I believe that mothers who breast-milk their babies will not be too unfamiliar with such a scene:
The mother was lying on her side to nurse the baby, and the baby was also struggling to suck it. However, all of a sudden, the mother’s face changed, frowned tightly, and her expression was painful. She even couldn’t help crying out loud. She tried to shoot off the “should I push him away, push him away, or push him away” that she had said silently for 10,000 times before she could insist on feeding the milk.
Nipple sucking seems to be just a trivial matter, but in fact, it is more likely to become an obstacle to mothers’ breast milk than mastitis and separation of mother and infant.
Ding Ma really felt that the experience of nursing each time was really beyond ordinary people’s tolerance.
Therefore, what Ding Ma wants to share with you today is [chapped nipples]. Only when you know your enemy and yourself can you fight without danger. Let’s meet it together.
Is what a chapped nipple?
Cracked nipples refer to small cracks and bleeding on the surface of the mother’s nipples during lactation.
The most common reason is incorrect breast-feeding posture. In addition, there are also reasons such as long-term sucking, incorrect nipple-connecting posture, nipple invagination, etc.
In particular, new mothers who have just given birth consume a lot of physical energy and often choose to lie on their side for breast-feeding. However, many mothers do not pay attention to the breast-feeding posture and only turn their upper body to breast-feed sideways. The baby cannot well contain nipples. In addition, newborns need to suck frequently, which makes it easy to have chapped nipples.
The nipple is rich in blood vessels and nerves. Once [nipple chapped] occurs, every sucking of the baby will bring severe pain to the mother, which may be tolerable in a short period of time, but over time it will inevitably make the mother feel relieved. In order to relieve the pain, some mothers have no choice but to reduce the number of times of feeding or not feeding.
In the face of chapped nipples, what should I do?
First of all, of course, prevention! Cracked nipples often recur, for the sake of the baby’s breast milk, but also for the sake of the mother’s breast-feeding is not painful, quickly see how to prevent it.
STEP 1 Pay Attention to Feeding Posture
Posture is very important when breast-feeding. The correct posture can help the baby to correctly include nipples and make the mother more comfortable when breast-feeding.
No matter what breastfeeding posture you take, you should pay attention to these four points:
- The baby’s head and body are in a straight line. The baby’s face is close to the breast and his nose is facing the nipple. The baby’s body is close to the mother, so as to contain most areola. If it is a newborn, it is necessary to hold not only its head and shoulders but also its buttocks.
2. Pay attention to the way nipples are attached.
The correct way to include nipples is for the baby’s upper and lower lips to directly contact the areola (instead of nipples) and wrap most of the areola.
During the specific operation, the mother can use the C-shaped technique to support the breast, stimulate the baby’s mouth with the nipple first, and then send the nipple and most areola to the baby’s mouth when the baby’s mouth is wide.
At this time, the baby’s lower jaw will stick to the mother’s breast, the mouth will be wide, the lower lip will turn out, and the areola above the mouth will be more than below. The mother can feel the baby’s slow and deep sucking, and most importantly, she will not feel pain.
STEP 3 Pay Attention to Breastfeeding Time
Develop a good lactation habit, each lactation time should not be too long, the most suitable time is 10-15 minutes on one side, the longest is not more than 20 minutes.
Step 4 Pay attention to nipple cleaning
Before and after each feeding, warm water can be used to gently wash nipples and areola, and nipple repair cream can be applied after drying to keep the skin around nipples clean and moist and reduce the possibility of cracks.
What if the nipple is still broken?
Of course, it is best to avoid nipple injury, but sometimes injury always means a little [inevitable].
If the nipple is unfortunately injured, don’t support the baby to nurse. You can try the following methods to relieve the pain.
1. Stimulate Milk in Advance
Before each feeding, wet compress with a hot towel, massage the breast to stimulate milk secretion, squeeze out a small amount of milk to soften the areola, and make it easy for the baby to connect nipples.
Step 2: Sequential Breastfeeding
When feeding, first choose the side that is not injured or slightly injured, and often change the feeding posture to reduce the stimulation of hard sucking on nipples.
Step 3 Avoid nipple pulling
Every time after feeding milk, gently press the baby’s lower jaw with your index finger, and take the opportunity to pull out the nipple when the baby opens his mouth, instead of pulling out the nipple directly.
Also, don’t wait for the baby to pull it out when it doesn’t suck at all. At that time, the baby will definitely bite it tightly with its teeth. That’s a terrible pain. At this moment, the mother can only put her index finger into the baby’s mouth and pull the upper and lower teeth open to save me.
Step 4 Protect the nipple skin
After each lactation, you can squeeze some milk and apply it to the nipple and areola to dry, or apply nipple repair cream to protect the nipple. In addition, wearing a breast milk protective cover is also a good choice.
If there is local rupture and exudation, it must be cleaned well, otherwise it is easy to be infected.
Step 5 Reduce sucking if necessary
If the crack hurts badly, reduce the kiss-feeding first. However, don’t give up breast-feeding easily. You can squeeze out milk by hand or suck milk with a breast pump. You can feed it with a bottle for the time being to avoid repeated stimulation of nipple wounds and then kiss-feeding after the wounds heal.
STEP 6 Seek timely help
If the fissure cannot be cured or recurs, don’t hesitate to see a doctor as soon as possible.
Breast milk is the first gift and the most precious gift that a mother gives to her baby. Being a mother is better. I hope every mother can persist for love. I also hope that the little knowledge shared by Ding Ma today can help mothers walk easier on the road of persistence.