Having suffered with cracks and bleeding from week 1 of BF and having forced myself to drop the nipple shields, we now appear to be turning a corner. My LO is nealy 5 weeks old and had a TT diagnosed and treated at 2.5 weeks. Although our latch is now much better it is rarely pain-free. At best it's "scratchy" and the first latch of the day literally brings me out in a sweat, but I keep telling myself it will get better and that I CAN do this for my son.
This past week I'm making good progress to get him fully back to the breast, so he's been BF a LOT. With him fussing, unlatching and relatching frequently during hours of seemingly endless feeds, I am experiencing some pain but I try not to unlatch him unless I think he's breaking the skin, because he gets quite upset at being taken off and I want him to settle and enjoy it. To my surprise, even when it's hurt the most, my skin seems to been intact. Fairly often the nipple comes out creased/with a white line or lipstick-shaped but the pain subsides pretty quickly. Have I just been lucky to date or do your nipples adapt? I've been treating with Lansinoh a couple of times a day and letting the air get to them because I can't afford to get them damaged like before.