How long should it take for bleeding / cracked nipples to clear up?

[eeyore2]

Just that really! DD is 1 week old, great feeder but I am now quite sore. I've seen a breastfeeding counsellor who said it was going fine and showed me some new positions, community midwife also said attachment looks good. So now it's just a matter of feeding through the pain while they heal :-(. Just wondering from anyone who has been there how long it took for nipples to clear up and while still breastfeeding? Thanks!

It took me a couple of weeks I think. Latch was fine and I had good drainage of milk, never had mastisis, so knew that DD was getting milk, so the pain wasn't due to a bad latch. She had a small mouth too, which might have been the reason. I had sore cracked nipples, almost bleeding, and I put a bit of breastmilk on them and let it air dry for a couple of mins and then put loads of Lansinoh on. Worked a treat!

About 10 days- they had healed, though were still tender, by the end of the second week.
Smother them in Lansinoh 24/7!

One side healed up within a couple of weeks, the other side took about 4 weeks - not sure why the difference, maybe DD had a slightly better latch on one side. I agree with the other advice - rub on a little breastmilk, let it dry then slather on the Lansinoh. Another tip that really helped me to get the 2nd side healed was soaking the nipple in salt water after each feed, a tip I got from the kellymom website. Fill a small bowl with 8 fluid oz of cooled boiled water and stir in 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Soak the nipple for a minute or 2, dab dry gently with some kitchen roll/tissue. Then do the breastmilk/Lansinoh thing. My second side healed within a few days after I started doing this. You can reuse the water for 24 hrs, then make up a fresh bowl the next day. I also heated the water in the microwave for 20 secs or so before using it, so it wasn't freezing cold! Oh, and if you're using breast pads make sure you change them often so your nipples stay dry. Good luck getting them healed - makes all the difference once the pain is gone.

Good question eeyore - just going through the pain wall myself at day 6 and after last nights feeding frenzy my nipples are in a bit of a state. Hope yours get better soon.
I have also had my latch checked a number of times and dd is very keen to feed so its frustrating when the pain makes it such a horrible experience.

I found breastmilk the best stuff for cracked nipples. I rubbed it on and left it to air dry and did this multiple times a day. Took 2 days to clear them up. It's also fab fo rbad nappy rash with the same routine.

Mine were very badly cracked and bleeding, it took about 2 weeks to heal completely once I got the latch sorted. They got a little bit better (and less and less sore) every day though, and this helped me keep going. Good luck, it's horrible to be in pain :(