BF - Cracked Nipples Help 😫

[thismeansnothing]

DD is 11 days old. Bf has had a rocky start. Wasn't great at latching in hospital without help as she was so sleepy. Found out it was due to jaundice. Infant bf team have done a few home visits to help with latch and been fab. We've Had wake three hourly for feeds and eventually something twigged and we got somewhere. However a week of her struggling to latch, me taking her off and restarting - the damage has been done and both sides are cracked. That first minute of a feed is excruciating and it's getting to the point that I dread my alarm going off for the next feed. Then I'm pissed off and sad I've battled this far and now we're getting somewhere it's just not pleasurable/nice time with my otherwise dream of a new born.

So any advice on how the hell I get these cracks to heal? It's been nearly a week of agony now. I've been rubbing breast milk into them and just had them in the fresh air while I'm at home. Lanolin and clean pads when I've to leave the house but don't feel like it's getting any better.

I really don't fancy expressing to give a day off cos I think that will be just as painful and I'm worried about mastitis/blocked ducts because that won't drain me as well as baby. But if I need to then needs must.

This is all quite a shock after bf dd1 for almost a year with no issues. So Any helpful advice really is appreciated

Jelonet is amazing stuff try that? Also take some paracetamol to help a bit with pain. They will heal don't give up

Oh I feel for you op - I experienced similar with ds2 and it was awful. I was in agony!

A breast pump worked for me; expressing wasn't as painful - in fact it wasn't painful at all - and it gave my nipples the chance to heal so that we could get back to breastfeeding. No issues with mastitis or blocked ducts either.

Maybe give it a try? I used the Medela Swing electric pump, if that helps.

I feel your pain! DS is 3.5 weeks and the first ten days were hellish.

Lansinoh liberally applied to both nipples after every feed (regardless of whether they’ve fed from both sides). I used a whole tube in under a week.

Also washable breast pads from cheeky wipes. They saved me. I had other ones but my nipples would constantly stick to them and get damaged every time I fed. The cheeky wipes ones never stick - I put the smooth side to my skin.

I've breastfed both my children, and both times it was intensely painful for weeks. My nipples burned, and were cracked, sore to touch ... but it does pass. Just keep applying your lanolin repeatedly.
I hope it gets easier for you soon!

So many of us have been there. It’s a tough few weeks but it really will ease up. Your nipples will toughen and heal. I swear they don’t tell new mothers how hard breastfeeding is in the early weeks so we are not put off!

I found counting down slowly from 20 when baby latched on really helped focus my mind away from the pain and eventually I wouldn’t reach zero before the pain stopped. This took about three weeks and then it became much easier.

You can try salt water baths to help promote healing. Big bowl of warm and very salty water and dunk your breast in for ten minutes on each side, rinse well and slather with Lanisoh.

Multi Mam Conpresses are good too, but expensive. They are little gel compresses that heal your nipples. Amazon and Boots have them. The pads are quite large so I cut them in half and kept them on my nipples until they dried out.

Wishing you all the best. It WILL get easier!

I have realise you BF your last baby, so apologies if my advice is patronising!

Oh I remember this pain.
You poor thing. I don't have any advise, had to use nipple shields.
Best of luck to you and little one.

Ouch. Been there and couldn't get to the bottom of it for weeks (on and off, to a lesser or greater degree).
Like you I had previously fed an older sibling with no such issues so I battled on in agony. I couldn't bear to even let my bra or clothes touch my nipples and was wearing those silicone milk saver discs not to save milk but just for relief from the friction. Not a good look.

In my case I think in retrospect it was thrush. This was not spotted, mainly I think because the baby had no symptoms.

Though unsure of what the problem was, the doctor had been willing to prescribe a thrush treatment to see if it would respond to the treatment, but he was unwilling to swab first to find out for sure (cost reasons! Still hacked off about that)
But the breastfeeding supporters I knew told me not to use any unnecessary treatment without a swab. And so it went on.

Anyway in the end I did get the cream because I was desperate and the cracked nipples finally disappeared after weeks of faffing around including all the creams and compresses you can think of and even a tongue tie snip.

I only mention it so that if you get no relief, that thrush is on your radar at least. I could have saved myself so much pain.

Congratulations on your baby.

Sympathies. I had a terrible time with my first, like this.
If you didn't have this problem last time do you think there might be an issue like a tongue tie or thrush?
Get along to your local breast feeding support group, they will make you feel better.
You are doing all the things I would suggest, plenty of air time and breast milk.
Maybe try some different positions for a deeper latch, like lying back with baby on top of you. Or I think there's a move called a "flipple" or something which can help.
I hope things start to feel better soon. There is nothing worse than that awful pain.

The silverette cups worked wonders in healing the cracks I had (also tried MultiMam patches, Jelonet and lansinoh). I then developed vasospasm from the trauma which took a few weeks to settle down but I’m still BFing my DC 5 months on. Hang in there!

Lansinoh is your friend

Lanolin, cold compresses (Multimam I think) and silverette cups. It does get easier. Good luck!

Omg thank you so much for your quick responses. Even though it does look like I have to persevere and we'll eventually turn a corner with it. It does give a bit of hope to know that it's possible.

During the nightfeeds it was proper mind over matter, try not to stall and followed a posters advice of counting down but starting from 30. I hit zero once.

But saltwater bathing I hadn't don't yet so giving that a go today. And the person who suggested the cheeky/washable wipes - I don't have any of those but I do have quite a few bamboo nappy liners so going to sacrifice a couple of those and cut them up and use as a makeshift pad.

Also lanisoh. I've been using the Medela Purelan 100 cos it was nearly £4 a tube cheaper. Anyone used both and before I stick my Amazon order in do I just shell out for the expensive one. Is it that much better???

Hopefully we'll get there eventually. Got a weigh in with the mw on Friday. So hopefully there'll be some weight gain and that will give me a bit of a boost and that it's been worth while too.

And apologies for lack of paragraphs. Tapping this out on my phone and they are there when I type and disappear when I post

I had similar problem at 11 days that developed into very nasty infection. I used a pump for 8 days to give nipples a chance to heal. My supply is fine now. It was a risk but it was what I needed to do. Give yourself a few days off. The baby’s mouth just being a bit bigger will make all the difference, in my experience.

I had a similar problem with my tongue tied baby. I decided to take a few days off with a pump instead. I rented a hospital grade one with a sensitive setting that wasn't painful at all (the Ardo Carum if you're interested but there are many to choose from.)

I hope you start healing up soon. Cracked nipples while breastfeeding is quite possibly the worst pain I've ever experienced!