Pain After Nursing

Hi there, I'm so sorry to hear about your pain. I'm still pregnant with my first ( like to read what might happen after the baby is born and what could come up, so I read a lot of these questions) I read my mom your question and he said she had similar pain and my dad would heat up a wash cloths with hot water and mom would cover her breasts with them for at least ten mimutes before feeding me. She said at first the pain was so intense that she thought she wouldn't get to breastfeed at all. But the washcloths worked!
I've read some of the other posts and agree that it could be a clogged duct, which would explain why hot wash cloths would help, the heat can calm the duct and let milk flow correctly.
I hope this helps, give the wash cloths a try at least, you never know what will do the trick.
Good luck,
H.

My third was more troublesome, too. He's 3 1/2 months old now. With my first, the trouble was getting him latched on right, so my nipples were sore and even cracked once. I stuck it out until 2 weeks, and then it magically got better!
It was better the second time.
I expected the same this time, but I had strange pains. The baby curled his tongue upward, so he'd fail to latch on, and he'd try 10-12 times before success! And then I'd get this sharp pain shooting down what seemed like a vein. It would sometimes last a whole hour, and sometimes would be painful enough that I'd cry. I was worried, but it did go away on its own. I haven't had any pain for nearly 2 months.
I got on La Leche League's website and the other moms helped a lot. They said that 6 weeks was still so little, that it was okay that we still had some problems.
I've decided that lactation consultants aren't experts by any means. I'm guessing that they're just nurses who took an extra class. I don't know, but they've never been very helpful for me! Try looking up La Leche and see what they have to say.

Hi D.,
The past four weeks I too have been having a mysterious breast pain. I have done a ton of research and reading on every possibility. Here they are...Clogged milk duct, Which if it isn't taken care of =Mastitis, or thrush, which is a type of yeast infection. With a clogged milk duct you usually see redness and can feel a lump where the duct is actually clogged. Mastitis is when the milk is sitting in the duct so long that it becomes infected. You will know when it is Mastitis. Flu like symptoms, chills, fever, nausea,etc. The goal is to not let the clogged duct turn into Mastitis.
Thrush on the other hand hurts the worst when baby latches on, pain can lessen, then continue to hurt after you are done nursing. Typical symptoms are shooting pains through out your breast and can even be in to your back and shoulder area. Check out your babies mouth. When mom has thrush, the baby does too, but it doesn't always have to have the symptoms. If her mouth has any white film or bumps that look like milk curds, that is a pretty good indicator of yeast. This is the best website that I have run across yet. Jack Newman has a Ph.D and is the nursing Guru of all time. Good luck. Don't give up nursing, it will get better. It's worth it, I promise.

Have you been on any antibiotics recently? If you have, that is a huge indicator that it may be thrush.

http://www.motherandchildhealth.com/Breastfeeding/breastf...

I had a similar problem when I nursed my son - on both sides, but more on the right side. It got so bad that I was just hanging on until I could take the next dose of ibuprofen. It felt like my chest was on fire. And it was worse after nursing.

So, in case yours is the same thing, mine turned out to be a deep ductal yeast (or thrush) infection. It was SO BAD, and amazingly, no one seemed to know what it was or what to do about it, so I suffered for 4 months with it until I thought I might lose my mind.

FINALLY I found a lactation consultant with an idea. She read me some literature that said sometimes deep ductal thrush is really hard to get rid of, and it takes 3 weeks or more of oral anti-fungal medication to get rid of it. It also helps a little to do natural anti-yeast things like yogurt, probiotics, cutting out all sugar (hard!!), I think even coconut milk is supposed to have natural anti-fungal properties.

Good luck and hang in there!! You can do it! It's so worth it once you get rid of the excruciating pain. I went on to nurse my son until he was two.
Hope you feel better soon!

I was always very successful breast feeding until the last one of three. My nipples and breasts hurt so bad that I could hardly wear a bra and just cringed at the thought of nursing. Ultimately it turned out to be two things. I first had a slight case of mastitis. I never even found a lump all I felt was nagging pain. The second thing I had was a yeast infection which in turn caused my daughter to has thrush in her mount (yeast infection as well). It was awful and it took several remedies and three months to get rid of it.

I did not get the diagnosis from a lactation nurse, I went to my OB and he diagnosed it.

Good luck!

I had the same kinda thing with both my babies. It's like a throbbing pain. For me it just went away on it's own. It's probably just due to your body making so much milk. You could try applying some heat after you are done nursing. It should stop soon. But I remember those first few weeks are so rough.

Make sure that you aren't wearing an underwire bra, but also, just give it a couple more weeks. I know that this is not a comfortable time, but if the consultant says that there is nothing wrong, this is most likely just the adjustment to breastfeeding that your body is going through. If you are still worried about it, see another consultant, your ob/gyn, or even your baby's ped.

Mine do the same thing every once in a while, since I know what a clogged duct feels like and mastitis, it is a similar feeling and possibly the beginning of them. What I do is drink tons of water, I do warm moist compresses, and a mini massage before nursing. I nurse on the side that hurts the most first and then the other. After the baby is done nursing, I massage again and then pump if It still is feeling tender. after I do this for about three to five days, it usually subsides.
Good luck
E.

I agree with a heavy letdown, though I suspect you may have an ill fitting bra. Breastfeeding women don't just go up in cup size - they go up in chest size as well (I went from a 36 B to a 40 C).

Do you have any lumps under your armpits?

Here is another link to La Leche you may find helpful: http://www.llli.org/FAQ/pain.html

Please join our group on facebook as well: Cape Cod Breastfeeding Moms - We have over 80 moms who can help you out!

Good for you for not giving up!! If you are keep having pains, maybe try a different consultant. Or a better fitting bra. Or try a massage before and after a feeding, and if possible a hot shower before (ok, stop laughing! when do we get that many of those!)
Keep nurseing! Don't give up. That baby girl needs you!

Hi D.,
My daughter was a little over a year when i started experiencing pain after breast feeding her. Usually on the left side, just felt like stabbing pains, not while she was feeding, though. I looked and looked on the web, decided it wasn't an infection but it was the milk coming back in. What helped was not feeding her as long so I guess I wasn't "draining" my supply to where my body had to hurry up and make more. If you don't think its an infection, try doing shorter feeding sessions and see if that helps. Hope it gets better.

M.

I had the exact thing with my third. My breasts hurt so bad after nursing that I couldn't hold him without pain. I described it to some of my girlfriends that it felt like they were on fire occasionally. Mainly pain, but occasional burning. I talked with my OB and she said to try treating it as if it were a yeast infection in your breasts (very common). So even though it wasn't a typical clear cut case we treated it and it worked!! I had to do a couple of rounds of the medication. It would go away and then come right back. She explained that the yeast hides in your breast tissue and takes a while to get rid of it. If that is the case you also need to check to see if your baby has a mild version of thrush in her mouth. We treated my son at the same time also. I had put up with it for 6 weeks and then life was so much better! It is worth asking about. The treatment is safe for both of you. Good Luck!

I had the same thing! Take warm showers (at least once a day, which might seem difficult) and a warm compress could help as well. It does go away--just hang in there. Keep nursing--a few weeks from now, you'll be pros and it may actually feel good soon. Congratulations!