Do cracked nipples EVER HEAL???

[smudgie80]

My baby is 3 weeks now, and I've been having the toe curling 10 seconds at the beginning of every feed. A bf counsellor has been out to see me, twice, tells me my latch on is perfect, baby is opening her mouth wide enough and getting enough of the surrounding tissue as well. However I had some previous nipple damage - cracked and sore nipples. I've been using lansinoh and a homeopathic cream and they seem to get better for a while...and then get worse again. Just how long do cracked nipples take to heal? They don't hurt anywhere near as much now on the initial latch on but they are stil a bit sore and feel bruised. Plus they don't look very nice.

And it really annoys me when the books say if it hurts, they're not on right. Many, many new mums I've spoken to have ALL experienced the same problems, sore nipples, cracked nipples, and they have all been breastfeeding perfectly well. They all say it does pass and the nipples need to toughen up. I just hope the cracks heal soon!

Any advice or moral support???

Thanks!!

You are doing a fab job and I'm sure your little one loves you for it, I have bf both my babies ds 6.5months dd 20 months (stopped feeding her at about 8 months) and the toe curling cracked nips does pass I promise you!!!! And I'm sorry I can't say anything else but they will need to toughen up a little bit and thats what they're doing!! Lasinoh was fab for me too. Sorry I cant give you a magical cure

I know this sounds weird but I read about the magic of vinegar on MN as a help for thrush. I had a crack on my nipple and although I thought it would hurt, figured it was worth a go as I thought thrush was a possibility.

Turned out it wasn't thrush and it didn't hurt at all but nipple healed super-quick. Just washed nipples with water/vinegar solution after each feed and let air dry.

Might not help you but it definately worked for me. Good luck.

Hi BF dd for 17 weeks and had terrible cracked nipples for about a week and Lasinoh worked wonders, but I felt pain on every BF every 2 hours during day, and used to scratch boob as she was feeding to take pain away from nipple! Thats why I gave it up in the end, she is now 7 months and thriving on formula, but a little part of me wishes I had continued feeding her, so keep chin up and hopefully you will "harden" up your nipples so it stops being so painful for you. If you decide to give it up, give yourelf some time to think it through, cos I was too hasty and if I had thought it through I may have continued.

Smudgie - I had a nightmare with cracked/bleeding nipples. I have flat nipples so at the beginning I really suffered before they 'learned' to get into the right shape - IYKWIM.

What worked for me was - Laninsoh, using nipple shields when I just couldn't put dd2 onto bare skin and breast shells to get my nips the 'right' shape before feeding. Also a bf counsellor from La Leche really helped re the latch etc.

I now can get Dd2 latched on with no pain etc. Check out my success story - dd2 is 26 weeks today - persevere and get any help you need - YOU CAN DO IT!

"if it hurts, they're not on right." Agree that it's annoying when this is said. What it doesn't say is that once you've done it wrong and got sore nipples, it's going to burt until they heal. And it can only take a few badly latched feeds for this to happen. You may have a perfectly latched baby when the bfc comes to see but that's not to say your baby is always perfectly latched. At 3 weeks you're both still learning how to do it so lapses are to be expected. Which may be why your nipples get sore again - they stop hurting so you don't concentrate on the latch so much and one dodgy feed later they're sore again.

DD is my 3rd breastfed baby and I still went through the agonising toecurling latching on stage. They healed . I think they do toughen up as you go on though. The latch seems far less important now (DD is 6 months) as I don't need to faff around getting her in the right position, she just slurps a nipple in and off we go, crack free

I agree with Soupy - eventually you don't worry about the latch and they do 'slurp' it in!

Do you think you need to get your latch checked out again?

Hi Smudgie80

It is true about them toughening up, I promise.

To protect against sore nipples, I used to express a bit of breastmilk after every feed and rub it onto my nipples and let them air dry. That really helped protect and moisturise them.

yeah just a thought after seeing last message- get them out and air dry your boobs! this really helps, I used to walk around the house with mine out, but I have no neighbours!!

I had cracked / sore nipples with DD and remember crying while I fed for several weeks and that initial ouch. But it did pass. It's not really until you start getting a significant amount of time between some of the feeds (overnight if you're lucky) that they seem to heal.

Sometimes one side would just be so painful that I couldn't bear to feed on it and I'd just do the other side and then express a bit with the pump to keep supply up - that didn't seem to hurt as much.

I think it got better from about 4 - 6 weeks. Your nipples do seem to gradually toughen up although soften up might be more accurate. I'm still BF at 9 months and nipples are now freakishly elastic. When DS turns her head without disengaging I feel like someone out of that Jim Rose circus.
Seem to remember they returned to 'normal' after DS!

Thanks guys, at least I know I'm not the only one! I'm just impatient for them to heal, I think.
I do spend most of my days topless, drying out my boobs! When latching baby on, I spend so long trying to get it right that she goes absolutely bonkers at me and then refuses to eat, until much coaxing from me and my nipple!
Did anyone else experience of feeling slightly bruised around the nips? She has such a large apetite (she was born at 5lb7, now 3 weeks later is 6lb12 without loosing any weight) that when she sucks it looks like shes taking big chunks of my boob with her and gulps like mad. maybe that doesnt help either....plus I have SOOOOOOO muc milk that she can feed for 30 mins on one boob, come off and I'll still leak....I feel like a walking (sore) udder...is that normal or am i joining the realms of the freakishly wierd....?????

Perfectly normal!!! and good on the weight gain!! Mine did the same seemed as if they were swallowing my entire boob, they weren't but the nipple does go very far into their mouths tho. It will feel bruised well mine did, partly because of the feeding so often and because of the amount of milk in there swelling them up, oh the joys of motherhood!!!! xx

I'm sure someone else will have said this but lansinoh is fantastic, put it on before and after every feed you'll notice the difference it's fab stuff! It does get better though - honest!