5 Tips for Breastfeeding With Fibromyalgia

One thing I never thought about is how difficult it would be to deal with fibromyalgia pain while breastfeeding my son. I just wanted to give you guys a couple of tips that helped me a lot with dealing with the pain.

1. See a lactation consultant. They will teach you how to latch your child in many different ways that might help reduce the pain.
2. Find a comfortable position. For me, the most comfortable position is cross cradle with a nursing pillow to support the baby and football hold. Those are my top two go to positions.
3. Give your baby a little lovey or a tiny stuffed animal when you're nursing. It's a baby's natural instinct to want to massage your breast to get more milk during the breastfeeding process. The problem with that is if you're having a high pain day this can be extremely painful and make it extremely difficult to nurse your baby. I always give my son a little-stuffed animal to hold and squeeze and massage while he's breastfeeding when I'm experiencing a high pain day.
4. Find a place that's comfortable for you to relax and nurse in. For some women, that's a rocker, recliner, or even a glider. However, that didn't work for me. What works best for me is sitting in my bed or on the couch sometimes even sitting Indian style while bending over a little bit to nurse my son so that his weight is not on me or pressing against my body when I'm in intense pain.
5. Consider pumping on days where your pain is too severe. To an average woman this might seem a little crazy, but to somebody dealing with chronic pain, the weight of your baby on you or next to your body can sometimes be extremely painful. When you pump the only thing touching your body is the flange, and sometimes it's just easier. There are pumps that you can rent like the Medela Symphony that is extremely gentle on your nipples which I found to be less painful some days then nursing.

I hope these tips help your breastfeeding journey while dealing with fibromyalgia!