3rd LC and nothing works :/

[@llli*hermione]

I've posted here before cause baby is 5 weeks old and we've been eperiencing a lot of problems: sore cracked nipples due to problems with latch, thrush and mastitis.
Baby is gaining well (gained 10 oz last week) and has good output.
We saw the 3rd LC today because latch is still very painful on the right breast and nipple feels raw. Her visit was not very helpful, nipple got further traumatized and I'm already dreading the next feeding.
It seem that we can achieve a relatively pain free latch, but then baby slips off or something, it s like he adjusts to another position and pain starts again.
What can I do to prevent this?
Another thing that isn't helping is that nursing sessions are very long (an hour or more) cause he falls asleep all the time. I switch nursing a lot to keep him interested but the LC scolded me because he should finish the first breast first. I also always start with the less painful side but was told not to for the same reason.
I guess I just don't know what to do anymore, I was really looking to this appointement and now I'm even more sore than before...
What are my options? Do you think I could manage to feed from one breast only?
The one with the painless latch? That's how desperate I am

[@llli*rakoonz]

I did that (feed from the one breast) while trying to get wounded nipples to heal. I tried to pump from the other side, just to keep up supply, but couldn't even take that, so I just hand-expressed as much as I could. Maybe just doing this for a day or two wouldn't kill your supply? It was fine for me, but I don't have any supply issues.
Have you tried all the things here to help heal the sores? Do you still have the thrush and/or mastitis?

[@llli*gamom]

Question...has your LO been checked for tongue tie or lip tie? I had pain with DD1, and she had tongue tie. With DD2 she has a very mild tongue tie and a pretty significant lip tie (also had pain.) Also are the LCs your seeing IBCLCs??

If you want see see pics for comparison, here is a link that helped me. http://thefunnyshapedwoman.blogspot....-frenulum.html

Also you can google for more info and pics. Sorry, you are going through all of this, and I hope things get better soon for you!

[@llli*mommal]

Mama, you have been such a trooper through all of this!

When a baby adjusts his latch partway through a feeding, it can be because he's trying to control a milk flow that is too fast or too abundant. My LC said it was like crimping a hose to slow the flow of water. If this is the problem, changing your nursing position and controlling any oversupply issues should help. Another reason a baby may lose his latch over the course of a feeding is because the breast is heavy and the baby is tiny: imagine if you had to hold up a water balloon that was bigger than your head using just lips, gums, and tongue! Eventually you'd probably lose your grip on the thing. If this is the problem, supporting the breast and baby throughout the feeding, using hands, pillows, and maybe a rolled-up washcloth tucked underneath the breast, may help.

If you are so sore that nursing has become unendurable, you can feed from just one breast or predominantly one breast. That avenue has some drawbacks. You'll need to slowly transition from feeding on two sides to feeding on just one, because your "good" breast probably doesn't have a supply that's adequate for baby all by itself, at least right now while it's sharing the workload with your "bad" breast. Also, if you don't allow the supply in the "bad" breast to decrease slowly by gradually reducing what you demand from it, you could end up painfully engorged or with mastitis again. If you wean from the "bad" breast, and don't maintain supply on that side by pumping, you may not have much of a back-up milk supply in that breast for an emergency situation in which your "good" breast is out of commission.

I understand why the LC told you not to start on the "good" side every time- doing so could increase the supply on that side and decrease supply on the other to the point where you become lopsided. Which might be an acceptable trade-off for you!

Just keep hanging in there, mama. I know you are in real pain and it's not easy to continue, but I am sure that if you give this time you will eventually be able to use both breasts without pain. I was- it just took a long time, much longer than that magical 6 weeks everyone talks about!

[@llli*mom2a]

Can you describe the pain? Tingling, burning, throbbing, deep into the tissue or centralized near the sore nipple?

I had radiating pain in one of my breast when my milk would let down. It was bad enough that i would cry in anticipation of latching my lo on. It went away on its own after a couple if weeks. With my second lo, he was tongue tied and it hurt to latch on either side, but he was a terrific at getting enough milk.

Describing your pain may help us to problem solve with you.

Hang in there.

[@llli*hermione]

To give you more information:

- Baby was checked for tongue tie, apparently doesn't have it; his tongue goes past his gums
- I have small breasts so that is not why he slips to a shallow latch. Maybe OALD? How can I check for that?
- One of the LCs was an IBCLC, she was the most helpful; but she says we are doing everything right and to keep trying, she has no more suggestions
- The pain I feel is like niddles, worse at the beginning of the feeding and the gets better; the pain is right at the tip of the nipple, nipple comes off wedged and it hurts right where the nipple seems folded (don't know if I m being clear, sorry for my english)
- Sometimes when a feeding goes really bad, I will have pain afterwards, and there are times where the nipple seems a little blanched
- Not worried about being lopsided; the bad breast is bigger than the good one
- I've been using different techniques to get a better latch (nipple sandwich, the flipple), but I cant seem to decide which one is better; also not sure if doing the flipple right, but can't find good videos. Also baby doesn't open very wide, all the LCs agree with that

So I have a feeling the magical 6 weeks everyone talks about are not gonna be so magical for me
Thank you guys, you're the one keeping me going!

Uh, another question: if I keep offering the good breats first for a while, and then we miraculously get a better latch on the bad one, I could still get my supply back on the bad one, right? If we try really hard?

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

There was a mama here who had a bad time with both her babies, and she did get to where she could nurse pain free. It took more than the typical 6 weeks, but she got there, and she's still nursing now. Hang in there.

I think whatever it takes to keep nursing. Start with the good side, so baby isn't starving, then switch off if you can stand it.

If you need a break on it for a few days, you'll be OK. You can pump it if nursing is too painful.

[@llli*krystine]

6 weeks isn't magical for everyone, that is for sure. It wasn't magical for us or even really easy until about 12 months (not to discourage you, but to say that yes there are moms who have really bad problems and stick with it and believe it's worth it).
My LC gave me some antibiotic ointment for sore nipples and I believe that helped but the problem isn't going to really go away until your baby gets his latch good throughout the nursing session.
I agree it's OK to pump for a couple of days if that's what you need to heal up. It does make me sad that you are dreading the next nursing session and that things are going so difficultly for you.
Hang in there, you're doing a wonderful thing for your baby.

[@llli*mommal]

Don't lose hope! 6 weeks might still mark the turnaround point. Or maybe just a little longer. This isn't necessarily something that will go on for months and months.

Since you're seeing wedged nipples and you're having needle-like pain at the beginning of a feeding, I think the problem is that your baby's latch is still shallow. The nipple is landing on the front of her tongue, underneath the hard palate, instead of on the back of the tongue, underneath the soft palate. The good news is that time should take care of this problem! As the baby grows, she's going to be able to take a bigger mouthful of breast and the nipple is going to land in the right place every time.

The blanching you're seeing is probably a vasospasm caused by compression: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/...blanching.html

Based on the fact that this is happening on only one breast, I doubt the problem is OALD. But here are OALD symptoms, check them out and see if anything looks familiar:
- mom may frequently feel full or engorged
- mom may leak a lot
- if mom is pumping, she may be able to pump multiple oz of milk with ease
- baby may cough, choke, splutter, gag, or make a clicking/clucking sound while nursing
- baby may pull off the breast during feedings
- if baby pulls off the breast during a letdown, mom may observe milk squirting or streaming from the breast

IMO, I think it would be very possible for you to continue to offer the good breast first, using the "bad" breast less often. You might end up with lower supply in that breast, but it is definitely possible to fix that. You can pump on that side in addition to nursing to keep the supply in that breast going strong, or you can just wait for your baby to grow into a better latch and then bring supply back on the "bad" side by offering it more frequently.

Please give yourself a big pat on the back, first for your excellent English (I assumed you were native speaker!), and second for keeping on nursing when it's obviously been very difficult for you. We may be encouraging you, but YOU are the one doing all the hard work!!!

[@llli*krystine]

I agree with Mommal, please don't lose hope and please don't take my remark about how long it took us as to be any sort of prediction that it will be that long for you and your baby to have breastfeeding going smoothy. But, however long it does take, I still think it's worth it to continue going on, hopefully any week now things will greatly improve for you.