preventing cracked and bleeding nipples?

[Stacie:Emma&Josh Mom]

My first breastfeeding experience was not a pleasant one due to many issues and we quit at around 8 weeks I think.  I'd like to try again this time around and am gathering as much info as possible.  My first question is how do youp revent cracked and bleeding nipples?  I already know about being sure we have the correct latch (just took a breastfeeding class last night) and about applying breastmilk and then air drying the nipples after each feeding as well as using Lanolin after every feeding (I also have dry skin so this will definitely be a must).  However, I did all of these things the first time and still had lots of issues.  Granted I now believe we never did get a correct latch, but is it really as easy as that?  TIA

[happy mommy]

Is it really as easy as that?  No.  Sorry.

I really hope you are able to get some good advise from those here who have been successfull.  I'll be following this thread to see what others have to offer.  But, unfortunatly, for me, my second attempt was at least as bad if not worse then the first.  And all that was despite being so much better prepared the second time.

Best of luck to you Stacie.  I hate to say anything negative but that was my honest experience with it...and it was heartbreaking because I wanted to be successfull sooooooooooo badly!

~Holly~

[Dillon's mum]

For something so natural it's darn tricky getting it right!!

I too gave up with DS after only a few days and expressed from there on in, With DD I knew I wouldn't have either the time or inclination to express everytime so having done all my homework like you obviously have I was bracing myself for all sorts of problems...and the first time I put her on (just minutes after being born) she latched on correctly and prodeed to nurse wonderfully...it felt so right and sooo much better than with DS. The only thing I wished I'd done over the first few days was to gradually build up time as my nips did crack a bit from over use...so I guess this is the bit you already know about...
Arm yourself with the lotions and potions to take care of your skin, and just wait and see what your baby does..you may just be surprised!!

[deb]

OK, I'm gonna go against the grain on this one.

With Josie, I was in HORRIBLE HORRIBLE AGONY, with bleeding and cracking, and her spitting up blood when she did spit up because she'd drunk it wounding my with her Hoover-like latch. :shock: In desperation I called LLL who came and tried to help but couldn't, so I called a random lactation consultant. She turned out to be THE best thing that happened to our BF experience.

She took one look at my nipples that first visit and her response, in addition to the widened eyes, was, "Well, I've seen worse." (Yeah, maybe the other 5% of moms who'd gotten so badly wounded by their babies! :?) By the end of that visit, she'd shown me how to fix the latch so that nursing really WAS painless (or almost painless, considering the damage that Josie'd done). I gave Josie bottles of formula for night feedings so I had time to heal, and eventually was able to get off formula altogether (good thing, as J boycotted bottles suddenly around 8 months ). It wasn't an overnight process by any means - the LC had to come back to correct some things and almost had to come back a THIRD time, but in the end I nursed Josie till a bit over 15 months.

I did discover that my nipples face slightly different directions, enough so that I had to adapt when changing sides, and once I got the hang of that, around 3 months (believe it or not), that cleared up any other problems latching on.

With Natalie, I did try following the same advice but I knew I was missing something, so I called the LC the day we brought Nat home and she was there that afternoon, so even though I was feeling some of the same pain already, we got it fixed from the start that time. With both babies I'd been armed with Lansinoh from the start but found I didn't really need it and ended up tossing the stuff. :?

If your first LC wasn't able to stave off the agony with a good latch, I'd suggest finding a different LC the second time around. Mine used an asymmetrical latch, meaning the nipple did NOT go straight into the mouth, but we set up the latch so the nipple went along the roof of the baby's mouth, and that made almost all the difference. The other thing that made it work was making sure I did NOT lean to the baby, but pulled the baby to ME by her neck and the bottom of her head when latching on; this had the effect of levering the head to tilt backward to facilitate the nipple along the upper palate.

If you have any other questions about how we did the asymmetrical latch, feel free to PM or email me and I'll try to write it out step by step.

Cheers,

[GraceKellysmom]

I agree with Deb, being prepared and going to the l/c right away is the best thing you can do. And see one in the hospital - every day if you can. Each baby nurses differently too, their mouths are different, etc. I think one fantastic thing to have around are cold gel packs for soreness and engorgement.

Preparation and reading - and taking the class like you did - that is your best chance at a longer nursing relationship. Sheer will gets some moms through it  :lol:  but I'd want you to be comfortable and get it right from the start.

Position and latching are the key to comfort. Get a great nursing pillow (or two) and a comfy chair that you can relax in. Bring the baby to you (don't lean over) and work hard on getting a great latch.

I recommend Dr Newman's (I think it's called Ultimate Guide to Breastfeeding) it has pictures and how-to's and is so much better than any other book I've read or class I've taken.

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Ditto to everything that Deb and Stacy said!  If it still hurt after the first lc, get a second opinion!

[Angel Face]

Stacie,
All the advice you have gotten is right on. I will second the desire to try and get it right after the 1st time round didn't work well. I think I had 1 month of painless b/f with DD#1. With DD#2 I did things different, but the biggest thing I did was tried to not stress about it. If it worked it worked, if it didn't then I was going to hunt down good experts. And it worked!! It is amazing the difference in latchs when 1 out of the 2 of you know what you are doing. With dd#1  - 0 out of 2 knew what we were doing. So at least now you have experience under your belt. It might not have been a great experience, but it is experience none the less!
Good luck!!

[jaxnp]

Great advice so far!  I don't have a ton to add, except that in my case, I think the cracking and bleeding was inevitable, both because I have very fair skin and and had flat nipples.  It was definitely worse with David, but I still cracked and bled with Kaitlin, it just wasn't quite as bad or as long.  Latch did make a difference for me, but it was almost just a matter of letting it run its course.  One thing that really helped was this second skin dressing I got in the hospital.  It's a wound dressing and the nurses told me to apply it to my nipples after every feeding.  One piece lasted about a day, and then I would change it.  It's expensive, so you have to ask for it; they don't just offer it.  Once I had the latch down and was taking care of my nipples, it was just grin and bear it, honestly.  It did get better after a few weeks and then was just fine.  In my experience it definitely was easier the second time around, both because I knew better what I was doing and because dd was just a great nurser from day one.  [/i]