Oct. 13, 2007 Breastfeeding pain

I am having painful nipples and, as a result, can't put the baby to my breast. I also have a burning sensation in both breasts and shooting pain as well. This comes and goes throughout the feedings and thereafter. In addition, there are also scabs on both nipples. It was just on the left and since mid week, it's on the other one too.

I had a culture done and it came back negative in regards to having a yeast infection (b/c all signs pointed to that). The nurse practitioner did say that they found Staph, but said that it's normal. Well, I went to see a Lactation Specialist and she said that a lot of time people think this issue is a yeast infection, when in fact it's a Staph infection (and this was before I even told her that they found Staph in the culture). She said to contact my OBGYN again and tell them to put me on antibiotics to treat the Staph. She also looked at the skin under the baby's tongue (I forget the name..frenum..something like that). She said that sometimes the skin doesn't allow the baby to stick his or her tongue out far enough to cup the nipple and protect it from trauma. She tried to get the baby to stick out her tongue and she got it out past the gums a bit. She said it's possible her tongue could be causing my scabs, so I'm going to get Isabella checked out next week just in case. She also said that the baby is latching on correctly and position right. She said to try to gently pull on Isabella's lower lip to open her mouth more when she's feeding and I have tried that.

So, b/c of this, I actually stopped breastfeeding for a week and resumed last week this time. However, that was short-lived b/c the pain came back the next day and I had to stop again. That's when I noticed the other nipple was scabbed as well.

The OBGYN put me on an antibiotic called Dicloxacillin for ten days and I'm just pumping in the meantime (what a pain!). My mother-n-law said to double check and make sure it's okay to give Isabella breast milk still with the Staph infection. The lactation specialist knows that I breast feed and so does the OBGYN, but I'm going to call to verify.

Have you ever had any experiences like this or know anyone who has? I hope it clears up. Cathy said maybe I'm not drinking enough water and I know that I'm not drinking as much as I should. I've been trying to drink more, but sometimes I just get caught up in things and simply forget. I usually have my water bottle me at feedings, but lately I have been forgetting