Bumps in the road

I've now spent 3 total years of my life nursing, and suddenly here I am with issues.

My boobs hurt.

When D latches on, everything looks good from the outside. I get him on when he's open wide, his lower lip is flanged (and I pull the top one so it's flanged, which I've had to do with all my newborns), he's got an inch of breast at least, he nurses with big jaw drawdowns and wiggly ears, and swallows every 1-3 sucks. Most importantly, milk transfer is good - he's gaining well and my supply is good. All as it has been since the beginning.

But...

When he latches off, my nipple has taken on a new shape, and looks purple on the tip. It almost never hurts to nurse on the right side, and when it does I just latch him off and we do it again and it's fine. On the left side, however, it almost always hurts, even after I've latched him off and on a few times and it looks perfect from the outside. I can feel his gums instead of his tongue, and that hurts. Sometimes I let him latch on with his mouth less open, just because he's more able to get his tongue over his gums that way, so it's more comfortable than opening wide. This also is how it has been since the beginning, I remember saying "He latches great except I don't think he's putting his tongue where it belongs." I thought he'd figure it out.

In between nursings, I often get burning sensations in the nipple and in the breast. Occasionally a shooting pain in the breast. (Both, actually.) And it hurts a lot when my milk lets down - not the mild stinging I remember from my first two babies. Again, this has been going on since the beginning. But the burning has gotten worse.

So finally when D got to 3 or 4 weeks I decided he wasn't going to figure it out and decided I needed to try harder. Then when he hit 5 weeks I decided I wasn't getting anything to change and it was time to get help.

So I've talked with my midwife and with a lactation consultant, and have an appointment for tomorrow with another lactation consultant. My midwife said that the pain in between nursings could be thrush in the breast (there are no external signs but apparently it can be only internal) or a bacterial infection that is not classic mastitis. She thought we should get the latch taken care of before resorting to medication, since that is the usual cause of pain and the first thing to rule out. (And I'm all for avoiding unnecessary medication.) She asked about tongue-tie, but he has stuck his tongue out (not far, but enough). So the LC I wanted to see is out of town, and I'm trying others. The one I talked to on the phone said it might be a mild case of tongue-tie that makes it hard for him to get his tongue out far enough with his mouth wide open, for the larger nipple on the left side. She said she doubted that coming to look at him latch on would help her assess what was going on, and that the bigger latch problems are actually easier to fix than what I was describing, and said "I don't know what to tell you."

Great. Leave it to me to have the minor, yet unusual and complicated problem.

I'm really starting to think that there IS something going on internally with me, but looking forward to the LC appt tomorrow and what she has to say about his frenums (tongue and upper lip). And if she can't help, I'm looking forward to seeing my midwife for my 6-week checkup this Friday, and if all else fails, the LC I wanted to see will be back in town on the 20th.

But I hope we can have this resolved by then.