Cracked and bleeding nipples brought on by those first few days of breast-feeding can leave you vulnerable to infection of the breast, which is referred to as mastitis. While it is rarely serious, mastitis can be quite painful and cannot be cured without the use of an antibiotic.

Signs that you may have mastitis include a reddened area on the fleshy part of the breast that is painful to the touch and ranges from the size of a quarter to the whole side of the breast, a fever of up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, general achiness, and chills. You may have one or two of these symptoms, or you may have all of them at once. They tend to come on very rapidly. “You may be feeling a little off at 7•30 in the morning and an hour later feel as if a truck ran over you.

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Once you get through the initial discomfort of breast-feeding, nursing becomes easy and relatively painless until that fateful day when you decide it is time to wean your baby off of the breast. In addition to producing some emotional discomfort, weaning can cause physical pain. As you decrease feedings, it takes a little time for the body to catch on and produce less milk in response, so the engorgement of those early days often returns.

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Throughout your pregnancy, you probably fantasized about the wonderful experience breast-feeding would be for both you and your baby. All you could think about was looking down into that tiny, trusting face and feeling the closeness between you and this new little being. So naturally, when it finally came time to put baby to breast, you were excited. But now, you’re in agony. Your nipples are sore, cracked, and bleeding. If your milk has already come in, your breasts may be painfully swollen. The milk may not flow when you need it to and may seem to flow uncontrollably when you most wish it wouldn’t (like when you’re standing in line at the grocery store or sitting at a dinner party). So where are those tender, happy moments you’ve seen in the magazine and television advertisements?

Well, hang in there. Those moments do actually exist, just not right off the bat. The problem is, many mothers give up breast-feeding in frustration because they don’t realize that things will get better with time. They also don’t realize that there are things they can do to decrease breast-feeding discomfort.

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