Breast Feeding Should Not be Painful

This is something I heard many times. But I heard even more times that it was ... for the first couple of weeks anyway. And so it was for me, and I thought that was normal. I thought that just the lucky few managed to have a pain free experience.

But four weeks into this ... it still hurt (at least on the left side) and I was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't so normal. So I finally called the lactation consultant from the midwife center where I had my baby and we met yesterday. She told me that it should NOT be painful. The only pain I may experience is from the initial latch when I first start breast feeding (as in, back when she was born). She said that the myth that it IS painful is so widespread that people take it as truth and then don't try to get help until they've really damaged their nipples.

Fortunately my case isn't that bad. I'm a bit damaged but not too far gone. She showed me that I was actually holding her wrong and lo and behold ... when I hold her correctly, her latch improves. It's going to take some practice to get good at holding her correctly, though. I'd gotten used to the way I did it before. Now I'm back to feeling like I need an extra arm. She also told me that as soon as it starts to hurt on my bruised side, I should stop and switch her to the other side. It made me feel better that she was giving me permission to do that.

And so if you find breast feeding to be painful beyond the initial latch ... then you're doing it wrong. Get help. It's worth it!