Breastfeeding pain- please help!

zzia15

I am desperate!  Feeding from my left breast hurts so horribly I am honestly not sure I can do it anymore.  I know I probably need to talk to an LC or something, but I am not even sure there would be one in my area (VERY small town, and tomorrow...well today I guess now...is a Sunday).   Any help is appreciated, here is what is going on:

My LO was born at 37w4d via c-section on Monday the 26th.  I started nursing her that day, we developed a good latch with both breasts.  On weds the 28th going into Thursday morning my milk came in.   Throughout the week the pain in my left breast has been getting worse and worse.  Both nipples are sore, but the left has become intolerable.  It has become scabby.  I've noticed that my right breast leaks and my left one does not - so maybe baby has to work much harder at my left breast?

In addition, she will latch and feed much longer on my right side than on my left.  I can get her to latch on the left but she will only feed for 15 minutes or so before falling asleep.  She will feed for twice that long on the right.  I'll try to wake her to get her to feed more on the left, but she doesnt.  She'll just wake 30 minutes later wanting to eat more.

Any advice/tips/help from you all would be so appreciated.  Can I take a break from feeding with my left?  It is excruciating, if I could give it time to heal I think that would help, but I dont want it to dry up.  Plus one of my concerns is that she really isnt getting anything out of that breast in the first place.

 Thanks for reading!

We have breast cream but it honestly doesnt seem to help at all.