I am struggling with a lot of pain bfeeding. My breasts have a red ring around them, and when I was feeding last night my right breast was extremely itchy and uncomfortable to the point where I had to stop feeding and my husband fed my baby some expressed milk. My baby will be 4 weeks tomorrow, so I am not sure if he is going through a growth spurt and my breasts are sore because of that? He has been feeding every 2 hours today (usually feeds between 3-4 hours normally) and you would think that I am starving him when he is ready to latch on. I use a nipple shield because I have flat nipples and it is the only way that we can bfeed with him latching. I have minimal pain when latching and it goes away (otherwise I take him off and have him latch on again.) I am also taking antibiotics for mastitis since July 31st.
Can anyone guide me on how to help with this? I felt like we hit rock bottom with bfeeding when I came down with the mastitis, but this is getting to the point where I absolutely hate and dread bfeeding my son. Another thing - when I look into my son's mouth - he does not have any white patches in there (he has a milk mark towards the back of his mouth - but it comes and goes with feeding) but he also does appear to have a diaper rash. Our Pediatrician over the phone prescribe Nystatin - but my husband is convinced that it's not thrush and that it has to be something wrong with me. I hope that this gives enough information to help me. I would love any guidance on how to help us feel better so we can continue bfeeding.