Being a new mother is overwhelming by nature, and breast feeding issues can further complicate matters. Luckily, women have been nursing since humanity began, and have devised a number of time-tested methods for dealing with breast pain and other related problems.
If you are nursing for the first time, or are currently pregnant and wondering what sort of complications you might expect, you can save yourself a lot of frustration by becoming familiar with the most common breast feeding issues and the methods used to resolve them.
Breast Pain and Soreness
Nursing mothers may experience breast pain for a number of reasons. It may be that the baby is attaching improperly, and therefore leaving significant amounts of milk in the breasts, or it may be as simple as an ill-fitting bra or the fact that you ran into the door last night in your sleep deprived haze and your breast experienced physical trauma. If you have ruled out these more mundane causes, though, you may want to look at other possibilities.
General breast pain can sometimes be caused by a blocked duct, which if left untreated can develop into a condition called mastitis. Mastitis causes general flu-like symptoms in addition to breast pain and tenderness.
You also may experience a patch of painful red skin over the blockage.
To avoid breast feeding issues caused by blocked ducts, try warming your breasts before feeding. Many women find a shower is an effective solution, while others suggest wearing a piece of clothing straight from the dryer for a few minutes prior to nursing. Blockages can also be avoided with more frequent feedings.
If you are already experiencing the early signs of a blocked duct, you can treat the issue and avoid mastitis by making sure that the baby nurses on the side where you are experiencing breast pain first. You can also use your hands to gently push the milk from the blocked area toward your nipple while your baby is nursing. If neither of these solutions works, you can try expressing the excess milk manually after your baby has finished eating.
Nipple Soreness
If your baby is attaching appropriately, you normally will not experience breast pain while nursing. As with general soreness, your first course of action if you find your nipples hurt while you nurse is to consult your midwife or OB/GYN and ask that he or she watch you nurse and confirm that both positioning and attachment are correct.
If attachment is not the issue, you may simply be experiencing dry skin on your nipples. Fortunately, this issue is easy to prevent.
Make sure that your nipples dry completely before putting your clothes back on after nursing, and wear bras made out of breathable fabric. Since soap can dry your skin, avoid using it around the nipple area. As a final precaution, use your breast milk as a natural moisturizer by expressing a small amount after you finish nursing and rubbing it into the skin.
Breast feeding issues can happen to any mother, so be sure not to take them as an indictment of your parenting skills. If you try the solutions listed here and find that you are still experiencing breast pain, don’t suffer through it alone. We can help you figure out the cause of your issues, so don’t hesitate to give us a call.
