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What would YOU do?

sugarpumpkin716sugarpumpkin716 member
in Babies: 3 - 6 Months

This is a purely hypothetical post. 

I BF my son who will be 6 months old on the 19th (whaaaaaat?!). The past several weeks my nipples and the skin around my nipples have been extremely red, raw, agitated, dry, flakey...sorry for the TMI, but I'm just trying to get the point across. I use lanolin, which helps the dryness and flakiness, but it's impossible to pump because it prevents me from getting a good suction. Even when I wipe most of it off it doesn't help.

Anyway, my boobs burn. It looks and feels like a terrible sunburn pretty much. Everything I've tried hasn't helped and I'm waiting for yet another LC to get back to me on what she thinks I should do.

I'm not really interested in stopping BFing, since I've made it almost 6 months...why not just keep going, right? MIL said with my open skin she's afraid I might get a staph infection or something, and she said that it's about time I take care of myself and my body. I had thrush for 8 weeks, too.

Soooo I guess I'm just curious as to what YOU would do. I don't have insurance and I've spent more money than I have, honestly, on different doctors lately, who don't seem to help at all. I'm not going to change what I'm doing and suddenly switch to formula, so opinions won't sway my decision, but I am curious. Thanks ladies. 

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Re: What would YOU do?

  • avblissavbliss member
    It clearly sounds like a latching issue. Have you tried a nipple shield? With out seeing your nipples personally it could be that you have inverted nipples so it's harder for baby to get a proper latch. I know when you have sore nipples it's really painful to pump, but often if you give direct nursing a break for a few days for them to heal and just pump it can help. The thrush didn't help the situation either, which is another reason baby might have a poor latch because the thrush made his mouth hurt to eat so he's found a weird latch that hurt less and now is continuing to latch that way. I dealt with thrush and poor milk supply with DD2 and had to stop nursing because I was exhausted and unable to care for my 2 yo properly while stressing about feeding the baby enough. My life consisted of nursing, bottle feeding, pumping and diaper changing then repeat for two weeks before I finally just gave up since my milk supply never came back in at a sustainable level. So if you do decide that you need to switch to formula DO NOT feel guilty. While BFing is best, you truly do need to take care of yourself too, and he'll be starting solids soon. However I will warn that when you wean early you can have dramatic hormone shifts and mood swings. This doesn't happen to everyone, but no one told me that it could happen when I weaned DD2 and since I BF'd DD1 till she was 14mo I had no idea what I was in store for.
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  • sugarpumpkin716sugarpumpkin716 member

    imageavbliss:
    It clearly sounds like a latching issue. Have you tried a nipple shield? With out seeing your nipples personally it could be that you have inverted nipples so it's harder for baby to get a proper latch. I know when you have sore nipples it's really painful to pump, but often if you give direct nursing a break for a few days for them to heal and just pump it can help. The thrush didn't help the situation either, which is another reason baby might have a poor latch because the thrush made his mouth hurt to eat so he's found a weird latch that hurt less and now is continuing to latch that way. I dealt with thrush and poor milk supply with DD2 and had to stop nursing because I was exhausted and unable to care for my 2 yo properly while stressing about feeding the baby enough. My life consisted of nursing, bottle feeding, pumping and diaper changing then repeat for two weeks before I finally just gave up since my milk supply never came back in at a sustainable level. So if you do decide that you need to switch to formula DO NOT feel guilty. While BFing is best, you truly do need to take care of yourself too, and he'll be starting solids soon. However I will warn that when you wean early you can have dramatic hormone shifts and mood swings. This doesn't happen to everyone, but no one told me that it could happen when I weaned DD2 and since I BF'd DD1 till she was 14mo I had no idea what I was in store for.

    both LCs i saw said his latch was great. :( as far as mood swings, i can't imagine that i'd get any worse than i already am lol. i hear you...the bottle cleaning, pumping, nursing, repeat, repeat, repeat, is sooooo tedious. 

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  • NiniJ55NiniJ55 member

    Sounds like thrush to me.  The only advice I could give is to give nursing a break and pump for a while.  Use olive oil instead of lanolin.  It has natural anti-fungal properties anyway.  Also maybe a little lotrimen could not hurt - to treat the thrush.  It took me a good couple of weeks before I was able to get it under control.  I was in horrible pain when nursing and/ or pumping.

    Good Luck!

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  • jmlushboughjmlushbough member
    imageNiniJ55:

    Sounds like thrush to me.  The only advice I could give is to give nursing a break and pump for a while.  Use olive oil instead of lanolin.  It has natural anti-fungal properties anyway.  Also maybe a little lotrimen could not hurt - to treat the thrush.  It took me a good couple of weeks before I was able to get it under control.  I was in horrible pain when nursing and/ or pumping.

    Good Luck!

    This is exactly what I was thinking. You can develop a contact dermatitis from lanolin, so I would stop using that and switch to olive oil.

    Also, have you tried gentian violet? My friend had a terrible go round with thrush, and used gentian violet. Aside from the fact that it turns everything purple, it can be very effective at clearing things up. 

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  • sunandsandsunandsand
    2nd vote for thrush. I would go to a walk in clinic or pay cash to see someone for treatment, and your babys pedi needs to treat them as well. 
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  • livinirie84livinirie84 member
    imagesugarpumpkin716:

    This is a purely hypothetical post. 

    Just curious what you mean by this. Which part of the situation you describe is hypothetical?  

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  • lizzyinflorencelizzyinflorence
    I think it sounds like thrush, too, and I also vote for gentian violet.  It seems to work when nothing else will, plus it is pretty cheap and easy (though messy) to use.  Ditto, too, on the olive oil.  Thrush can get into your lanolin and live there, especially if it is in a tub and not a tube.  I would put some olive oil in a little squirt bottle and use that instead.  Also, though you may smell like a salad, swabbing your nipples with apple cider vinegar before applying olive oil will help make the area inhospitable to thrush.  Hope it gets better soon!
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  • coey03coey03 member

    Coconut oil is the best because it has anti fungal and anti bacterial properties when dried on the skin.

    It sounds like you could either have thrush or eczema.

    I would try the gentian violet 2x a day for 3 days. Apply to your nips, then nurse so baby is treated, too. It can be irritating/ drying to the skin so be sure to use something, such as the coconut oil. Also, make sure you're using a 1% solution.

    Gl!! 

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