked like he was latched on just fine. I ended up trying to nurse him in a different position when my nipple started to hurt, and that helped a bit. Have you tried nursing in different positions? I remember how difficult it was to get the hang of a new position, but it's totally worth it, because it will give your nipples a chance to rest (since there's pressure on different parts of the nipple when you nurse in different positions).
It sounds like you should treat yourself to a nice, relaxing bath. You're doing great. Know that you have a community of women here who can answer questions for you, and be here to support you. I promise you that breastfeeding gets a lot easier with time.
Congratulations again on becoming a mama!

[cinrein]

Lisa,

I just wanted to welcome your precious miracle and offer support. What a blessing that she is here and she's healthy!

The first several weeks of a newborns life are a blur! It is overwhelming and tiring on one hand, then on the other hand you feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

I promise you it gets dramatically better around 6-8 weeks. Right now you do spend most of your time nursing/pumping. If you were bottle feeding, you would still be spending most of your time feeding/preparing bottles. You wouldn't be any better rested--:). It won't always be like that and I think you will be very glad you stuck it out. Imagine how you feel when nursing feels wonderful. Once you get through the first couple months, it will be like that all of the time. Honest and truly!

Just cheering you one here---you can do this. You will be soooo glad you did! I hope things turn around for you soon. Is there anyway you can get someone to watch the baby for a couple hours so that you can get a good extra nap in? Some sleep always helps me feel like I can conquer the things that aren't going quite right.

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03

[KGoes]

You sound exhausted! I'm going to give you the same speech that my DH gave to me - nap when she naps!! That was the hardest thing for me to do because I wanted to shower/clean/cook/feel human. Nap. Trust me. In a few weeks both you and your DD will have an easier time and before long, this period will be a sleep-deprived memory.

Definitely try different positions, if you have not already. DD liked the football hold and both of us lying down at that age. Mixing it up helps relieve soreness in your breasts, too.

Hopefully as your thrush clears up, you will feel better as well. Acidolphilus/bifidus supplements really helped me get over thrush - get the kind that are refrigerated.

Hang in there!
Kelley
DD born 7/03

[hez]

Been there. Can remember feeling frustrated and tired, and wanting to be glad DS was there, and wanting not to resent the fact that we seemed to be spending all our time nursing and wondering how come it wasn't as easy as my mom claimed it was (she was a lucky one who had three perfect latchers). Sometimes I think nursing early on is like golfing: there's occasionally that perfect swing (latch/position) that results in a great drive (nursing session) that gives you a high and keeps you trying, but there's a lot of practice swings (sessions) in there there that aren't perfect until you get more experience.

First: Congratulations on your miracle baby!!!

Second: I agree with the others to try different positions. I rotated between football & cross cradle when I was healing from some nifty cracks. We were nursing from both sides during a feedng at that point, so I would start him football on the left, move to cross-cradle on the right. We were using a boppy at that point, so it was easy to scoot him over. Then I'd reverse on the next feeding-- football on the right, and move to cc on the left.

Third: The magic happened for us at 7 weeks. Things got easier; it's kind of indescribable how things seemed to change overnight. Adding to that DS started getting more efficient, so that I didn't feel like my whole entire life revolved around when he ate.

Last: Set small goals for yourself in terms of time. Whenever I reached a little milestone, I made my DH tell me what a good job I was doing :) and set a new goal.

Good luck-- I hope things are getting better.

Edited for spelling (don't tell me if I missed one!).

[lmahn]

Thanks so much for the encouragement. It really helps a lot. I think I'll set a goal of 8 weeks, and hope that time will heal up a lot of these problems and worries. I like the golfing metaphor too -- I guess it will just take a lot of practice swings on the right. I have been trying different positions -- cross cradle, football, and side lying (her head is too small and floppy for regular cradle). It seems like my right nipple gets messed up in every position, although side lying is the best of the three. Now my nipple is sort of crooked, so I think it is hard for her to latch on correctly and not suck the side of it -- does that make sense? Will it eventually look normal again?

I am also worried because my daughter seems to want to turn her head to the right when she is looking for my breast -- even if my breast is not in that direction. She roots to the right, especially if she is really hungry or excited. Is that normal? I know she is uncoordinated, but the LC's concerns about craniosacral problems have me totally freaked out and over-analyzing everything. I wish I could trust my instincts more, but I can't find them, if that makes sense -- I don't feel like "me" at all right now. I am trying to rest as much as possible, and my husband helps a lot.

She is also growing so slowly. She was 6 lbs. 11 oz at birth, 6 lbs. 6 oz. when we left the hospital, and is only 7 lbs. 3 oz. now, at 4 1/2 weeks. The nurse at the ped's office weighed her last Thursday and said she was fine and not to worry, and I know that she is growing in length because her clothes fit differently and she fits differently in the car seat. And she always has at least 6 wet diapers and 3 poopy diapers a day. Is it okay that she is growing slowly?

I can't thank you all enough for the advice and encouragement. It really helps to have somewhere to go, especially late at night or when I am here by myself and worried.


~ Lisa

Mama to Rachel Loraine, 3/25/04

[sntm]

lisa, i just skimmed the other responses but i agree with them.
also, going to multiple LCs can be helpful, as like all medicine, it's an art as much as a science, so one can work better for you than another. keep that in mind if some of their advice seems to contradict.

the vasospasm can be a form of Raynaud's. Karen gave some good advice that I have seen before. Also talk to your LC and doc because there are meds for that if it becomes unbearable that work pretty well (recent publications on that so ped should (hopefully) be familiar)

ped or ob can lance the blister for you.

good luck! keep coming here for advice!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[KGoes]

DD rooted indiscriminately if she was really hungry - arm, shoulder, DH, etc. I cannot recall if there was a directional element, but she has always preferred one breast over the other.

If your ped is happy with her progress and the wet/poopy diaper count, then relax. I can understand why you are jumpy given what you went through during your pregnancy. When I feel uncomfortable with a health issue relating to DD, I look up the symptoms in my baby book, ask one other person and then call the ped's office if I am still uncomfortable.

As for your nipple pain/blister, use your OB. Mine was super about thrush and all of its symptoms. You can also take tylenol for the discomfort.

Kelley
DD born 7/03

[lizajane]

keep seeing lactation consultants!!!!!!!!! it will be a lot less expensive than formula in the long run. it hurt SOOOOO much for me in the first 6 weeks. i cried and cried and cried. but it got better and stayed better!!!! you can do it. just get the help you need from the experts.

[papal]

Lisa,
My dd used to do the same thing...root to the right instead of the direction of the breast. I think they can smell the milk but they cannot figure out how to turn towards it or something. I think around 2 months (it is all a blur now), she stopped doing that. It is pretty normal.
My dd weighed 6 lbs 7 oz at birth and was 17inches, and now, 6 months later, she is just under 12 oz and 24 inches. My ped said not to worry, as long as they follow the growth curve (she is not on the charts, percentile vise). So as long as she is getting plenty of pee and poop dipes, she is doing fine!!!

Hang in there mama!! Don't stress too much! I PROMISE it will get better soon!!

[mommyj_2]

Lisa,
It sounds like you and your little one are doing just great. I remember feeling a bit freaked out from one of the nurses in the hospital who put a ton of pressure on me to get DS to nurse before the end of her shift one night in the hospital. It was making me nervous, and it initially made me second guess myself. I think it's hard when you're a new mom, because not all "experts" give you the right advice, or they don't necessarily tell you what you need to hear to help you in the way you need help. I know it's hard, but I would just try to erase the words "craniosacral problems" from your mind for the time being. Your ped would tell you if that was an issue for your baby, and if I'm remembering your previous post correctly, I'm pretty sure you said your ped said your baby seemed fine.
You'll feel more grounded and be able to trust your instincts (or feel like you have them back) in a few weeks or so. Having a baby is a huge adjustment, and I think a lot of the anxieties of being a new mom become centered around nursing since we spend so much of our time feeding our babies. It sounds to me like you're doing a great job. Babies grow at all different paces. My son weighs as much as my niece, and she's a year older than he is. And, they're both fine on the growth charts.
I hope your nipple heals up soon. My guess is you'll start feeling much more relaxed once you're not in so much pain.
Take care!

[sareva]

just wanted to say that my 4.5 week old has been having a lot of problems with BF and my LC thought craniosacral issues might be contributing to the problem (i pushed for 6 hours before an emergency c-section so baby's head was a bit of a mess). we saw an osteopathic doctor who did some work with baby's skull, and things did improve. however, we are pretty poor (this doc provided her service for free); knowing that we couldn't afford much of this type of therapy, the doc said a couple of things that might make you feel better: 1. if you do try therapy, it generally works pretty quickly if it is going to work at all (2-3 sessions); and 2. babies are amazing, and their skulls/spines generally work themselves out. the issue is how long you can wait. my baby could not latch at all to anything in the beginning -- not a bottle or a finger or anything -- and i was a wreck (saw my baby's chunky thighs practically melt away), so pursuing this type of therapy made sense to me. we were a pretty extreme case. please don't feel any pressure to pursue this -- just wanted you to know that someone else had this issue. sorry i'm not making a lot of sense -- no sleep. take care. sarah

[chlobo]

Lisa,

Sounds like you're working things out. I wanted to reassure you on the growth part. My DD was 7lbs at birth, went down to about 6.5lbs by the time we left the hospital and has been a slow gainer since. She is almost six months old and just over 12 lbs. At my last dr. visit the dr. said he wasn't worried as she looked very much in proportion. She's small but does still have a bit of chubbiness to her. Hang in there. Everything is so new with a first baby and its hard not to freak out. It does get easier (or seems to anyhow).

[lmahn]

Thanks so much to everyone for letting me know about your experiences and giving me good suggestions and encouragement. Nursing has been slowly getting better over the last few days. I still have a little bit of a blister, but I've been able to nurse more consistently on both breasts. She seems to be spending less time in each nursing session too -- so she still often nurses every two hours, but only for about 5-10 minutes on each side. It seems like she is getting to be more efficient (or maybe we both are!). It hurts less on the right than it did last week, so that is a big improvement. And I actually nursed in public for the first time, which was a big step for me -- I nursed her at a little park/playground with lots of other moms and kids around.

I can't tell you how much it helped to hear from other moms with similar situations -- babies rooting in the wrong direction, slow weight gain, craniosacral issues. Your messages really helped reassure me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.


~ Lisa

Mama to Rachel Loraine, 3/25/04