Trouble In Breastfeeding Paradise
We’re all friends here, right? And I can whisper you a little embarrassing secret I have in hopes that you can relate and maybe even shed a little light on my tiny situation I got going on here?
16 days ago, I think my baby might have broke Righty.
Like it’s excruciatingly painful to breastfeed him on the right side. In fact, four days ago I stopped feeding him on that side because I just can bear the pain anymore.
The back story: Ever since Paul was born, I’ve exclusively breastfed him. Things were chugging along swimmingly, until 16 days ago. I don’t know what happened, but breastfeeding him on my right breast became unbearably painful. Every time he would latch on, my toes would curl, my knuckles would turn white, and I would have to use my labor breathing techniques just to get through the first few minutes.
And then after he’s done nursing, I have shooting pains for up to an hour deep in the muscle of my breast.
I might also mention that 16 day ago he also got his 2 month old vaccinations, and I let him use me as a pacifier to sooth his discomfort. All joking aside, I think he sucked so hard at one point, he broke my nipple and cause some serious damage.
Can a baby do that? Break a nipple by sucking too hard?
Over the course of the past 2 weeks, I’ve talked to a few smart people (none of which are actual doctors) and have tentatively ruled out a clogged duct, Mastitis, and Thrush. Three most common offenders to sore breasts.
Right now, I’ve decided to only nurse Paul on the left side, and gently pump my right side to keep supply up and hope that my body heals quickly while we take a little breastfeeding break.
Fortunately for me, I do have an amazing pump from Hygeia that I’ve actually been able to borrow from a friend, because Hygeia pumps can be shared if you buy the personal accessory kit. But honestly, I don’t love pumping, no matter how awesome the pump is, and I just want my right breast to go back to normal.
Breastfeeding mama’s, have you ever had anything like this happen to you? I’m mildly concerned with my situation, not to mention some serious pain.
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Image Credit: Casey Mullins.
My advice: use a nipple guard on that side until it heals a little. The guards always took a bit of the “oomph” out of the sucking for me when I needed a break.
Ok, this is probably not it, but look up vasospasms/Renaud’s Syndrome. I had this and it took me a long time to figure it out. It was very painful, mostly in the nipple but sometimes in the whole breast. I ended up taking a prescription medicine for a few months that seemed to finally get rid of it. Good luck!
I was going to say the same thing about the vasospasms. I had them when I was starting out with the twins, and keeping the constant heat on there when not breastfeeding solved the problem. The best place I found information on it was in the book ‘The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding’ I got it for like $8 at Amazon. But they said keep heat on it all the time for about 5-7 days and it should resolve. I found those hand warmer things to be the easiest thing to just stick in my bra. Good Luck, hope it clears up quickly!
Ditto for the vasospasms. Heat and different positions did the trick for us, and at just over 11 months, we’re still going strong!
I would also suggest it might be vasospasms. I had similar symptoms breastfeeding my son. I followed the suggestions on Kellymom and gave up caffeine and started taking a B6 supplement and the pain finally went away. It took about a day for the pains in my breast to go away and a few more for my nipple to heal. I think it was mostly giving up caffeine that did it, because even now if I have just a little caffeine the pain comes back, but as soon as I stop drinking it the pain goes away.
heat is good for all that ails the body but also try cabbage leaves. yup, it’s weird but it works. just stick a raw cabbage leaf on righty and it will feel better. I didn’t have this problem but I did have Mastitis and later a small cut right next to my nipple. yes ouch. the only hting that helped was heat and using lots of lanolin on the cut during pumping. Oh an lanolin cream is great for sore nipples and sfe for breastfeeding.
Always good to ask us here, but you might want to consider talking to a doctor also.
It’s my understanding that cabbage leaves are used when drying up the supply. I could be wrong, but please look into that before trying it.
You’re doing great Emily, and you’re doing what’s best for Paul by keep up feeding him on the side that’s less painful. Pumping to keep your supply up is also great. It sounds like you’ve talked to people who have helped rule out infections. You’re doing all the right things. Keep it up!
I’ve started getting more pain while nursing my toddler, but I think that has to do more with changing hormones as he nurses less than anything actually “wrong”. I hope your nipple heals soon so you don’t get too lopsided! Remind Paul to be gentle on his mama!
Cabbage leaves can make your milk dry up, but done correctly can really heal your breasts. It works great for mastitis! There is something magical about those leaves. Freeze them, put them on the sore ares of your breast, 20 minutes on, 2 hours off. Your milk won’t dry up that way. They need switched out when they wilt. You might give it a try, they mat work for other breast problems! I’ve used them before and they work!
I’ve had probably every bfing problem there is, so my first thought when reading this was that it was thrush. It sounds like thrush… but you’ve said you ruled that out. (Still, watch for signs: white in his mouth is the best one; thrush is underdiagnosed because it’s hard to tell based just on mom’s symptoms). I’ve had excellent luck with cabbage leaves healing mastitis but as others have said, cabbage leaves are also used in weaning & drying up milk supply, so I’d proceed with caution on a breast you are already not nursing from.
It also sounds like vasosapsm is likely. Here’s what KellyMom has to say about it: http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/nipple-blanching/
Good luck!
I had this same pain, but not while nursing ever. Only after – and sometimes randomly during the day with Lucas. (Never with the girls) I couldn’t ever figure out what it was, but after reading all that stuff others have suggested on vasospams, it sure sounds like that’s what I had.
Hey! I had this issue with O. Turns out he had a tacked frenulum (where that little tag of skin between the top lip and gums reaches down too far, thus the baby can’t fully bloom lips open to nurse). I used the nipple shield and it helped, gave me time to heal and get used to his way of nursing. No fun! Good luck
When my daughter was born I experienced a lot of pain in my right nipple that shot up into the breast. It felt like I was being electrocuted and stabbed at the same time. Not sure if this may be what your experiencing, but one of the lactation consultants I saw said that I may have a sensitive nerve ending that she was engaging with her latch. Just to keep trying to feed on that side and if it’s too painful to switch. I think I had it for the first month, and it got easier to feel with as she got better at sucking.
At about five or six months, the pain returned, and again it took a few weeks for it to go away. My recommendation would be to certainly try a nipple shield and warm compresses. It may be worth consulting with a lactation consultant to see if his latch has changed and is engaging you in such a way that is causing pain. I hope you did relief soon!
This video covers the breast feeding dilemma that occurred at Target in a quite humorous manner, but offers some good insight – how that’s an issue, but fat, hairy men walking around shirtless is not? Worth a watch for sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&feature=youtu.be&v=cwO3GLIVHE0