How long did it take to start working well? (Is there hope for us?)

mom2be614 · July 2014

I'm close to my breaking point. My daughter is six weeks old, and she still isn't latching well. She's gaining weight fine, but feedings are painful, and I dread every one of them. We had three weeks of cracked, sore nipples, and two more weeks of treatment for thrush... Five visits with IBCLCs, too. Are my nipples still healing? I can't remember what healthy ones look like. Am I just waiting for her mouth to get bigger? Was anyone here having this much trouble at six weeks and still had a good breastfeeding relationship later? It was not this difficult with my first daughter.

surpriseaddition · July 2014

Yes.... It will get better! Hang in there. By the end of the 6 week growth spurt, thing usually improve. GL!

BlessedBee83 · July 2014

My LO has a bubble/high palette. To be honest, I dreaded feeding him because of the pain until about 8~10 weeks. By that point, his mouth was bigger & it was no longer painful.

Hang in there, mama!

frugalphillybride · July 2014

APNO ointment and coconut oil helped me for the sore, cracked nipples.

Using a nipple shield also helped me.

And I second having your LO evaluated for tongue/lip tie. My son had his clipped around a month old.

Best mama!

babym6705 · July 2014

I agree with trying APNO cream. I went through the same thing as you and the APNO cream saved me. I was in tears during every feeding before it. I just googled it and made it myself.

iqwedding3 · July 2014

I've had a couple of days where it was just too painful to stand. I pumped and bottle fed on those days. After a day break from the chomping, my nipples were healed and ready to go!

Also a few days ago (8 weeks or so) stuff suddenly started clicking. She's latching much better and overall doing a better job.

CNYBride05 · July 2014

8+ weeks and it's great now! Hang in!

alimama33 · July 2014

6 weeks was still pretty rough for us. I had such sore and cracked nipples that took forever to heal! My ds had a tongue tie clipped at 2 weeks old, and it took until he was about 9 or 10 weeks for everything to heal and to feel like we had the hang of things. He's 8 months now, and BF is so easy and quick it's hard to remember our rocky start sometimes. Hang in there!

SunflowersBride · July 2014

I was in the exact same place! It actually took my nipples about 13 weeks to finally heal completely, but DS is now almost 6 months old and BFing is a breeze! Despite everything I read saying that they would eventually heal, I didn't think mine would, because they were that bad. Hang in there!

TheAnalyticalMommy · July 2014

Same here.... i cried during many feedings. it was horrible! At my breaking point i decided to try pumping and giving the milk via bottle for a few days to give my nipples a rest and it worked! Pumping didn't hurt if i kept the section low enough and i was able to let them heal while he continued to get BM. When they were mostly healed i tried again and we were good to go! It still hurt a bit but at least not the point of tears and bleeding.

I know most pple say it shouldn't hurt and that bleeding means a bad latch but i never did anything to change his latch. It just got better with time so i'm thinking that we just needed practice and for my body to gt used ot it.

Iti's so amazing when it works out and i couldn't be happier that i kept trying... good luck!

24Trishap · July 2014

I didn't feel like we got the hang of it until about 12 weeks. We went through so much but we didn't give up and now at 15 weeks breastfeeding is going so good!!! Good luck and remember you are not alone!

RDK24 · July 2014

Took about 8 weeks for us. Hang in there! And neosporin for cracks was a total game changer for me. All the coconut oil in the world didn't help me heal. GL to you!

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