Cracked nipples and Lansinoh

[kumber]

He's not even 2 days old and nipples are already ripped to shreds! Applying Lansinoh after every feed but am only starting to let them air dry. Will that help? I have been told rubbing colostrum (and eventually milk) into them helps too, again do I do this immediately after feeding and let air dry? How long did it take your nips to adjust? Thanks girls

 

[Flickalicious]

Hey, apply the lansinoh as often as you can. Before and after feeds. It helped me loads!
My daughter was a natural at breastfeeding so it didn't take too long before mine were ok with her but it took a couple of weeks to adjust with my son. Push through the pain, it does get better I promise x

 

[Pin badge]

It took several weeks for my nips to settle down but DD has a tongue tie and a bit of a dodgy latch! Keep at the lanisoh and the air drying. When your milk comes in fully it is amazing at healing, you can put it on baby's dry skin, or scratches etc.
Xx

 

[Browneyed Girl]

I've read that air drying helps although never tried it myself. Lansinoh worked well for me - I applied it after every feed and they sorted my nipples in a couple of days - mine were bleeding and had bits of skin hanging off as well (sorry if tmi!) xx

 

[kumber]

Thanks girls! Can't wait for milk to come in, I don't know if it helps that I feel quite full already?

 

[xjdx]

I'm on day 13 of breastfeeding. I'm still applying Lansinoh but not after every feed like I was in the beginning. I got a bit excited about my breast pump last week and put it on a high setting. So my nipples started to hurt again.

But my boobs felt a lot better once the milk came

Keep doing what your doing you seem to be doing really well xx

 

[CARNAT22]

I had to express between day 3 and day 8-9 as my nipples were horrific. Baby was puking blood that she had ingested from them.

God even the memory makes me shudder. Baby hated bottles so it was a very fraught time but day 9 she went back on boob and has never touched a bottle since...

I'd not recommend my method - I'm very lucky baby hated bottles - but often when you introduce a bottle so early they can get nipple confusion and can prefer the bottle (it's easier to get milk from teat than it is from boob)

Also if your milk isn't in yet expressing is pointless.

Just wanted to offer some hugs though as I've been there and it was awful.

Never had any significant issues from day 10 (just a little bit of discomfort with the initial latch which is common / normal) and within the month feeding was completely second nature.

X

 

[kumber]

Thanks carnat

Can't wait for the pain to go, its so horrid!

 

[Rose83]

Hey I breastfed exclusively until 7 months, for the first 8 weeks I went through hell on my boobs because it took that long to diagnose that I had thrush which was causing my discomfort and baby to scream when feeding. I started expressing and fed her exclusively with pumped milk from 3 months. I think I was lucky that I didn't seem to get too much cracking but I genuinely put lansinoh on from birth after every single feed and sometimes during the feed if she was struggling (turns out this was because it was masking the taste of thrush so she would stay on). I also used mam bam that superdrug sell at night - I had put it on every night in last three weeks of pregnancy too as I read that can prepare you - don't really know if it helped!
Also been told that pure coconut oil (can get in Holland and Barrett) works wonders x

 

[Babbybo]

It really does get better. The memory of how it was at the beginning makes me wonder how and why I got through it. Tbh I can't remember before my milk came in but it was pretty awful after with engorgement and sore cracked nipples. My HV swore by multimams pads which I ordered and got free ointment with. It's not bad and its herbal but I don't think you can beat lansinoh after every feed (and even more often when necessary). Good luck for when milk comes in. Hope pain passes quickly. It will soon be a distant memory.

 

[kumber]

Milk is coming in already, I'd forgotten how sore engorged boobies are! It is thankfully getting better already, we re-adjusted our latch and position which has helped hugely, and he is a very efficient feeder. Have been applying lansinoh more regularly and I feel much better. Still agony when he initially latches but it eases so I'm happy we're going in the right direction

Thanks for all your tips girls, keep them coming!

 

[tinselcat]

If your nipples stay really painful then I found nipple shields helped me a lot.

Glad to hear that things are already improving

 

[kumber]

Thanks for the tip Tinselcat

Another question - he is struggling to latch as I'm so engorged, do you think I would be ok to express off just a wee bit before a feed so he's able to get a good latch and finish the job?

 

[JJ Mum]

Thanks for the tip Tinselcat

Another question - he is struggling to latch as I'm so engorged, do you think I would be ok to express off just a wee bit before a feed so he's able to get a good latch and finish the job?

Thats exactly what they recommend if your boobs are too engorged /affecting latching id just do it by hand to save hassle/ more sore boobs etc

Glad your boobs are feeling better. My lansinoh cream gets slapped on generously and the breastpads keep it on doing its thing for hours and off my clothes

 

[xjdx]

I have something called a milk saver.,I put it in the other side of my bra to what I'm feeding from or expressing from. It's amazing to see how much milk you lose when your feeding from the other side.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/milkies-milk-saver/207-9314.prd?skuId=207-9314&pageLevel=sku

I get up earlier and express now because my boobs are to sore. I put Chsse on to feed to relieve them but most of the time he wants to sleep still. Xx

 

[kumber]

This is fab, thanks very much girls

JJ - I've tried hand expressing and I'm getting nowt, do you think using my manual pump would still be ok?

 

[Babbybo]

I couldn't hand express either and used a manual pump for a minute or so when I heard little one stirring in the mornings. Even a small amount helped him to latch and made it less stressful for both of us. I didn't bother saving the milk at that stage because it would have been a hassle to sterilise everything for such small amounts but would be handy for you in the future if you saved it and froze it but all I wanted in the early days was relief from the sore boobs lol.

 

[kumber]

Gosh you're preaching to the choir there Babbybo!

Will do that for next feed then if needed, managed to get him onto a good latch and he had a 20 minute feed so I think he has been hungry all morning but unable to get a top up. He's conked out and I can finally get my breakfast!

 

[Bubbles22]

I'm on day 11 kumber and mine have settled. At first I had cuts and skin peeling off and I have literally put breast milk on every time I feed and lanolin on a few times a day and especially after night feeds and cluster feeding. Mine are good to go now, still a bit sensitive and when she latches on its very sore but once she's on its fine.

 

[kumber]

Thanks Bubbles

I'm slowly noticing an improvement, I don't think the oversupply is helping as he's struggling to latch but we're getting there