I'm exclusively breastfeeding. My milk came in last night/today (A cup to grapefruit size!!).

It hurts, I know its going to. I'm using cabbage leaves to help with pain.

BUT Jamie can't nurse at ALL on my right side. I have a flat/inverted nipple on that side, and with being so huge, my nipple is GONE.

I can't hand express on that side (no pump!).

What else can I do? He can't get his tongue on it, so I literally can't nurse. (Mom is better than a lactation consultant, she bf all three of us.)

Will getting a pump to get just enough out to draw out my nipple help?

(Please, no "just feed formula" comments, he CAN nurse on the left side.)
He was getting colostrum out fine in the hospital, its not completely flat normally (but noticably more so than the other)
I tried AND my mom tried to manually express and pop/pull it out. Didn't work. I always start him on the right side to try to get him to suck on it, but he has such a hard time he gets upset and I have to wait 10 minutes to switch him to the left.....

I had the same problem with my left side. What worked for me was to make a "sandwich" with my breast - compress just beyond the areola and flatten your breast - baby will latch on to that. Remember you don't want him to just take the nipple so it doesn't matter that it is flat/inverted.

Expressing/pumping for a bit will also help. I did see this thing at CVS once that looks like a little plunger to help pull out your nip, you might look into that too. You want to get him on the right soon so that one continues to produce milk, good luck.

you can look up on the internet about how to make an inverted nipple come out. Cant really tell you how to do it I never had that problem, but you do need to look it up soon so baby can nurse like a little mad man on it and it will make you feel so much better

i used a nipple shield and put a few drops of milk on the nipple shield so that it would fall into the baby's mouth and he latched on really well. They're like $5 at Babies R Us..they were life savers for us.

Rent a pump, It "should" help draw it out. I think mine was $60/mo from a medical pharmacy.

Get a pump, you will get more than enough to feed him through a bottle but I'm not sure if your inverted nipple will pop back out, maybe when your milk supply levels out in about 2 weeks. Both my nipples were completely flat when my milk came in from being stretched! I would just tease my son my squirting milk into his mouth, he would taste it and eventually just figured out how to latch on!

I had to use a nipple shield while I nursed my daughter because I had the same problem inverted nipples. I bought mine at target......

you should call your hospital because here at mine they have these cup things you put on your breast for ppl w flat or inverted nipples...im not sure what they are called but they should know what you are talking about and they should give you some for free...it helps the nipple to come out so the baby can feed on that side...if you only nurse your baby on one side, your breast could become permanently 2 different sizes.

EDIT: nipple shield is what it is called :) good luck!!

get a pump!!!!!!!!!!!!! it will get your nipple out and relieve your breasts. I had the same problem 10 days ago...

both my nipples are flat ,not too inverted.i fed successfully. before trying to get him on that side brush your fingers lightly over the nipple it should make it easier for him to latch on. when you express put your thumb and forefinger at the edge of the areola (dark area) and gently run your fingers toward the nipple in a gentle squeezing motion. most of the time if your nipples are sore it means the baby has not latched on in the right place he should be pressing on the areola and not just sucking the nipple. perhaps you could express in the shower too sometimes the hot water will help and make it easier to express. good luck keep trying eventually it will happen

lol if you hand express you dont need a pump?

I have a flat nipple on the left side ,and i had big problems with this too.

first of all you need to work out if your nipple is flat, or inverted.
If its inverted its almost impossible to breastfeed without surgery.

Flat means that if you squeeze it, it doesnt pop out... it stays flat.
Inverted is if you sqeeze it, it goes back inwards.

If your super engorged its almost impossible for the baby to latch on, and by only feeding on the left your making the problem worse.

If you hand express a little it will empty your boobs out a bit, making it easier to latch on. Have you tried manually extracting your nipple with your thumb and forefinger. If you do this, your nipple should pop out a little, making it easier to express by hand... if you express by hand you dont need a pump.

However for me, a pump really helped draw my nipple out. I pumped a bit before feeding, this drew out the nipple and helped with engorgement. However beware that for the first few times, pumping with a flat nipple will .. hurt .. alot.

Good luck!

Medela makes a nipple shield that I had to use. I used it because I was so engorged my breasts were to large for my son to latch on. You can get them at Target and Babies R Us. They are amazing. I would also recommend getting apump to help with the engorgement. Also be sure to use heat on the breasts before feeding to get the milk down and flowing better. Good Luck and hang in there.

When I got super engorged with my first it was miserable. But we got through it and you can do it too!

Trying to get the breast to not be hard as a rock helps- I had to get down in the bathtub and get my breasts submerged in really hot water and relax and then hand express the milk until I got some relief.

hand express it since you do not have a pump at the moment. they also have nipple guards that are suppose to help with inverted nipples! i think you can buy them at babies are us or even walmart for a couple bucks

I would suggest trying a pump. Also you can get a nipple shield to help as well. Something else I did was pinch my nipple lightly and gt the nipple out, they put it in my baby's mouth.

Try putting some ice on the inverted nipple to help bring it out. This may also help ease the pain of engorgement. Try nursing right after applying the ice and see if the baby will latch. I would definitely consider getting a pump.

I don't know if you have a Target by you, but recently the Target by me was reducing a lot of their inventory of breast pumps to make room for new kinds. I got a double electric and battery breast pump for less than $70.

Good Luck