hi mango!! we are in the same boat. i had been having lots of troubles the first 5 days, but now everything is working out nicely. still a little painful from past learning experiences but getting much better. hang in there!!!!

Thanks for the encouragement ladies!
i have been using a nipple sheild on the most painful sid and it helps some.

hang in there mango! you can do it!! i know the first few days the phrase "chomping at the bit" came to mind every time... but i'm getting better, and so will you once your nipples heal a little from past experiences. did you have any engorgement? that was the worst for me. oh, and when my muffin cries, and my breasts start spraying everywhere lol.

I don't know anyone who found it easy to begin with.
But it does get better - practise makes perfect.
I think the best advice I got was making sure baby has the whole aerola in his/her mouth and not just the nipple. Expressing a tiny bit of milk and rubbing it on the aerola seems to help baby get the aerola in their mouth.

And a tiny bit of vaseline on the nipples after each feed helps too.

Good luck and if you can stick with it do, if not there's always the option to express and bottle feed or go with formula.
It doesn't mean you failed at anything or make you a bad mom, it just means that at this time it doesn't work for you guys as a team.

hmmm, I heard you should not us vaseline on the nipple as the baby has difficulties to digest it

not sure if true though?

all i can say is im frustrated with it too and it gets easier ---u mentioned that its really painful--- check baby's mouth and see if there is any white stuff--- could be a case of "thrush" i'm dealing with it now--- and that makes the pain so unbearable ===if baby does have thrush he's/she's making u sore and u both need medication to treat it---