Really painful nipples HELP!!

els831 · October 2015

I'm a FTM, baby is 13 days old, and we are EBF. Baby is doing well, with the right amounts of diapers and weight gain. However, my nipples are destroyed. There are scabs on them and they are extremely painful most hours of the day, both when I am feeding and when I am not. We've seen lactation consultant who says our latch looks good. She's been evaluated for tongue tie and has a "mild" case that the doctor wanted to wait to clip to see if things improved...well they haven't so we have clipping scheduled for next week. I started using medela therashields in my bra yesterday (to keep fabric away from nipples and keep air flowing), but the pain is still there. Honestly, the nipple pain is worse than my csection recovery (not joking). Is this normal to still be in so much pain? Any advice? HELP!

mpache06 · October 2015

I felt the same way (also had a c-section). My lactation consultant had me get 'Motherlove sore nipple cream'. Its all natural and dont need to clean it off before nursing again. It helped me out a lot. With using that and getting her to latch properly, I'm finally starting to feel better. My baby is just now 1 month old. I had so many rough days with my nipples hurting. Was crying all the time and was about to give up breastfeeding. I feel like it takes awhile to get use to it all also. Hang in there!

v1wwo · October 2015

Sorry to hear that

I had that and I am a pumper only. I had the wrong size shield and I destroyed my nipples... I fixed that and only then I trolised that I also had thrush. My LO only had a red butt and very gassy tummy.

But I would pump and the burning pain would linger for a long time. I would put coconut oil (the organic cooking kind) on them and when my opened scares finally held after every feeding I would spray white vinegar and water mix. It really helped.

Not saying you have thrush (I hope you don't) but I would look in to that.

Also, I second Motherlove creams.

monicaP · October 2015

I had one nipple destroyed in the first few weeks. I used a nipple sheild to allow it to recover. APNO was also suggested though I never used it so I do not know first hand if it works. APNO is all purpose nipple ointment, a prescription called in by your doctor.

grannah · October 2015

I had this for about 2 weeks. Excruciating pain, I was then told about lansinoh which helped so much and rubbing a bit of breast milk on them and air drying. Tough going but then they just got better. If you can stick with it, worth it.

vjlanier · October 2015

I have in and started pumping. I was in the same situation. Actually the first week of pumping my milk was blood tented where my nipples still bled. Good luck!

BecMac84 · October 2015

Hang in there! I had the same thing & it took about a week of wearing the medela nipple shells for the pain to start to reduce as air drying the nipple was easier with them & allowed healing to start. As frustrating as it is it will need time to heal. It started to get easier for me between 4 & 5 weeks.

sunnyd619 · October 2015

Yea I was really suprised that my lactation nurse said it shouldn't hurt to nurse 3 days pp before leaving the hospital cause I was in excruciating pain. Now my LO is over a month old and nurses like a champ and doesn't hurt one bit. Expressing a little milk and rubbing it on my nipples and letting them air dry is what helped me. I just didn't wear a shirt for a while lol. I was slathering lanolin cream on but I found a tiny bit after the breast milk dried felt so much better.

flodie · October 2015

I had them too. Now 6 weeks psc much better. Keep them dry, take 10 mins sunbaths, nurse until it realy hurts unlatch and try again later. This plus nipple cream help me a lot

mamabear9285 · October 2015

I had a really rough first two weeks. My son has a vicious suck. I was blistered, cracked, and bleeding. I wanted to cry everytime he cried to eat. The medela nipple cream was great as was warm compresses. Don't wash them with soap either. I dries out your nipples and makes it worse. We're four weeks in now and I'm still tender but I guess I built up aome calluses lol. I did cave and give bottles a couple times. I couldn't stand the thought of putting my nipples in his mouth again. Good luck to you. Whoever said natural was easy lied lol

MiromiM · October 2015

sunnyd619 said:

Yea I was really suprised that my lactation nurse said it shouldn't hurt to nurse 3 days pp before leaving the hospital cause I was in excruciating pain. Now my LO is over a month old and nurses like a champ and doesn't hurt one bit. Expressing a little milk and rubbing it on my nipples and letting them air dry is what helped me. I just didn't wear a shirt for a while lol. I was slathering lanolin cream on but I found a tiny bit after the breast milk dried felt so much better.

I agree! It was almost 3 weeks until it stopped hurting just from the initial latch! Mine still hurt on occasion. I have a prescription nipple cream with an anitfungal and antibiotics (twice a day). I also use Earth Mama Angel Baby Nipple Cream in between when things are rough.

cmlsu · October 2015

I agree with the prescription APNO (Newman's nipple cream). I use it 2 times a day and don't have any issues. I noticed when I didn't use it a few days. The gel pads were also essential the first few days straight out of the freezer. Good luck! I hope it gets better for you soon.

Mevi13 · October 2015

Hang in there! My LO just hit 4 weeks, and it's only in the last couple days have we had pain-free breastfeeding! My latch etc was good from almost the start, but my nipples would still hurt so badly! Remember that baby needs to learn what s/he is doing as well as you. I went topless as well when I could, along with letting a little breastmilk dry on my nipples. For me, a little of Lasinoh's HPA Lanolin eased the stinging pain once they were dry. It gets better, but I wish someone had told me how long it could take. I almost gave up a couple times, but it's been worth it! Good luck!

urfcerin · October 2015

I'm glad you're getting the ties revised. I had horrible nipple pain. I didn't take any of the pain pills after my csection but I needed them to nurse. After my son had his lip and tongue tie revised his latch is so much better and my pain is almost gone. I had a pediatrician and a LC check him for ties and they both said he didn't have any. I found a Facebook group for lip and tongue tie and they had a list of preferred providers. I took my son to one on the list and he actually had a class 3 upper lip tie and a posterior tongue tie. Pediatric dentist used a laser to revise it.

Bognes · October 2015

@urfcerin that sounds familiar.
We saw 4 LC. Two said tongue tie. 2 Pediatricians and a ENT said no. Pediatric dentist said class 4 lip and mild posterior tongue tie. We had both lasered.
Latch better on right, scabbed over and is healing, but still no good on left. Left nipple still has Grand Canyon going through it. No more blood in baby's mouth though, those were terrible days. I'm going to try nipple shield for a few days on the left side. Just worried baby won't get enough milk through it.

@els831 my baby is 24 days old and we're still struggling so try to get it fixed ASAP so you're not like me- anxious as hell every time baby needs to nurse. Try and make the hamburger with your nipple so baby gets on real deep. Apno is a steroid and thins nipple skin. I was told to use it only 1 week, sadly it didn't clear everything up in that week. I hope the tongue tie clip works for you. I placed all my eggs in that basket and when it wasn't the cure I was pretty bummed.

jen83mn · October 2015

I also recommend MotherLove Nipple Cream. Love that you don't have to wash it off before feeding baby. I used this from day 1 and never had cracking or bleeding. After a few weeks I found I didn't even need it anymore. Hope that helps!

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