does the pain get better?

Cara2

My beautiful baby girl is 3 days old now and we've been working hard at bf.  I've been working hard at getting the correct latch as we didn't have one when we began.  Because of this, my nipples are extremely tender and cracked and it hurts while she eats.  I've had the lactation consultant to our house and she is coming again tomorrow.  I'm beginning to feel confident that we can get the correct latch now but because my nipples already hurt, it's hard to tell if she's latched properly.  Has this happened to anyone and did you just nurse through the pain? Did the pain eventually disipate? Any advice/help/thoughts/encouraging words would be helpful.

TIA

alison43

It's hard to tell if the latch is right when you are in so much pain...but you can tell a lot by looking...look at pictures online of good latches, have the LC help you see what to look for...ugh I wish I had some more advice.  Have you been using anything to help your nipples heal?  Some like lanolin (lansinoh), some people like to express a drop of breastmilk and rub it in...soothies pads might feel good too.

Sorry for all the ... I am just waking up and apparently I can't use punctuation at 6am.

Good luck!

kds24

Yes, it gets better, but it might take a couple weeks.  Ditto to using Lanolin after each session and I would also go without a bra to let my nipples air out, that seemed to help a lot actually.  Good luck and please feel free to ask us anything, we've all been where you are now! 

P.S. Just a future word of advice, yes, it's normal for your baby to feed non-stop around 2 weeks and yes it's normal for them to not poop every day (can go up to 7-10 days) starting around a month.  I know those are big questions that have many new moms concerned and pop up here a lot. 

angelina477

Pain = bad latch. The LC will help you get it right. It will get better just keep working on it. Breastfeeding is hard and takes practice on both ends. Good luck!

mrs.baum

I have totally been there and it is so hard. It does get better! Use plenty of lanolin and it will get better. In the beginning my nipples were so tender and cracked they bled, but now I've been EBF for 13 months!

Jen Thomas

Pumping helped me with the pain.  I tried direct BF, and it did hurt. That pain did get better, but pumping was my saving grace; otherwise I would have quit BF at 6 wks.