Please write to us--could large nipples be a cause of sore nipples

[mum2twin100]

Hello mums,

i strated thread last night but not many looked at it yet may because my message was a bit long, sorry.

Anyways, my cosin has a lot of trouble with bf we both think that its because she has large nipples. She attaches baby just like the book says but the nipple still looks squashed after bf and really sore.

What do you think? Did any of you had similar problem?

Thank you very much for yr time!

I have quit large nipple's and didn't have nay pain when BF.

If her nipple's are sore and they look squashed when baby comes off then her latch is possibly not ideal.

I would recomend she see's a BF counciler who can help with this.

Try BfN, NCT or LLL all there nummber are on this website along with some useful advices. www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/en/fe/page.asp?n1=4

The squashed nipple and soreness do sound like a latch problem.

I'm not sure what you mean by large nipples btw - my own nipples looked very large when my baby was a newborn but seem normal now he's nearly 5 months iykwim. I do have large areolas though, so just ignored all the books that said you had to get all the areola into the baby's mouth.

I'd also recommend trying to get some RL support, like a BF counsellor (there should be a drop in group at your local surestart centres). The helplines MigGril mentions above are also really useful.

Another thing to try would be to feed in different positions, eg rugby hold or feeding lying down. Sometimes the baby coming at the boob from a different angle can help.

Really hope your cousin cracks it soon

I think the pain and squashing may be the result of the baby not getting the nipple far enough back into her mouth, so that the nipple is rubbing against her hard palate instead of being sucked against her soft palate. I don't think large nipples really should make much difference.

shows what to aim for and may help.