# Help! Base of nipple was cut, hurts bad, can't bf on that side



## Erin Pavlina (Nov 11, 2001)

I don't know how this happened but there's a half centimeter cut around the base of my nipple. Maybe his teeth or something. Anyway, this hurts like you can't imagine when he is feeding off that breast. I can't bear it anymore. How can I heal this cut quickly? And what is going to happen to the milk on that side if he doesn't feed off of it?


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## wombat (Nov 3, 2002)

Ouch. It hurts like hell in that place cause baby draws the nipple back into the mouth and stretches it. I had cracks and skin peeling off there when adhesions from a flat nipple were breaking down.

Best advice I can give is keep nursing, take some ibuprufen for pain and Vit C and zinc for healing. I used to max out on the 800mg dose for this kind of pain. Pumping was just as painful I found. Try nursing for short periods but more frequently rather than just longer nursing sessions if that's possible. Be careful when you have an open cut there - keep it clean - don't want any thrush to become active in that area.

Aside from your milk supply dropping off on that side, you'll make yourself prone to plugged ducts or mastitis if you suddenly stop nursing or pumping. If you find pumping doesn't hurt as much, you could try pumping until it heals. I remember your little guy won't drink from a bottle though - maybe breast milk pudding - thicken it up with some cornstarch?? Heating it isn't the best thing in the world but least he won't miss out on the calories.


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## mum2 4 (Feb 20, 2004)

Ouch- My daughter did this with her teeth when she had a cold and was trying to breath through her mouth while nursing. it felt like she was using a carrot grater. I used some ice before nursing to numb it and some Vit E dropped from a capsule after. One day it was so bad I covered the area with a small bandaid while nursing. It worked. You can hand express to keep milk supply up since a pump may also be painful. See lactationinsititute.org for the marmet technique...


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

wow, I have no advice for you but crap that has got to hurt./ It makes me queezy just thinking about it. If it were me I would pump until it healed. For me the consist perfect latch was easier to take than her mouth but the reason my nipples often had open wound was my childs persistanct bad latch


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## ShadowMom (Jun 25, 2004)

Hmmm. I am wondering if a nipple shield might help you get through the next few days? What does everyone else think, would that cause more problems than it would solve?

How old is your baby, btw?


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## Erin Pavlina (Nov 11, 2001)

He's 11 months old.

I think what happened is that the area got really dry (living in Vegas here, very hot and dry) and then little fissures started to appear. One just got really big and deep.

I've acquired some lanolin. I hope it helps. Lady at the store said to put a wet tea bag over it. Anyone ever hear of that?


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

Well it certainly wouldn't hurt. Did she specify what kind of tea? I can imagine some herbals have healing qualities. Why do people put tea bags on thier eyes? to bring down sweling? that could be part of it I suppose.


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## Gidget (Aug 31, 2002)

OUCH!! That sounds painful. It makes me cringe to think about it. Have you tried different nursing positions to find the least painful one? That ice idea sounds good too. And the tylenol or other type of pain releif. Ah, the lengths we mamas go through to feed our babies.


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## Erin Pavlina (Nov 11, 2001)

She said to use plain tea, like Lipton, nothing fancy.

I applied some lanolin, so we'll see what happens. I would love to put a bandaid or something over it, but that just wouldn't work right given its location.


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## AnaNicole (Jan 30, 2004)

Oh God, I'm in this boat right now too. Mine started with thrush and got a crack due to the rash. That was a week ago and I am still in agony. I tried not nursing on that side for awhile but that made it worse--I got so engorged it hurt more and I was leaking everywhere and it didn't get any better until I finally let him drain that side. I was in tears for the first ten minutes.









It isn't really healing, although the thrush is (baby is on oral meds and diaper stuff for a raging rash, which is finally looking better). And I dunno if he's growing or just feels yukky but he wants to nurse ALL THE TIME! I think he has a bad latch too--my other nipple, though not cracked, hurts too. He slurps, given half the chance, and it takes so much effort to get him to OPEN his mouth wide. Even then, he'll sometimes slurp during nursing and lose the latch. Nursing is so not fun right now and I don't know what to do.

I'll try the ice and Tylenol. Any other thoughts? I'm desperate!

Sorry if this is a hijack...I heard myself in that original post--I feel your pain Mama!


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## shutterbugmama (Jul 4, 2004)

I'd try the marmet technique for hand expression of milk on that side, like a previous poster mentioned. You need to continue to get milk out of that breast or you'll end up with a plugged duct or mastitis, but I would think that putting the baby on it multiple times a day is causing you lots of pain and not exactly speeding healing. Hand expression isn't tough once you get the hang of it, plus there will be no direct contact w/ the nipple so it will have a chance to heal (and maybe lanolin will help, personally I'd even consider neosporin if I knew baby wouldn't be on that side ingesting it).

Best of luck!


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## Viola (Feb 1, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Erin Pavlina*

I've acquired some lanolin. I hope it helps. Lady at the store said to put a wet tea bag over it. Anyone ever hear of that?

My sister does that for sunburn, something about the tannins in the tea being soothing. I don't know if it would help a laceration, but maybe she's tried it and found it helpful which is why she recommended it to you.

Anyway, so sorry about that.


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