3rd nursling, what's with this problem?

Gwendolyn got off to a fine nursing start, but her latch technique was
imperfect. I mean, I knew it hurt, and I could see by the next day that she
was making a red ridge of broken blood vessels across my nipple, and yes, I
knew how to fix that - get a deeper latch.

But then my milk came in, and oh lordie. My breasts looked like they
doubled in size, and though I do not have flat nipples, they looked that way
and of course latching was even harder. She was getting lots of milk - I
could hear her gulping, and she regained her birth weight by her day 4
checkup - but on day 3 she spit up a huge bunch of blood. Now it is day 5.
I'm taking antibiotics for a right-out-of-the-starting-gate case of
mastitis; my nipples are both *scabby*. They're not bleeding anymore, and
I'm using bacitracin ointment and Soothies on them to allow them to heal
from the inside out...

....but geez.

Last night, after wrapping a hot wet towel around the infected breast for
about 5 minutes, and putting Gwendolyn on in the clutch/football hold, she
did a LOT of gulping and seems to have cleared the plugged duct that had
gotten infected. So my breasts are softer now and a better latch is
possible. I do the whole 'sandwich' thing and only let her latch when her
mouth is very wide. The first 10-15 sucks are toe-curling excrutiation but
then it fades off...mostly.

Can anybody think of anything I can do to help limit further damage while
this heals? And how I'll be able to tell the difference between the
literally constant pain in my nipples now (which I attribute to the scabbing
and previous injury?) and if thrush sets in (which is possible, with the
antibiotics for the mastitis, and the antibiotic ointment)

--angela

Chotii wrote:

snip lots of owies
Can anybody think of anything I can do to help limit further damage while
this heals?

I used Lansinoh for my one scabby spot, which kept
everything moist enough that it stopped actually forming a
scab, which kept Caterpillar from sucking it off at the next
feeding. That spot healed much faster than a crack, too --
maybe 2-3 days.

Hope it's better soon.

Phoebe oht

Sounds horrid Angela!

One suggestion is to let your nipples rest for 12 to 24 hours and finger
feed the baby EBM - you can do a bit of suck training at the same time.

Otherwise, what you are doing sounds right - if you can handle the 15-20
seconds of pain until she sucks the nipple back far enough so it doesn't
pinch. The football hold is usually the best for this, as you can sort of
place the breast with a flatter side down (the underside) onto her bottom
lip/jaw and use the weight of it to keep it open while you scoop her up and
get the top lip JUST over the top of the nipple.

I'll second the lansinoh... Don't let a scab appear - if it does, keep it
moist with the cream so that it doesn't dry out, crack and get infected.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Jo RM

"JoFromOz" wrote in message
...
Sounds horrid Angela!

One suggestion is to let your nipples rest for 12 to 24 hours and finger
feed the baby EBM - you can do a bit of suck training at the same time.

Otherwise, what you are doing sounds right - if you can handle the 15-20
seconds of pain until she sucks the nipple back far enough so it doesn't
pinch. The football hold is usually the best for this, as you can sort of
place the breast with a flatter side down (the underside) onto her bottom
lip/jaw and use the weight of it to keep it open while you scoop her up
and
get the top lip JUST over the top of the nipple.

I'll second the lansinoh... Don't let a scab appear - if it does, keep it
moist with the cream so that it doesn't dry out, crack and get infected.

I can deal with the pain, but I'll confess it's disheartening. I dread her
waking up because she's going to want to nurse....

I'll get my husband to have her suck his little finger a bit for suck
training. She won't suck on my finger, and anyway his hands are bigger. But
I don't want to pump any more than I have to - I rented a Lactina, but I no
longer have my Flexishields, and without them I get sore nipples for
entirely different reasons.

I have noticed the last nursing or two, when I have dislodged her (finger in
the corner of her mouth) my nipples have come out looking "normal" - I mean,
they're not misshapen, looking like the end of a tube of lipstick, or
pinched. So I think the two of us are improving. I just *hurt* right now,
and I'm anxious for it to get back to the 'effortless' experience I
remember with my older nurslings (when they were older).

--angela

Chotii wrote:

I can deal with the pain, but I'll confess it's disheartening. I dread her
waking up because she's going to want to nurse....

Yeah, I remember that. I'd cry every time she fell asleep,
because I knew falling asleep would lead to waking up, and
then she'd want to nurse.


I have noticed the last nursing or two, when I have dislodged her (finger in
the corner of her mouth) my nipples have come out looking "normal" -

Yay!

Phoebe

"Chotii" wrote in message . ..
Can anybody think of anything I can do to help limit further damage while
this heals? And how I'll be able to tell the difference between the
literally constant pain in my nipples now (which I attribute to the scabbing
and previous injury?) and if thrush sets in (which is possible, with the
antibiotics for the mastitis, and the antibiotic ointment)

Ouch! Hope you feel better soon! I never had anything like this, but
we did have thrush early on (which I attribute to my antibiotics for
GBS). Basically, I was very vigilant in checking ds' tongue for white
that didn't come off easily and wasn't just milk residue. So, I
caught it pretty early, since I was kind of expecting it/paranoid
first time mom who had read way too much!

Irene
mom to Thomas 7/01