Bloody Breastfeeding!

Triple Nipple - it's a prescription but worked wonders healing mine up! They also gave me gel pads in the hospital but then I couldn't find them in the stores. good luck!

Mine did the same thing with all 5 of my kids. I just hung in there until it got better but I hear that breast shields work wonders. Congratulations!!

Hi K.. Congrats on your baby! And good for you for persisting with the breastfeeding.
I too had bloody sore nipples. Some tips:

1. Try not to wear bras as much as possible while you are resting. When you are up -- cotton is best.

2. Medela has 100% lanolin soothing breast cream or any other similar will do. It saved me. It is safe for babies as well.

3. Put breast milk on your nipples after you bfeed.

4. Do try to see a lactation specialist who can help as well with a more comfortable latch. i learned a few diff posiitons before i found the most comfortable.

5. invest in a good bfeeding pillow. i used my brest friend.

6. remember to take care of yourself.

Good luck.

Jilly

Hydrogel pads and breastmilk! Put the pads in the fridge for a little while, and when they are cool, express a small amount of breast milk over the bleeding areas, and then apply the hydrogel pads. The coolness will help with pain and swelling, and the breastmilk will speed up the healing. Hydrogel pads are also re-usable. I used them with my twins, after I blistered and bled from pumping (I had the wrong size attachments), and I healed up within a few days. I still use the pads on days when my little guy nurses for a long time and my nipples feel raw. They work wonders.

Good luck!

The doctor gave me these silicone breast healing disks when I had the same type of problem. I wore them in my bra when i was not feeding my daughter... and they were magic!! Ask your ob/gyn about them. I am sorry I don't remember what they were called.

My pediatrician wrote a prescription for "Nipple Cream" and the pharmacist at Fairview Children's Clinic whipped up the cream. I have no idea what was in it, but at that point I didn't care. It saved my breastfeeding career. Talk to your or your baby's doctor.

I had quite a bit of bleeding with my 2nd child and I had to use nipple shields so I could heal while she fed. I know that some people don't recommend them b/c you don't know what the baby is taking in but like you I had an abundance of milk and I knew my baby was getting enough milk so I didn't hesitate to use the shields. It probably took a good 2 weeks for my nipples to heal but by then I was able to make sure her latch was correct and I was able to move around better.

I too had a c-section and getting into a nursing position was more difficult b/c so I didn't bother correcting her latch right of way. Add that to being sleepy and loopy from the pain meds.

With my 3rd child I did use the nipple shields again b/c I was starting to get raw and no way did I want to go through bleeding nipples again. It helped while she was learning to feed, my nipples were toughening up and I was recovering from the surgery.

When I first started nursing my son he had a very hard time latching. He also spent a few days in the NICU and I couldn't breastfeed him and he grew acustom to a synthetic nipple. To get us back on track with eachother I used a nipple sheild for a little while. You might want to attempt that to protect your healing nipples for a few days. The sheild will protect your raw nipples and your natural milk will help to sooth and heal them. I would also suggest breast cups (I think they're called) You can wear them under your bra to keep you nipples from rubbing against fabric and allow them to breath.

im so sorry you are struggling (suffering is more like it!) and having trouble, but im so glad to hear that you are wanting to keep it up! :) :)

what i would suggest is to contact a la leche league group or leader. they would have or be able to find the information for you about how to figure this out! :) :)
www.llli.org! :)
good luck!

Try varying the postion of the baby while she nurses. So if you normally hold her accross your body, try the football hold or try laying down. If she's rubbing you raw in one spot, just change that "spot." Also, keep the lanolin coming! Good luck and keep it up! Congrats on your new baby!

I would give up on the cabbage leaves, they are meant for engorgement pain, to lessen the fullness, not sores from being injured. Keep up with the lanolin, I also had some spray on lanolin, so you didn't have to touch them when they were so sore. Here is what I had, and it was so much nicer then trying to spread a thick cream on sore nipples: http://www.goores.com/goores/product.asp?prod_name=THE+FI...;

Other than that, try to air them out, don't keep them in a bra with a pad all the time in between.

TIme heals all wounds, right?

Good Job and good luck!

I had 2 c-sections and nursed both babies for 9 months!

Jessie

Sounds like you are raw without cracking.
If so, check into making sure you dont give her thrush when she nurses.
I had to put ;medicine on my breasts when I nursed my son due to the wear and tear on the nipple area during feeding.
He was not a biter, I did nurse because I wanted to, and nursed him for a while (18 months, he is my baby).

The medicine was sticky and I did not like it, but I did it tfor a breif period of time.

How long has the bleeding occurred?
If yuo think it is reducing in amounts, maybe there is nothing to panic about.
If you have concerns of the blood in her mouth as she nurses, as your doctor if there are things to address the issue.

Remember o listen to the nurses, especially the older ones. They usually know a rememdy that is old school. Old school did have is rewards too.
.

They will heal, it just may take a while. If you think her latch is good now, then the problem should resolve itself. And keep using the lanolin. It does help. Hang in there. Nursing can be very painful at the beginning, but it gets better so quickly. I'm at the stage where I'm trying to wean my 1 year old and I'm having a harder time then he is. Nursing is so rewarding and it creates such a bond. Pretty soon you won't even have to think about it, its so easy.

My son nursed so hard I had bleeding blisters on my nipples! What worked for me was yes, mostly waiting it out--it didn't take a lot of time to heal, honestly. Also, I stopped nursing him so often. That sounds awful. But he wanted to nurse CONSTANTLY; the nurses were bringing him to me every hour because he was fussy, and I finally said, he's less than 24 hours old; he does NOT need to nurse this often, and if I'm going to continue nursing, my breasts need to HEAL. They gave him sugar water (which I hated...but...I knew he'd be getting breastmilk when we were outta there) because he was fussy, but my breasts got to heal in the 2 hours between nursing sessions. It still hurt, he still nursed like a newborn, just not 15 minutes of every hour. I also pumped. The pump seemed to pull more uniformly on my nipples, so they didn't get rubbed raw in the same way. Oh, and I think one of the smarter nurses finally suggested nursing in a different position--I've always held my babies in a cradle hold in front of me; switching to a football hold temporarily helped quite a bit. It meant he put pressure on a different part of my breast/nipple, so he nursed better. He was a rough, aggressive nurser the entire 2 1/2 years I nursed him; I wish someone had been able to tell me how to make him a little less so, but all I could find was just that "some babies are like that."

Updated

My son nursed so hard I had bleeding blisters on my nipples! What worked for me was yes, mostly waiting it out--it didn't take a lot of time to heal, honestly. Also, I stopped nursing him so often. That sounds awful. But he wanted to nurse CONSTANTLY; the nurses were bringing him to me every hour because he was fussy, and I finally said, he's less than 24 hours old; he does NOT need to nurse this often, and if I'm going to continue nursing, my breasts need to HEAL. They gave him sugar water (which I hated...but...I knew he'd be getting breastmilk when we were outta there) because he was fussy, but my breasts got to heal in the 2 hours between nursing sessions. It still hurt, he still nursed like a newborn, just not 15 minutes of every hour. I also pumped. The pump seemed to pull more uniformly on my nipples, so they didn't get rubbed raw in the same way. Oh, and I think one of the smarter nurses finally suggested nursing in a different position--I've always held my babies in a cradle hold in front of me; switching to a football hold temporarily helped quite a bit. It meant he put pressure on a different part of my breast/nipple, so he nursed better. He was a rough, aggressive nurser the entire 2 1/2 years I nursed him; I wish someone had been able to tell me how to make him a little less so, but all I could find was just that "some babies are like that."

You can get through this. Two things that worked great for me are: #1 there are gel pads that you refrigerate then you place them over your nipples after nursing. They feel so good and they help to heal the skin faster. I had two sets of them and I just rotated. I do not think I could have continued to nurse without them. I picked them up at the pharmacy in my hospital, they ran about $11 at the time (6 years ago)
I also used 2nd skin which is for burns, I found that at Walgreens. Good luck.

I would just allow your breasts to be open to air after nursing and just take some of your breastmilk and massage it around the nipples. Breastmilk is actually quite a 'wonder drug'. Cabbage leaves will irritate your open wounds and lanolin is meant for flaking, not bleeding skin. Also - - I'd have a CLC or IBCLC check out your latch to ensure it's correct and not causing more irritation due to an improper suction.

have you tried the medela nursing gel pads? put them in the fridge and it feels sooo good! you wear them under your bra.

Hang in there, good advice from pposter. Enjoy your new little one!

its a hard to find item, but there are medicated nipple gels.
medela tender care hydrogel. I used another brand I liked better. Hospitals give them out or sell them in thier Wellness stores. otherwise try Amazon or see if your local pharmasist can order them (they are over the counter).

im sorry to say you are just going to have to wait it out, let air get to them to aid healing. 2 years ago i had that same exact problem, my daughter would spit up my blood, and i cried and curled my toes every time she latched on., i made the mistake of leaving my breasts in a nursing bra, sometimes using a gel cooling pad, which feels nice but adds to the problem. walk/lay/sit around topless when you can. Use a very light soft rag to hold over the unused boob while breastfeeding to catch seeping milk, but let as much air as possible get to them.........it wont last long, keep on going, breastfeeding is so worth the trouble.