# Infected crack at nipple base, is it ok to nurse? Please help.



## cj'smommy (Aug 14, 2003)

As I said, I have an infected crack at the base of my nipple. It's now oozing gooey, yellow stuff and I'm pretty sure it's infected. I tired convincing a LC of that earlier today, but she wasn't sure. I'm pretty sure now.

I've been letting it air dry, using warm water and Cetaphil after each nursing (nursing is EXTREMELY painful) and then a combo of Polysporin, 1% cortizone cream and monistat on it as well after I wash it off.

Is it ok to still nurse him with it infected and the pus there? It just doesn't seem right, I don't want him getting that stuff. I called them back, but they're not there after 3:00.

Please help


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## eirual (Mar 21, 2006)

I'm sorry you haven't gotten your answer yet. And honestly I'm not sure either. How did your night go??

I'd be weary of nursing after putting polysporin on. If you must I'd assume you'll have to wash them clean before feeding. I'd be tempted to say go ahead and nurse though. BM has lots of things that can help fight the bad stuff from the puss. Or I'd suggest sticking to one side and pumping the other to get it to heal. Or what about re-positioning babe so that the infected area isn't getting straight-on contact?

Hang in there mama. I can only imagine what you're going through to feed your baby and give him the best nourishment he can get. He is lucky to have such a strong and caring Mommy!


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## maxmama (May 5, 2006)

You can nurse with mastitis. I can't see why not with an infected nipple.


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## tsfairy (May 19, 2004)

Definitely keep nursing, it should be fine. I had an infected split a couple of months ago and continued nursing, though it was extremely painful. I was a little concerned about nursing when I realized there was pus in the wound, but DS didn't seem to suffer any ill effects and I feel that the continued nursing helped to maintain my supply and kept the infection from turning into mastitis.

BTW are you on an antibiotic? If what you're doing doesn't seem to be helping with the infection, it might not be a bad idea. I'm pretty anti-abx, but when there's a true need, they do work.

Oh also what helped me when the split was healing was to wear those Soothies pads under my bra. I expressed a little milk and rubbed that on the wound, and then used Lansinoh on top of that, but having a bra or shirt on still HURT (I was on vacation, living in a condo with half my family, so going topless wasn't an option LOL.) Those Soothies pads were amazing!


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## cj'smommy (Aug 14, 2003)

Thanks for the help!

Before bed he did nurse on both sides, the 'good' side is less of a producer so it just wasn't enough for him. I even had a couple of ounces of EBM in a bootle that he had, but that wasn't enough either. So I let him nurse. Then for the first time in 6 months, he was only up once last night!! (He's been getting up 3-5 times a night.) When he was nursed on the 'good' side so the other had time to heal.

I wasn't sure about the polysporin either, but he nurses about every 3 horus or so and she said by that time it would have worn off. The hydrocortisone has helped the inflammation a lot, it's still really swollen around the crack but it's much better.

I did try pumping on that side only, but even on the lowest setting it would crack it back open. Plus since I was pumping so low I wasn't getting all the milk out and was engorged all the time. I was worried about mastitis too, so despite the toe curling pain I've been nursing him.

Thanks for the reminder about repositioning him, she said that as well but I forgot.

No, I'm not on an antibiotic but I'm trying to see if I can get one today. I don't like them either, but I don't want this infection to get worse.

I'll check into those Soothie pads too, thanks! I know what you mean, anything near it hurts!

It was pretty crusty this morning when I woke up. I knew that letting him nurse would really hurt when the thing cracked open again so I softened it up with a bit of Lansinoh first and it helped.

tsfairy - how long did yours take to heal? I'm beginning to wonder if this will ever close up.


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## zaksma (Mar 18, 2005)

I had a sore on the side of my left nipple that sounds similar to the crack- it was painful to nurse on that side and has pus in it too. When I went to my OB for a case of mastitis 2 weeks ago, she recommended that I keep nursing on that side as much as possible (my mastitis was on the left breast as well) and that the sore would have to heal up on it's own. I even asked about the fact that it looked infected and she said it would be fine to continue nursing on that side so I assumed that it was ok. Luckily, mine has pretty much healed up- but it took it a good 3 weeks probably- it came up about a week before I developed mastitis and just really healed up this week. I just rubbed breatmilk on it and let it air dry as much as possible and used the Nipple Butter from Earth Mama Angel Baby.

Good luck with healing it- I know how painful that is.


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## cj'smommy (Aug 14, 2003)

Hugs to all of you who have been through this. It is not fun.

Now I have a second crack that is running parallel to the first. sigh.

The pus seems to have cleared up, and the inflammation is down a little bit. The LC I talked to today said I have to keep the inflammation down in order for it to heal. It seems I'm doing everything right, it just needs time to heal. She had one too and it lasted a month!!









Those of you who have done it, how do you deal with the pain for that long? I just had a tooth extracted that didn't hurt nearly as much, and that was wtihout taking any Tylenol for the pain.


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## maxmama (May 5, 2006)

Ice pack on the nipple before a feed will numb it some. It's so hard, and you're doing such a good job!

How do you feel about narcotics? Sometimes they can ratchet the pain down a notch -- enough that you can work with it. Ibuprofen can also help and doesn't pass into BM in any significant quantity.


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## tsfairy (May 19, 2004)

Ibuprofen helped a lot with the pain and with the inflammation. When I had mine, I got abx about 2 days after I first noticed it getting inflamed and painful (I thought it was mastitis at first so my OB called in an rx for me since we were out of town.) By about 24 hours after I started taking the abx the pain was significantly lessened. It was still painful to nurse (but not quite "toe-curling"!) a week later, and I could nurse without pain by the end of week 2. I wore the soothies pad for the whole first week, and then after that I could handle not wearing it.


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