New Mom here for support

I just read all the new mom tips and they are great! My baby is a week old and breastfeeding has been HARD. I never expected it to be this hard. For one, I am a J cup, so maneuvering those suckers along with baby has not been easy. Also, my right nipple is extremely cracked and painful, despite constant use of Lansinoh. When she latches right away, I can bear it, but when she latches on and off, it hurts. Today, I can't bear it at all so I have kept her on the left side and pumped the right side. The left side is a little cracked but not too bad. I got mastitis on Sunday and tried natural remedies but my fever kept climbing to 104 so I had to go in and get antibiotics. I feel better now at least. She feeds okay, but once every day or two we have a session where it takes a long time to latch her on or she won't latch it all and then we both just sit and cry. The last couple days it has been late at night, and my boobs are sore from a day of nursing and I'm tired and she is tired and we really struggle. I have finally just laid down in bed and held her til we fell asleep because I can't soothe her any other way and she won't latch. It's fine when she latches right away and fills her tummy up but man, the other times, I get so frustrated and sad. It is just SO hard and I feel like a failure at times. So basically I am just finding places to go for support. The LLL meetings are only once a month and I could use a place to go at any time of day or night, you know?

www.kellymom.com

Also, ask your pediatrician if they recommend any IBCLC's in the area- if you're having cracking, bleeding and mastitis, SOMETHING isnt going right. It would be a good idea to go see an IBCLC.

I had the bleeding this time around and it was a tongue tie. Nothing I was doing wrong, and nothing SHE was doing wrong, but to continue to nurse, we had to have it fixed. My IBCLC is the one who diagnosed it.

You can do this! If you can make it through the first 6 weeks, you can do ANYTHING.

:bigarmhug:

No bleeding. I think it's hard for her to get my nipples far enough back into her mouth because my breasts are so large. Something to be worked on.

What position are you nursing her in? I have the same huge breast issue and the only position I can work with is the clutch or football hold. If you haven't tried that, maybe it will help. It makes it easier to get my nipple in his mouth ( most of the time anyway).

If it is hurting to breastfeed, something is not right. I agree, try the football hold. I, too am larger breasted and in the first weeks, when you are engorged, it is hard for baby to get a good latch just b/c the breast won't fit in their mouth. Try the football hold and some hand expressing before latching her on to soften the breast a bit.

nursing is hard, it gets easier if you perservere, but don't let anybody fool you into thinking is perfectly easy. I agree the football hold seemed easiest when my girls were huge. Hang in there. I also think if you are getting cracking, it's not a bad idea to seek out a lactation consultant. Maybe the hospital you delivered at will have one on staff.