Super long cluster feeding - it gets better right?

Sassy Sara

Hi ladies. I originally joined The Knot, promptly forgot that I joined, found out I was preggers a few years later and moved over to The Bump and lurked here for a while, but now that LO is here and I'm not working anymore, I actually have time to post! Huzzah! 

Since she was born, LO has been a champion at BF. I'm very thankful for this since she was c-section, and I've heard that that can sometimes cause issues at first with BF.

At first she wanted to eat every 2 hours, almost like clockwork. The past few days though, she's been wanting to cluster feed from about 9pm-3am. She'll stay on for about 30-35 minutes before she finishes up, and then it's about 30 minutes before she wants to feed again. 

The hardest thing for me is the toll it takes on my nipples. They are so sore and feel so raw that I just cried through her last two feedings last night. It's like every little tug hurts. She latches really well, so I'm more inclined to believe that it's the frequency of the feeds, and that they don't really get a whole lot of recovery time in between.

 Any advice on helping with super sore nipples and marathon feeds? I have lanolin that I use, but that doesn't seem to help much during the cluster feeds.

Sorry it got so long, thanks if you made it this far!