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@Mamadee: Yes to using hand expressed milk as well, I forgot about that! I'd always squeeze a few extra drops at the end of a feed and rub it in - people aren't exaggerating when they say breast milk is a magic cure all! That worked 100000x better than Lanolin! Thanks for reminding me, I had forgotten that little trick! @vegmama: try it, I swear it works wonders, and then let your boobs air dry afterwards for a little while.
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Please give yourself permission to pump, bottle feed, use nipple shields, anything to give your nipples break to heal. I was like you in the beginning, and was so scared that doing any of those things would cause baby to lose interest in breastfeeding. I was very wrong and suffered needlessly for 7 weeks. Turned out lo had a posterior tongue tie and that is why the latch "seemed" fine but there was still significant trauma to my nipples. So you might also want to have her checked for a tongue tie.
Hang in there mama. -
Best Wishes!
Lots of lanolin worked for me. Before/after showering, before/after nursing, just all the time.
And put those gel ice packs in your bra after nursing. Hope you heal up soon. -
First of all - you're doing great!
Second, I didn't read all the responses but here's my nipple advice...
Be topless as much as possible. Shut the shades, and air those puppies out. If you can hand express at all (even the tiniest amount) do that, rub it on your nipples and let it air dry.
Earth Mama Angel Baby Nipple Butter. That stuff is the bomb. Slather it all over your nipples. (http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Mama-Angel-Baby-Natural/dp/B000JVCBBG)
If your nipples are cracked, they're going to hurt - so you need to focus on getting them to heal. Once they're healed it's normal to have "latch pain" in the beginning (sharp pain that only lasts about 15 seconds) but anything longer than that is NOT normal and means there's a latch problem.
Has your milk fully come in? Has your daughter been checked for tongue and lip ties?
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I could have written this with my son. Do not beat yourself up. Breastfeeding is the hardest thing I have ever done. It was SO incredibly painful for me the first 12 weeks. We had both of DS's frenulums clipped and it didn't help. I saw LCs multiple times, tried all sorts of remedies and it was really just time that helped. I honestly think that part of it was that DS had a very small mouth that he couldn't open big enough in order to latch properly. Definitely get some APNO for your nips, it worked wonders for me.
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