Breastfeeding with cracked nipple

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I have been breastfeeding my 3 week old baby since birth but her latch on the right side isn’t good and my nipple has a horribly painful crack.

We have had help from 2 different lactation consultants and an osteopath who all agree she has a bit of a posterior tongue tie but all of them said it should get better soon as she releases some of the tension from birth.

Howe I’ve not felt any improvement yet and every feed off the right side is absolute agony. I am debating what to do and whether to stop breastfeeding but every healthcare professional I’ve seen keeps telling me she is gaining weight perfectly so I should stick with it.

Im feeling real guilt over the thought of stopping at 3 weeks but also the thought of continuing to do this 10 times a day feels not do-able it’s just too much pain for me and I don’t enjoy feeding her.

so I’m stuck what to do - did anyone else with cracked nipples persevere and find it got better? Will I get over the guilt if I switch to bottles now?

Have you tried nipple shields?

I used shields for a while. Baby fed just fine and it gave time for everything to heal.

I assume you're using Lansinol ointment. It really does help.

My baby had a full tongue tie and horrendous latch. Cracked and bleeding nipples. Terrible pain. Multimam compresses (and getting her tongue tie released) helped massively. Keep a multimam on the damaged one all the time, switch to a new one when the gel is gone. Amazing for healing. I also found heat helped. But really, get the tongue tie released. In my experience, only a tongue tie specialist can accurately judge how extensive the tie is.

My baby didn’t have a tongue tie, so I didn’t get this regularly but I did have a couple of instances of cracked nipples or milk blebs which made feeding so painful. I sympathise OP. I pumped on the sore side for a few days to let the cracks heal a bit, and also used the Tommy Tippee nipple cream which I found better than lanolin. Appreciate this might not be enough if the tongue tie means you will keep getting injured though.

Have you tried hydrogel pads? They really helped my cracked nipples, the lansinol cream was not cutting it!

I had this, and I sympathise because it is just awful. I was sobbing every feed. I did persevere and it did get better (and we are still going at 9 months), but there is no shame in switching to formula if you want to.

it is possible to breast feed on one side only apparently. So if one side is ok you could just feed on that side. The only downside is you can end up looking a bit lopsided apparently!

Nipple shields.
They saved my life.

Have you tried silver cups in between feeds? I used to pop a bit of breastmilk in them then stick them in my bra. They're great for healing.

Keep going, your nipples will toughen up and the pain will stop. What are you using for pain relief? My midwife told me to take one dose of paracetamol and one dose of ibuprofen at the same time and it did help as well as loads of that bf friendly lanolin cream on my nipples.

I had cracks on both nipples in the early days with my third as her latch was poor. It was agony so I sympathise! The only thing that helped was lansinoh cream after every single feed and after a couple of days it was much better. I was much better about remembering to use the cream after feeds from that experience!

A tongue tie restricts your baby's ability to latch properly and this causes the trauma to your nipples. Therefore, I would strongly advise you get your baby's tongue tie released. You can speak to your health visitor, GP or find a private practitioner to arrange this. Your nipples will not 'toughen up' if they're being damaged.

Nipples won't toughen up if in that mess. Lanolish cream. Nipple shield on that side. Tongue tie cut.

It nearly made me stop breast feeding, I ultimately combo fed first. Even reading this brings back the pain.

Nipple shield.

Oh you poor thing! I had an awful fissure on mine, my dr said a small bit of hydrocortisone cream twice a day, washed off before feeding and either nipple shields or pump and bottle feed. For me 4 days of this was enough to heal it up.

If You’re using the nipple shields you kind of need to invert the teat putting it on so it sucks your nipple up, I hadn’t been using it correctly initially and a lactation consultant showed me the way. Really hope it clears up for you soon.

i would also suggest going to a tongue tie expert. I feel like too many are quick to dismiss if your baby is gaining weight when it would really still benefit both mum and baby. Mine was gaining weight well but her feeds took ages. She became so much more efficient at feeding within about a week of having her tongue procedure.

Oh also Mam nipple compresses. Found them great!

I had this. It was utter agony. Ended up with thrush and mastitis too.

I switched to the bottle, the pain was too much

Another vote for silver nipple cups and nipple shields

what I thought was a crack was actually a 3rd degree crack and agony - I really feel for you. Jelonet sorted me out - you can buy it next day on Amazon or in the chemist.

My boy had a 90% tongue tie. Got it snipped at 6 weeks . My nipples were so painful.
I found silver nipple cups a lifesaver . I would put a bit of breastmilk in them and wear over night by morning they had healed to the point that I could bf.

Now 12 weeks and no problems at all.