Hi there

My baby boy is 3 weeks 3 days old. We have had issues with feeding from the beginning when I was apparently not feeding him and he would scream sooo badly I didnt know what was happening. A doc from a&e at the hospital said he was hungry and that he was sucking, not drinking. I was really heartbroken because he lost a lot of weight in the first week (more than 10%) and I felt so responsible.

Anyway, we are getting there, slowly but surely. He loves being on my breast and I pretty much feed when he needs (around every 2- 3 hours) and through the night he will have a feed about 3am and 6am approx. He is emptying my breasts and I notice when he is drinking and when he is sucking. he rarely cries.

BUT.. my nipples are incredibly painful. He is latching as best he can. My breasts and nipples are HUGE! Does this make a difference? I have tried respositioning but that isnt that easy. I have sheilds, nipplette, guards. The sheilds help me to express a little then I feed it through a plastic syringe, but I dont think that is enough. Basically my nipples need a rest. When he first latches, it is like someone stubbed a cig out on my nipple. then it gets better but still painful. one is worse than the other. I am also using nipple creams. If this carries on, they will not be use for anything!!! However, I dont want to express or give a bottle. I want to continue feeding him.

Any clues as to where I am going wrong or what I can do?

Also, he has a bad milk rash or hormone rash (I think) on his face.

I'm sorry to hear you are having a tough time with his feeding.
I found that it took about 6 weeks before DD got the latch down and we got into a good feeding rhythm. If you can tolerate it, there's light at the end of the tunnel.
At this early stage, one of my nipples got a small cut and it was sooooooo painful when nursed. DD jaws were just so strong when she tried to latch on in her awkward way. I ended up nursing her on one side so the other side could rest. Then about a week later, both sides hurt.... no cuts or anything, but purple-red color and sore. So, I put lanolin cream on two times a day.
The dr. recommended letting someone give her ONE bottle at night so I could rest all of my body (including those sore nipples). So my DH gave one feeding at night (breastmilk I had pumped earlier with the BreastFlow bottle- I swear by these for bf moms) so I could rest my breasts a little longer.
They definitely felt much better by 6 weeks though. I think by then the latch and understanding of feeding becomes more second nature in the baby.
I would stay away from the sheilds and guards since those can confuse the baby even more and then continue to cause problems. That's what I've heard anyway.
I almost forgot another soothing method... are you ready? I would take a nice shower and then apply the lanolin and then let the "girls" air themselves out for about 15-20 minutes before getting dressed again. That helped A LOT.
One more thing, I was paranoid that I wouldn't have enough milk so I pumped in addition to the feedings when I was courageous enough to build up my supply. Over time, I ended up with an entire freezer of milk that lasted quite a few months.
I read the book "Breastfeeding made simple" which was pretty good.
Good luck and just remember this is the hardest "find your way" part.

Thank you liloulou

You have given some great advice and just knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel helps me to be positive! I am going to try some of your tips and hopefully things will improve. I will persevere:)