I have had a very badly cracked nipple almost since my DS was born (he's now 5 weeks). I think it was caused by poor latch, related to a posterior tongue tie which he had snipped on Monday. Since then feeding has been much more comfortable. I've had his latch checked and it was declared very good by the feeding advisors and it now only hurts for the first 10-15 seconds after latching him on, which I presume is as the nipple is being drawn to the back of his mouth.
Whilst my nipple is showing signs of healing - the crack looks slightly less deep - it's doing so very slowly! I think this is probably to be expected given how bad it was - a millimetre or two wide, from the base at the top of the nipple right across the centre to about 3/4 of the way down - is there anything I can do to encourage it to heal quicker? I'm expressing and rubbing in a little milk after feeding, letting it dry and then slathering on the Lansinoh right down into the crack and putting my bra back on (with breast pad). Is there anything else I can do? How long should it be taking to heal properly with the latch corrected?
TIA.