Welcome to Tuesday’s Tastes on Second Base – our weekly breast feeding talk! This weekly feature is hosted by Courtney at Joy of Momma Joyner and myself! This week we are both talking about a topic not everyone realizes or hears about – the pain in the beginning. I hope you’ll come back weekly and join us in our conversations! 
I was nineteen years old when I nursed my oldest son. My mother didn’t nurse my sisters or me. I was the first of my siblings to have kids so I had no sisters with experience to give me advice. No one in my family nursed any of their kids. When I started nursing my son, I was REALLY alone in doing it and had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that it was best for my baby and I wanted to nurse him for a year. One of the things that really surprised me during that first breastfeeding journey was the pain that I encountered in the beginning weeks. I never even thought nursing could hurt so much.
The pain of nursing is something that isn’t discussed much, but it is a reality. I had some days with nursing both of my sons that I literally cried as I was nursing them because it hurt so much when my nipples were cracking and bleeding. When I returned to work after my second son was born and I had to pump at work there were times I would have pink milk because my nipples were bleeding. Yes, that is gross to hear and it’s probably TMI, but someone has to tell you this so you know what CAN happen. There were times I held my breath, times that tears rolled down my cheeks but all I had to do was look at my precious baby to see that it was all worth it! Did I EVER think about stopping? Honestly? No, I didn’t. I knew that this pain I was experiencing was temporary and I knew that I could get through it because I did not want my babies to have formula. I would say this happened only in that fourth trimester for me. It is something that happened but yes, it did end and I got through it.
After the pain there are many, many glorious days of that breastfeeding bond a mother and baby share. It is something that no one can describe to you. It is something you must experience for yourself! My successful, pain-free breastfeeding days way outnumbered my painful breastfeeding days.Once I got through those initial pains of my breasts adjusting to a nursing baby it was a breeze! If you are experiencing those pains now, know that it will end. You can get through it! I personally haven’t ever experience mastitis (which is an infection in the tissue of the breast and can be extremely painful) but if you at any point feel that what you are experiencing isn’t normal or that you are in way more pain that you can handle you should definitely contact your doctor. There are things that CAN be going on outside of the regular pain of an adjustment period.
Some pain is normal. It will end. What is the best thing you experienced once the pain ended in your breastfeeding journey? How long did you nurse?
If you have anything specific you’d like to hear about in a future Tuesday’s Tastes on Second Base post please comment below or email me at mamaonagreenmission at gmail dot com. We’d love to discuss what our readers want to hear about! Happy Breastfeeding, mamas! Keep up the great work!
Keep up the great work!
The pain is usually normal. If your nipples are really pink and shiny, then you and your baby could have thrush. It your nipples sting and you feel like crying because it’s so painful when you nurse your baby, then talk to your OB and the pediatrician about some medication that can help make you and your baby feel better. My son and I both had thrush 3 times back in 2007.
Great post. I always tell my friends to look up local LLL or LC because you never know if you might need help with incorrect latch, etc and it’s better to have that info on hand rather than adding to the stress later on.