Cracked Nipples
Cracked nipples often develop when sore nipples go untreated, and they are usually the cause of early weaning. Lots of mums with this condition experience pain while breastfeeding and wean because their baby may be bringing up or passing blood in their nappy.
While the thought of breastfeeding with bleeding nipples may seem horrible and off putting, the blood is not at all harmful to your baby. It's perfectly natural and normal to continue nursing, as your baby will still benefit from all the advantages of breastfeeding.
As a mum, even a brand new one, you can sense lots of things about your baby and if he or she is feeding properly. You just need to trust yourself and seek reliable — and sometimes medical — advice over and over if you have to until you find out what is causing you pain.
Most of the time cracked nipples are caused by poor attachment or positioning, as are lots of breastfeeding problems, and usually getting this right is a big step in the right direction.
If your sore nipples are making it near impossible to breastfeed then you may be able to try hand expressing for 1 or 2 days to give your breasts time to heal.
Expressing at this time can help help prevent mastitis and your baby can still enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding. Rubbing some breast milk onto your nipples can help as the antibacterial agents in it will help it heal.
If you are concerned about nipple confusion — and more attachment issues — you can offer the expressed breast milk to your baby in a small cup, even new borns are able to drink this way… it may take some patience but you may find you only need to feed this way for 24 hours, or less if you are still able to feed from one breast.
You can also try feeding your expressed milk to your baby before offering your breast, this can help to ease his or her hunger so that they are more relaxed and it may help them to attach better.
When the cracks have improved you might like to reintroduce your breasts gradually starting with the less painful side and feeding for shorter periods on the sore side. It can be helful at this point to focus on helping your baby attach correctly. You may find that you need to continue to expressing from the sore side so that you remove as much milk from your breast as possible. This will help you maintain your breast milk supply.
Sometimes it's possible to see the cracks in your nipples and other times they are so fine that they just aren't visible. Medical conditions like dermatitis or infections can also cause sore cracked nipples so it's helpful to make sure that the cause is treated as well as the cracks. If you find that the pain and bleeding continues then there's a good chance that you haven't treated the cause.
It helps to remember that your nipples will heal and once they do breastfeeding will become enjoyable and remembered as a special time that you shared with your baby.
Please always remember to consult your health professional to find out information that is relevant to your specific situation.
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