There's nothing I believe in more than breastfeeding. But geez my nipples are so cracked I've had two lc sessions they go well then I get home and I am still in alot of pain. They seem to get a bit better then ifeed and they look so angry. How long till they heal if my attachment is correct , I am 90% sure it is.
Thanks for reading sorry it's all over the shop I am on my phone
Amy

Thanks Raff, l really needed that, I've just got dh to give him a ebm. We did half of one the other night and I popped him back on boobie to finish off as I am terrified of nipple confusion too, he went well. I don't want to make it a habit but blimy it felt so nice to not have the pain. The LC showed me to attach properly and I am so positive he is attaching well it just seems thAt feeding is aggregating them more? And then that makes it hard. Thanks for the confidence booster I am so glad I bought myself a pump.
Amy

it will get easier, moreso when the cracks heal up. with my first baby, i got blisters from her wrong attachment (she wouldnt open up to let the niple in but instead sucked the nipple in if that makes sense?) and i got blisters on both sides- and as they healed, the scab covered ALL the holes for the milk to come out. so everytime i fed, the scabs would soften and come off and it felt like my boobs were on fire.

it did get better. i went on to keep breastfeeding for 4 years straight, moving on from one to the other child. what i used for the scabs to heal, was i picked the worst side being my left. i stopped feeding off it for 1 day. in that time, i only expressed for comfort (this was at about 2 weeks post birth mind you) so i was still pretty full. hot wet facewashers helped soothe the pain, and i let them have a bit of air time, i was using bepanthen on both nipples and wiping them clean before a feed. still swear by that stuff it was amazing. and i;d express a bit in the shower or into a cup if i got too full. by the end of the 24 hours, it hadnt healed completely- but, it was enough rest for me to put bub straight back on that boob (i;d only been feeding off the right side for that day) and it still healed up after a few days. i repeated this on the other side and same thing happened- it healded up. i got mastitis before i used this method and oh my gosh thought i was going to die, the hot sweats, lethargy, it was horrible and i didnt even get a red patch or hardness or anything til the day after.

but yes it does get better. it will be trying while you are going through this but once the nipples heal, it will be much better, i guess the pain can take away from the rest of the things you think of while bf

It will definitely get better! It took me 3-4 months to get the hang of it and feed pain free, but I had lots of issues (my cracks were so big it took 5 weeks of expressing off that side to get them to heal!). Hang in there, as hard as it is to believe you'll latch him on one day soon and think "wow it doesn't hurt anymore!).
One thing I would suggest is getting some physio on your nipples, it helps to heal the cracks.

Aww I remember that all to well. First of all you are doing an awesome job!! I found that having people encouraging me helped sooo much in those early days. It definitely does get better :) as long as your bub is attaching correctly.I felt exactly the same as you in the first few weeks and then all of a sudden it wasn't an issue, no pain no engorgement and no cracks or bruising. Stick with it and it will be worth it :) I think around 6 weeks was when it all started to get better. It's just your body getting used to the whole bf thing and bub is still learning too. Before you know it, it will all be a distant memory and bf will be a breeze.I used lansinhol for a little bit but I think cause it's keeps it moist that when we both got thrush (not fun!) I defininitely recommend putting breast milk on your nipples and air drying and going without a bra when you can Your doing awesome hun :D good luck

My negative with a shield was DD could not attach to it at all. I read articles saying they make feeding without one really hard and can reduce supply. But I've never heard of that happening to anyone who has used one. I would keep on using it for awhile just to give your nipples a rest Try for a day at first and see how it feels after that.