Monday, March 17, 2008

More about my breasts than you need to know

Birdie bit me on the freaking nipple this morning with her gummy no-teeth. Damn, that hurt. Which reminded me of other times I felt pain in this area.

1. Bloody nipples. (Yeah, even if you're doing it right it can go this way.) Learning to breastfeed is rough even if you have a baby who needs little help. Even if you can rotate between each position. Even if the latch is correct.

2. At two weeks I got a milk blister. I swear that hurt more than the bloody nips (or maybe it's just that I was just on better painkillers in the hospital?) I tried heat, wet heat, frequent nursing on that side, and finally a sterile needle (gee, where would I come up with one of those?) Nothing helped. It just went away by itself in a couple days.

3. Mastitis. Yep, I got it. The week before Christmas, I was sitting on the couch and getting the chills a lot. Then I felt really cold. I woke up the next morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. And hey, whaddya know? My left breast is red and warm and very painful. Classic misery. I read somewhere that if a breastfeeding woman feels like she has the flu, it's probably mastitis. That's exactly what it felt like for me.

1 comment:

Furrow said...

Oh, dear twirl. I feel your pain. Or I did. I still have phantom breast pain sometimes. Has it finally all gotten better? Except for the biting, I mean.

Despite the numerous issues that led to my bf-ing failure this time, I'll try it again if I get the chance with another baby.