Painful Nipples
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Painful Nipples
| Sun, 12-23-2012 - 2:39pm |
I've been exclusively pumping for almost two weeks now. My son, who is 7 weeks old, was breast feeding before that but we were having too many issues so I felt it was best to just switch to pumping only (hard decision!). A few days after starting to only pump, my nipples and breasts (mostly my nipples) became really sore and tender. My nipples also appear to have a whiteish color. It looks almost like I just have dry skin but I'm not sure. Should I be worried that my nipples and breasts are so sore and tender? Is this normal for moms who have started exclusively pumping?
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Hi there,
Nipple/breast pain is the worst! I had a horrible experience with latching and have been through just about everything, and I'm not positive from your description but it sounds like it could be thrush. Thrush causes pain/burning sensations in not only nipples but also the entire breast, and often whiteish nipples is a symptom. I would get checked out asap by a doctor, I had thrush and a bacterial infection at the same time and ended up having them for 2 months because I was misdiagnosed and then it took forever to get rid of! Thrush is really persistant. You can also have thrush and your baby may not - however if you had it while you were breastfeeding that could be a reason your baby had trouble latching (if that's the case, not sure what you situation is)- many times babys won't latch if they or the mother has thrush. I hope you find out what it is and get relief soon! Good luck :).
Amanda
P.S. It could also be that you are just getting used to pumping too. Sometimes I have sore nipples still randomly just because so much pumping can definitely make you sore, and stretching the skin sometimes can dry it out (maybe that's why they look white?) See how it goes, I just don't want to freak you out about thrush in case it's not :P.
You might want to consider the pumpin pal flanges. I had the same pain you are going through and tried every size of medela flanges, but got no relief. When I finally tried the pumpin pals it was almost instant that the pain subsided. I was shocked that it could make that big a difference. def worth a try.