What to Expect with a Pain and Damage Consultation

Feb 24

Pain is a common experience with breastfeeding, but it isn't normal and you do not need to suffer any longer. I can help you address the pain you are in for a better breastfeeding experience.

What to Expect:

A pain and damage consultation with Genuine Lactation is essentially a mini-consultation where we focus on finding the source of your pain and creating a care plan for what it is going to take to get you to pain-free breastfeeding. In this consultation, I…

Evaluate the extent of your nipple damage
Look for signs of infection that may require seeing a heath care professional to assess and treat
Get a history from you about how breastfeeding has gone to see what may have contributed over time to your situation
Assess your pump flange fit and make sure you are using an optimal flange size and style
Screen you for signs that your baby may have a tongue tie
Assess your baby’s latch visually by video or during your video session if your baby is feeling like nursing

After I have been able to assess all of those things I can tell you the likely source of your pain and damage and create a care plan for you to start healing.

Here is the breakdown of how things go with this service:

Step 1: You book online and are automatically sent a questionnaire that will cover a lot of the information I am going to need to know, and this will allow me to assess by photograph the condition of your nipples and check your flange sizes (you will need the printable Genuine Lactation rulers available for free download or to be mailed for a small fee).

Step 2: We have a video or phone session to discuss your history more in depth and talk about what type of care plan best meets your goals.

(Note: If we are assessing your baby for the possibility of tongue tie or latch concerns, this assessment will be to see if this is a likely contributor to your pain, not to address those issues. Addressing those issues is much more in-depth. We will however discuss if you would like to consider virtual care with me, or if an in-person lactation consultant would be a better fit for your needs).

Step 3: You will work through your care plan for 3-5 days, and then, we will check in by messenger to see how things are progressing. We may make some changes to your care plan at this time if needed.

Step 4: We check in again at 10-14 days by messenger to reassess your flange fit and make sure things are continuing on a positive track.

Step 5: We check in around day 21 by messenger again to make sure your care plan has worked, and you are breastfeeding pain free. If you are still not there yet, we will discuss what your care plan needs to be going forward, whether that is continuing to work with me towards the goal of pain free breastfeeding, or if you need a different type of care to ultimately meet that goal. If you need to work with me for longer than 21 days, you will be provided with an option to extend your support at a discounted price.

Throughout this whole process you have access to me by messenger for any support you need. These check-in dates are simply times in your care plan set up to automatically allow for continued monitoring. I know life can get busy, and your needs can move to the back burner, so automatic check-ins are a great reinforcing function to make sure we get your nipple pain resolved. Pain doesn’t need to be part of your situation any longer.

Honest Answers to Legitimate Questions

Can it really take weeks to improve my pain?

Unfortunately, sometimes correcting a painful breastfeeding situation is not simple. Pain is addressed by identifying the cause, treating the trauma, and preventing it from reoccurring. If your pain came from a bad latch, we will need to fix the issues with the latch which could involve rather in-depth therapies and treatments that take time to work. If your pain came from a pump, we need to fix that issue, but in some cases, that takes time to walk back severe damage while still using the pump to remove your milk to protect your supply. If you need attention from a health care provider, that can take time to be seen, time for lab results, and time for treatments to work.

The length of time you have been experiencing the trauma also greatly influences how long correcting the issue takes. If we start working as soon as the issue occurs, we can often quickly intervene and improve things. If the trauma has been ongoing and long lasting, it may take us quite some time to successfully address your situation.