Anyone know a miracle cure for cracked nipples?

[tigerlilysmum]

Sorry if TMI. The pain is so bad that I'm considering giving up BF and seeing how she gets on with formula. Tried all the usual suspects without much luck. I'd prefer something natural but at this stage I'm prepared to try anything no matter what rubbish its got in it!
The only thing that seems to help is keeping breasts ultra clean and dry and having 'bra-off' time! Obviously not very viable for walking down the high street. Any advice welcome. x

Have you tried Lansinoh?

Have you tried expressing a little bit of milk at the end of the feed and massaging it in? I know it sounds daft but it really worked for me - better than Lansinoh - althought that's good as well.

Lansinoh or silverette very good, there's also a gel-impregnated gauze you put in your bra, begins with J... somebody'll know.

[knackered]

I used Kamillosan and loved it, my nips were much better within a day or so. Its also good as you don't have to wash it off before feeds (according to my lovely MW)

LOansinoh for actually curing the problem, and savoy cabbage leaves for the utter feeling of relief they bring.

Do you think the cause could be the latch on or thrush?

Aloe vera gel is very good, and natural too. How long have you been at it? It's normal to get this in the first weeks til your nipples get used to it

if it is latch, i had terrible trouble with this and of course every time you feed just gets worse so never gets a chance to heal. once you sort out positioning it does heal up pretty quickly. can you get some help, try ringing one of the help lines?

Yes - Jelonet was the only thing that worked for me.

Hope you feel better soon.

I've been bf for 9 months now and I've only just got rid of a crack in one nipple that persisted for about half of that time! Bra-off time (at night) was the thing that eventually sorted it for me. I don't leak much these days, so it's OK. I hope you get it sorted. It does make you so miserable, doesn't it?

Have you looked at your baby's tongue? I had the most awful cracks, which got infected so I had to stop breastfeeding for a while. The pain was unbearable and I have every sympathy for you. My son's tongue was heart-shaped. It turned out that he had a tongue-tie which 4 mid-wives, the HV and the GP had not looked for. I had never heard of it before but it is quite common. After it was snipped, breastfeeding was painless!

Kamillosan - and check that you and baby haven't got thrush.

Can I also heartily recommend Lansinoh? This stuff is marvellous, it certainly helped me out in the early days and I was able to carry on b/f no problem. Give it a go, it's widely available (Tesco certainly stock it) and worth every penny. Good luck!

coleyboy said what I wanted to say. I could never get DD to feed properly on left side and the Lansinoh helped and the pads they make have the tretment in them and very comfortable (if thats possible)My cracks went away only days after using the cream...I just expressed of that breast till it was healed and ready to have DD feed off it again

Kamillosan, Kamillosan, Kamillosan

It's brilliant - also amazing for nappy rash. My ds bottom was bleeding and by the next morning it had started to heal.

Buy it in Boots for about £4 a tube .. a bit pricey but a little goes a long way and it's great.

Other thing, fresh air let em hang loose!

Kamillosan is fabulous stuff though.

My DW says Jelonet all the way. And she agrees with the savoy cabbage thing although from what i remember it stank. Small price to pay i guess.

(Will give you a flavour of what your house will smell like when you are a pensioner too)

Another huge vote for Lasinoh- saved my life (also top tip can be got on prescription as its pricey about tenner.)

Jelonet stops the crack from scabbing over between feeds and thus getting deeper each time the baby latches on. Creams were good too, but it was only the gauze that enabled me to finally heal. I would probably have given up bf if it hadn't worked, I nearly lost half my nipple as it was.

lansinoh definately. I think I have a little sample thingy (unopened) and a half a tube of it left if you would like it sending? just dont give up . I had a horrible two or three weeks at one point where it would make me cry it hurt so much but it did go eventually and im still bf today (dd 11 months - only morning and night feed).

definitely Lansinoh. I also used nipple shields with ds1 as both nipples were cracked and i did not want to give formula. Used them for a couple of days until the Lansinoh started to heal the cracks and took the edge off the agony! Like the other posts say - Lansinoh is quite expensive, but lasts ages. Well worth it.

Thanks for all your advice everyone! Sorry, haven't been on here for a while. My friend eventually gave me some Kamillosan ointment and that does seem to have done the trick so I'll be popping out later to get some of my own.
My hv says there is no problem with the latch, as I thought. I just seem to be going through a bit of a 'sensitive' time at the moment.