Monday, April 03, 2006
Breastfeeding issues continue
Friday I had a private lactation counsellor come into the house to see what was going on with my nipple pain and aching breasts. Turns out I wasn't latching right at all. Once she showed me how to get Molly closer to my breast and keep her there a lot of the pain went away. She was also able to explain to me why Molly was so squirmy on my breast and gassy...I have too much milk coming too quickly for her to handle. She showed me how to adjust my positions to try to slow down the flow.
Now we're totally off of any feeding routine as we adjust to our improved position.
Since I wasn't feeling as much (if any) nipple pain, I was able to really try to figure out the burning/aching breast pain that I was getting after feeding. I noticed that my nipples turn white after feeds and that the burning/aching happens at the same time.
Today I went to the Foothills breastfeeding clinic. Man I wish I'd gone there from day one. They were so incredibly helpful. The doctor there thinks I do have some yeast (I had hoped that I didn't after all but no luck). She gave me a prescription for an oral mediation and another prescription for Molly - but this time I got the proper instructions on how to give it to her. She checked my latch and says it's still not deep enough. She also showed me some other new positions to help slow down the milk.
It turns out that having too much milk too quickly can be a real problem. Because Molly can't take the flow, she doesn't end up eating very much at all at a feed which means she needs to feed really often to get the calories she needs. It also makes me more prone to yeast and mastitis...great! It also means that Molly ends up gassy and uncomfortable a lot of the time.
As for the white nipples and aching/burning after feeding...they gave me an article about that too. Turns out it could be a circulation thing that some people who breastfeed get if they have nipple trauma (bad latches, yeast). It usually goes away once the other problems are fixed but if not at least I know this clinic has at least seen this before and has some idea how to treat it.
If I could go back in time I would definitely:
1. Go to a laleche meeting while I was pregnant to establish a community for support and answering questions
2. Make sure that I saw an LC while I was in the hospital when I was having difficulty latching
3. Find out about what breastfeeding clinics there are before I needed them - just in case
Breastfeeding isn't easy for everyone but I'm still not willing to give up on it just yet. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks Molly and I can figure out how to get her to latch deeper, and we can slow down her feeds so that she's not so gassy and uncomfortable. We may even be able to slow down my milk a bit so it's not so overwhelming for her.
Now we're totally off of any feeding routine as we adjust to our improved position.
Since I wasn't feeling as much (if any) nipple pain, I was able to really try to figure out the burning/aching breast pain that I was getting after feeding. I noticed that my nipples turn white after feeds and that the burning/aching happens at the same time.
Today I went to the Foothills breastfeeding clinic. Man I wish I'd gone there from day one. They were so incredibly helpful. The doctor there thinks I do have some yeast (I had hoped that I didn't after all but no luck). She gave me a prescription for an oral mediation and another prescription for Molly - but this time I got the proper instructions on how to give it to her. She checked my latch and says it's still not deep enough. She also showed me some other new positions to help slow down the milk.
It turns out that having too much milk too quickly can be a real problem. Because Molly can't take the flow, she doesn't end up eating very much at all at a feed which means she needs to feed really often to get the calories she needs. It also makes me more prone to yeast and mastitis...great! It also means that Molly ends up gassy and uncomfortable a lot of the time.
As for the white nipples and aching/burning after feeding...they gave me an article about that too. Turns out it could be a circulation thing that some people who breastfeed get if they have nipple trauma (bad latches, yeast). It usually goes away once the other problems are fixed but if not at least I know this clinic has at least seen this before and has some idea how to treat it.
If I could go back in time I would definitely:
1. Go to a laleche meeting while I was pregnant to establish a community for support and answering questions
2. Make sure that I saw an LC while I was in the hospital when I was having difficulty latching
3. Find out about what breastfeeding clinics there are before I needed them - just in case
Breastfeeding isn't easy for everyone but I'm still not willing to give up on it just yet. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks Molly and I can figure out how to get her to latch deeper, and we can slow down her feeds so that she's not so gassy and uncomfortable. We may even be able to slow down my milk a bit so it's not so overwhelming for her.
# posted by Dana Corkey @ 12:29 PM 
