Help! breastfeeding hurts!

Help! Breastfeeding is Painful! Is Something Wrong?
The early days and weeks of breastfeeding can be difficult as mom’s hormones are shifting dramatically and she is getting less sleep than she is used to. Sore nipples can make the adjustment even more stressful. Some well-meaning friends or family members might tell moms that they need to “toughen up” their nipples, or advise them to give up and just bottle-feed. If your nipples are hurting, it is important to find the cause of the pain and to make the necessary adjustments so you can continue breastfeeding.
Discomfort in the early days of breastfeeding is not uncommon and might be normal, as long as it is mild, it lasts only a few seconds at the beginning of a feeding, and the nipples look normal after feeding. Toe-curling pain that lasts throughout the feeding and/ or between feeds, and nipples that are misshapen, white, scabbed, or cracked are not normal. Moms who are experiencing these things are encouraged to seek help from an IBCLC right away.
Most of the time, sore nipples can be resolved by making some adjustments in how the baby is positioned at the breast. The vast majority of nipple pain is caused by positioning and latch errors. Sometimes, small adjustments can make a big difference in mom’s comfort!
Could My Baby Have Tongue-Tie?
If you are experiencing pain while breastfeeding, it is important to seek help from an IBCLC who can help you with positioning, evaluate your baby’s latch, and evaluate your baby for anatomical variances such as tongue or lip-tie. If your baby does have a tongue or lip-tie, and you are having breastfeeding difficulties, there are some very affective treatment options that your IBCLC can discuss with you. Sometimes a tongue-tie is hard to see. Sometimes, a baby might have an obvious-looking tongue-tie, but a full evaluation is necessary to make sure there are not other problems going on.
 
If it’s Not Tongue-Tie, What Could it Be?
Some other things that can cause severe nipple pain include Raynaud’s Syndrome, skin conditions, or infection. The baby may have difficulty with sucking and require suck training. Some babies have misalignment that causes sucking difficulties, and can be helped by a specialist in Cranio-sacral therapy.
If you are hurting, get help right away! There is no need to continue suffering, when an IBCLC can help you find out what the problem is and what to do about it.