Is it possible to prepare your nipples for breastfeeding in advance of giving birth?

[BettyButterknife]

I had a rubbish time bf DS - by the end of day 1 there were blisters on my nipples, I was experiencing intense pain to the extent that I was sobbing at every feed.

Started to mix-feed at 7 weeks, and carried on until 4 months. Feeding didn't really ever get that much less painful.

I saw NCT counsellors, midwives, spoke to LLL, saw the GP who diagnosed mastitis. ABs didn't help, GP then decided it was thrush. Flucanazole didn't really help.

Anyway, I'm pregnant again, due in July. My mum told me that 'in her day' they were told to prepare their nipples while they were still pregnant - she said she used to rub them with a towel. I also remember reading on here once that rubbing them with surgical spirit every other day can toughen them up (IIRC this was advice from Australia, but I could very easily be wrong).

So my question is: can I do anything at all to toughen up my very sensitive and weedy nipples now? I would dearly love to bf DC2 without the problems I suffered first time, and if there's anything I can do, anything at all, I will gladly do it!

No it isn't recommended that you try and toughen up your nipples before bfing. The risk of surgical spirit is that you will change the skin's natural flora, making it more prone to infection. A towel just wouldn't work, and if you do it too hard, you risk damaging the skin.

The best way to prepare is to have as much knowledge and support to hand - good professional support from people who really want you to succeed in breastfeeding.

What do you think may have gone wrong with bfing your first baby? You did very well to get to four moths even though it was so painful. Blisters and pain for four months is not normal when breastfeeding, and I recommend you talk to a bfing professional before the birth to try and work out what went so painfully wrong the first time, and what can be done this time to prevent that.

Good luck!

Thanks, Belgo. What a shame there's no physical preparation I can do!

I'm really not sure what went so wrong first time, and I did seek lots of help but no-one seemed able to fathom it either. I was particularly surpised that the NCT bf counsellor seemed to think my latch etc was all perfect, so had no answers for me.

However, I have been perusing the MN bf advice, and found this:
"After five weeks of hideously painful feeding, it was the teeniest change to my latch that made all the difference. Every health visitor, breastfeeding counsellor, midwife, Tom, Dick and Harry I saw told me my latch was fine and, then, just as I was despairing, one midwife spotted something amiss and helped me to fix it. Keep on asking for help until you can feed pain-free!" BroccoliSpears

Perhaps that would be the case for me...

I will talk to my midwife at my next appointment and see whether she can advise. It's difficult, when you realise that you have to find someone really bloody good at this stuff, and it might not be the first or the 5th or the 20th person you find. Takes a lot of perseverence, doesn't it?

yes that could be the case. It's not just latch, but the position of the baby; with my dd1 the latch was good, but I wasn't holding her up quite at the right position and she was pulling at the nipple very very slightly and that caused a lot of pain. Also try and keep your nipples dry between feeds - a slightly damp bra or breastpad is not good. I found that my own milk helped heal sore nipples; and exposing them to the air (ie; topless in the privacy of your own home!) made all the difference.

Bare in mind that this time you might have absolutely no problems in bfing! I had no problems bfing my second child, no pain at all.

Many women do prepare for bf'ing a friend of mine with inverted nipples spent her whole preg preparing & successfully bf'ed for 2yrs. i had a very bad time with ds1 pain, bleeding, blisters but thankfully it started to ease after the 1st few wks, but the memory of the days & nights spent n tears made me do plenty of research when preg wit ds2 & i have been told by more then one midwife that massaging the nipples very regularly with olive oil, tugging & pulling abit for a couple of min at least twice a day for the last couple of months of preg wil help to condition them & using lansinoh lanolin cream after every single feed starting wit ur very 1st feed & religously after every feed till ur confident u can go without it. i second lettin as much air as possible at them as often as ya can. Also lansinoh breast pads r the best, (they act like a nappy sucking the moisture away) change regularly through out the day &night. i did the massaging for the last few wks of my preg & only got 1sml blister wit ds2... Mayb worth a try for u too...