I haven’t written about the Breastfeeding pain I’ve been experiencing on my blog, and I thought it was important to update you about the fact that breastfeeding isn’t going so well for Brook and I right now. It’s partly because I’ve found myself falling out of love with breastfeeding, and I haven’t wanted to dwell on the negative part of our experience.
For weeks I’ve been experiencing breastfeeding pain when feeding on my right side. I have been nursing Brook in tears at most feeds until I can’t bear the pain any longer. Sometimes I can breath my way through it, and others the feed barely lasts a few seconds.
I’ve exhausted all my breastfeeding advice and tips and nothing has improved the situation. I went completely back to basics with getting the breastfeeding position right, making sure the latch was correct etc and I’ve been worried that our breastfeeding is stopping when neither of us are ready for it.
I have been putting the breastfeeding pain down to Brook’s teeth. She’s got 6 now, which is a lot for a baby her age. It’s not that she’s biting, but it felt like a grating sensation, but only on one breast.
I reached my absolute limit today, and decided today was the day to put my soldiering on attitude to one side and get some advice incase I was missing something.
I gave the Breastfeeding helpline a ring (for the first time would you believe) and spoke to a lovely lady about the experience I was having breastfeeding at the moment. After explaining the pain I was experiencing was just at one breast she explained it probably wasn’t Brook’s teeth. It was more likely to be a blocked duct, and that using heat and massage would probably help shift it.
This all took me back to when Indie was a baby, and I had to encourage my breastfeeding milk supply to increase. I’ve microwaved wet flannels, massaged and expressed from my difficult boob, to try and sort it out. There is still more work to be done, but I think I’m on the right lines at least.
I’ve also been for a chat with the Doctor. When there’s a problem it’s worth getting advice from every perspective. Seeing a Doctor experienced in breastfeeding issues is helpful as they can examine you and see what is going on. She noticed a red area under my breast that I was unaware of, and she could physically see it was blocked. It was actually in a different area to where I was experiencing the pain, so I probably wouldn’t have realised it was connected to the breastfeeding pain.
These last few weeks have been difficult as I have not wanted my breastfeeding journey with Brook to come to an end this way. She’s not been a huge fan of eating, and has suffered several setbacks from being poorly and having chicken pox. I had one very bad night with her, after a day of her deciding she didn’t want to eat much, so she was really hungry during the night, and I wasn’t able to feed her enough from the one side, because the milk just wasn’t there. It’s times like this when it hits you just how emotive feeding your baby is, no matter how you chose to do it.
I’ve been really foolish leaving it so long to get help with the breastfeeding pain, and also trying to diagnose the issue myself. I wish I’d have tapped into the breastfeeding support network a lot sooner, and my life may have been a bit easier these last few months, and maybe I wouldn’t be quite so teary and tired right now. Never mind, I got there in the end, with a course of antibiotics and a strategy to clear the blockage in place I’ve been able to feed Brook from the difficult boob with far less breast pain than normal. Hopefully we will be breastfeeding without pain in a few more days.
Have you experienced breastfeeding pain? What did you find helped you through this situation?