4 day YO and cracked bloody nipple - need advice

[Joppi]

FTM to a 4 day year old here. Trying to get used to breastfeeding - my milk has started to come in, although I tried feeding straight after birth for colostrum.

My nipples (particularly one side) are slightly cracked and bloody due to me using incorrect BF technique on the first couple of days.

I’m now more confident with technique and bought some silver cups and nipple cream.

My issue is with ongoing breastfeeding the nipples aren’t getting a chance to heal.

Does anyone have experience or advice on this to share pls?

Ouchy. They will heal but it's going to be a bit uncomfortable until then. Use a good quality cream, air them when you can and grit your teeth! Is your latch ok now? That will help too.

Would expressing your milk be more comfortable OP? Baby still gets breast milk but you’re getting a break. Lots of soothing creams in the mean time

They will heal but it will be slow as it's a wet wound. Do what you can to be comfortable but you do need to keep feeding because demand = supply. Take painkillers, make sure positioning and latch are the best they can be (take baby off if it's not, and redo, so they learn). If creams help you then use those.
You can also call the Breastfeeding helpline (Google the number) to chat to a trained peer supporter and get emotional support as well as practical advice.
You can do this. Congratulations on your baby.

Has baba been checked for tongue tie? It will get easier x

Hi I have bf 3 children and get cracked nappies every time for the first few weeks.

They will heal even when in constant use.
Do not let them get dry! Thats when they crack. Keep them wet with either cream or use a breast pad with breast milk already on it.

Thanks all! Yes I had a health visitor come a couple days ago and she said the latch and feeding looks good (I think I wasn’t putting enough of the areola in beforehand). Hopefully that means it’s not tongue tie either.

I’ll continue with the creams then, and hopefully it will pass!

expressing I do want to do - just need to figure out when is best as I read (and not sure if true) it’s best to start 6-8 weeks after sole breastfeeding and supply is established

I started expressing one small bottle a day after the 2 week growth spurt - I'd had a go with the pump a couple of times around day 10 but the cluster feeding put a stop to that. Gave him one bottle of expressed milk per day from 2.5 weeks ish, no impact on supply and still BFing now at 9 months

Lasinoh moist healing cream. Well done for persevering, it's not easy. Well once this stuff passes breast feeding is so convenient but if I could have stopped I would have when I had the cracked nipples. I had a bottle refuser though so just had to keep going and there was a point when the pain stopped. Try and get rest, hopefully you have someone who can let you nap

I found silicone nipple shields helpful. Baby was still able to feed just fine but using them for about a week enabled the cracks to heal.

I only needed them for that first initial week.

Thanks all for the tips and encouragement - will hang on in there!

I naively had no idea how tough breasts would be!

Breast feeding I mean! 😂