Question
Breastfeeding problems at 8 months old??
I am a breastfeeding mom of an 8 month old. We have had no problems up until now. All of a sudden my one nipple is extremely sore. There are no signs of thrush in the baby's mouth or on my nipple. There is a little hard crusty part on my nipple. The baby has 2 teeth on the bottom, but it doesn' t seem like she is biting me. Has anyone ever heard of this or had this problem?
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7 Answers
Have you cut out any of the feeding times, or is she just eating less? The crusty part could be dried milk but if it's tender that could also mean a mild breast infection. I've read that the best way to solve that is MORE nursing, but if it doesn't go away in a couple of days or it gets worse, I'd call a doctor or a lactation consultant. It doesn't sound too severe and just might be your milk supply is re-adjusting to a different level of feeding.
Patti
SAHM in SoCal and administrator of the Sleep Forum group, http://www.mothersclick.com/group/sleep-forum and Tri-Counties Moms, http://www.mothersclick.com/moms-club/tri-counties-moms-sb-ventura-slo-c...
With both of my kids I had blocked milk ducts. Not fun! This may be what you're experiencing, the nipple will get sore, but you'll also develop a hard spot on the breast that can be painful as well. And Patti is correct, the only thing to fix it is to make sure you're nursing enough during the day (or pumping).
Put a hot compress on the sore area and when your baby is feeding, really massage the area, you are actually "pushing" the blockage out of the duct. It hurts!!! I won't lie to you, but when it's clear, you'll be completely recovered.
If it doesn't sound like a blocked duct, you may want to talk to your doctor. Also, if the blockage isn't cleared after a while, you can develop an infection and that's even worse!
Ouch! Thanks for clearing that up Sally. I wasn't sure infection sounded right as I was writing that, but it did sound familiar.
Patti
SAHM in SoCal and administrator of the Sleep Forum group, http://www.mothersclick.com/group/sleep-forum and Tri-Counties Moms, http://www.mothersclick.com/moms-club/tri-counties-moms-sb-ventura-slo-c...
It sounded like "Mastitis" to me (I had heard of it because my cousin-in-law kept developing it when trying to breastfeed her baby girl), I looked it up and here's what I found about mastitis:
Symptoms can be any of the following:
It is usually caused by a common bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) found on normal skin. The bacteria enter through a break or crack in the skin, usually on the nipple.
The infection takes place in the fatty tissue of the breast and causes swelling. This swelling pushes on the milk ducts. The result is pain and lumps in the infected breast.
Breast infections usually occur in women who are breast-feeding.
The following may help reduce the risk of breast infections:
You can read more here: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Breast+infection
Here is my best advice: When I was breastfeeding, especially when my daughter started to eat less (you're not nursing as often, so you ducts can build up) once in a while I'd get a small painful bump that felt like a milk duct was swollen. In order to prevent an infection from mastitis, I'd get in a warm to hot shower and (this part was painful) I'd massage the sore areas as hard as I could take it. Not hard to the point I was injuring myself, but pretty darn hard.
The next day, it was always gone.
So, I'd "massage it out" every time and successfully breasfed without having to go to the docotr or get on antibiotics or any kind of treatment-yay!
Of course if the pain doesn't go away, you'd call your doctor, but I'd try this out!
What color is it? Does it look like possibly dried up milk? Or is it dark in nature? I had something similar to this when breast feeding my oldest, but it went away with time. I do recommend, especially if its painful, that you go to a doctor and or lactation consultant to have it checked out for possibly yeast infection. This occurs often when breasfeeding, and I know that if you have yeast infection of your nipple it can cause thrash mouth in your baby.(but I can conclude that this is not the case being that your baby doesn't have thrash, which is yeast infection of the mouth). My best advise is to give it time to see if it goes away, if it doesn't go check it out with a professional.
Nekiwa
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Hi, I have three beautiful girls and they were all breastfed. I believe that the problem sounds like the baby just didn't latch on good enough and she is putting wear on your nipple. Althought she is 8 months and probbaly has latched on correct before it can happen. "I know once my baby got teeth, as i would feed her she would stop in the middle of feeding and turn with my nipple in between her teeth and smile and be nosey :) Try lanolin, that is what was recommended for me. Hope this helped.
If you still have questions about brestfeeding you can call the Teratogen Information Service they can give you tips and help you with your problem. I have called them several times during the ups and downs of breastfeeding that I had with my kids. Their number is 18007334727.
Hope this helps!