2+ moms: help wanted (long) sore nipples/pumping

abailey1823

My LO is a week today.  We have been doing pretty well with latching lately however my right breast took a toll early on with her not latching properly.  It has been more sore than the left from the beginning.  Here is my problem.  The right side seems to produce more and she seems to favor it more.  Yesterday night, I could not get her to latch on to the right side because 1) it hurt too much and 2) my nipple would not get into a good "shape" for her to latch.  I still tried anyway at her 130 am feeding. She has almost always been taking both sides when I offer them to her with each feeding. She would not take the right side at her 530 feeding so I pumped it instead.

 

My two questions: How long does it typically take for the soreness to go away (part of my nipple seems like it has a callus) if I pump that side?  What do I do if she wants both sides but I cannot get her to latch onto to right side and need to pump it instead for now?  Any help or insight would be great! TIA 

kathrnn

As far as soreness goes, I know a lot of first time moms say it took 2-3 weeks (some times almost a month) for breast feeding to become completely comfortable. It took me about a month, but I went from having nipple soreness to thrush, so can't honestly say how long it would have taken.

Are you using lanolin cream at all to help with the soreness? Or you could try using a warm compress on your nipples after each feeding. Since your right side is so sore, I would try latching your LO onto the left side first (this will also help it produce more). You could try pumping the right side ahead of time and having a bottle ready in case she's still hungry after nursing on the left side. And as the soreness goes down start trying to latch her back on to the right.

It'll probably be a little frustrating at first, but I would hang in there, it does get easier by the day!