blood on nipples

[jade83]

my nipples are quite sore and chapped and have bled a little today. Have just fed ds and he's brought up some of the blood in his sick. Is it still ok to feed on the breast and for him to be taking some blood in each time?

Yep this is fine Jade. What are you using for your nips? All MNers swear by Lansinoh - I used Kamillosan but either will help. Both you can leave on for a feed. Also rub a bit of breast milk into your nips after a feed.
I doubt it is the blood making him sick, it'll just be posset. Bit of extra protein!!
Good luck and don't be put off, they'll recover soon..

Hi Jade 83,

I would say its fine. My DS used to get bits of blood in his nappy and the GP said this can happen if he takes a bit of blood when feeding from cracked nipples. As it happens this wasn't the cause, but from what he said I dont think its dangerous. Why dont you get your health visiot to refer you to a Breast Feeding spport type person just to check.

Are you getting DS latched on OK because not being latched on properly can cause that kind of thing to happen.

A good way to get him latched on well is to se your thumb to push the nipple down on one side and when he opens his mouth wide to latch on, aim to get his bottom lip about 2cms away from the middle of the nipple. Because you've held that bit of your nipple down with the thumb, you can 'roll' into his mouth so he gets a good, mouthfull of breast.

This is a techniqe that worked for me anyway and I had trouble feeding DS at the start.

Also, try expressing a bit of milk onto your cracked nipples after each feed and letting them air dry, that will help them repair themselves!

Good luck!