I posted this on Babycenter today, to give you a good idea of what I'm going through as a mother of a newborn:
I'm so weary, frustrated, tired, frustrated, ready to cry and did I say frustrated? Our baby seems to cry ALL THE TIME. If he hasn't gotten in a nap, he's either eating or CRYING. I'm so tired of it and I can't take it anymore, so my poor DH is dealing with the crybaby.
My nipples are STILL in agony and I've been nursing for just over 2 weeks. Are anyone else's nipples who are exclusively breastfeeding still cracked and sore after this amount of time? I check EVERYTHING when Aidan latches on and it all looks textbook perfect, but I am in terrible pain, even in between feedings I can feel them throbbing.
Lastly, anybody else who are exclusively breastfeeding -- are you using a pacifier? I used one on Aidan last night when he was screaming for hours and he got some soothing relief, but later that night had some latching problems, so now I'm petrified of nipple confusion. I just don't know what to do with this baby and every bit of me wants to just skip this difficult newborn phase and get to the part where it's supposed to be fun and fulfilling to have a child. I feel so bad about saying this but it's true and it makes me weep as I write this. Sorry for the me only post, I just need a little support because I'm going through a real rough time.
4 comments:
So sorry you are going through this hard time. There was a time where Lakshmi wasn't latching well, and it was obvious because of the latch. It was about 10 days into our offical nursing relationship. When I consulted a LLL leader, she discovered that was holding Lakshmi by the back on the neck (to get her closer to my nipple) and it was causing Lakshmi to thrust backwards towards my hand (due to some newborn innate reaction).
Most of the time when a mom is having nipple pain, it is due to poor latch. I found it really important to be around other breastfeeding moms, for support.
The last thing I wanted to mention is that sometimes babe or mom will develop a yeast infection called thrush. It is ugly, causes the baby to unlatch due to pain, and you may have deep milk duct throbbing pains. Check Aidens mouth for white patches of cheesy looking yeast. If he has it (likely on his tongue or insides of checks) then you will need to get some help with it.
Jyotsna
Corrected to say, "It was obvious because of the painful nipples"!
Sorry!
Thank you both for your comments. Today's another day and hopefully a better one. I'll check out the forum, Darshani, thanks. We have no lactation consultants or real breastfeeding support groups in Thailand, but I did get a recommendation for a doctor who is an expert in bfing and I plan to make an appointment with her this week. I mean, it's been 16 days since Aidan was born and my nipples shouldn't still be so sore!
Amy,
I think it is not entirely out of the norm for nipples to be hurting that long.
Hang in there. This is the hardest time, adjusting to a newborn from your previoiusly "no child" life.
Just keep saying to yourself, "Just 2 more weeks". That is how I got through the beginning with Lakshmi. She also had a high palette and a short frenum. CAn you look inside of Aidens mouth and see if his frenum (under the tongue...the part holding it down to the floor of the mouth) is too short? It may be that he can have it cut(ask doc) so his tongue can get more of your nipple further back. High palette is just something you correct by not allowing babe to latch on until his mouth is WIDE open....(tickle the side of his mouth with your nipple) and then pull him forward as fast as possible (gently) till he latches. Also, once he is latched as good as can be, roll his lips out so that his mouth has more of your nipple than before.
I had to do this with Lakshmi too.
She was quite the breastfeeding challenge!
HUGS!
Jyotsna
Post a Comment