Thread: Question for a friend.

A friend of mine had a problem that I thought you ladies could weigh in on. When she had DS 4 yrs ago she started with bfing. But at 4 months she got the flu and became dehydrated which affected her supply. And when he nursed her nipples started cracking and bleeding. She figured it was because her supply was low and he was sucking harder. It became so painful she gave up bfing.

Fast forward 4 yrs and DD arrived. Everything has been going well for her but when DD turned 7 months her nipples started bleeding and cracking and are painful again. She cant even pump because it's too painful. She's been hand expressing and bottle feeding to try to alleviate her nipples. This came out of no where this time. She isnt sick and there has been no change in nursing. Any ideas as to what might be the problem?

Thrush? Growth spurt creating changes in DD's nursing habits? Stress? Pending AF? I'd recommend she head to her nearest Wal-Mart, or Target or the like and pick up this: http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Year...8341277&sr=8-2 Or order it straight from Amazon. It's "medicated" nursing pads that are sleeves you slip the ice packs in (you can just refridge them, too). OMG these helped me soo much the first 6 weeks with DD. I have latching pain until 6+ weeks and it's easy for me to crack and whatnot.

Also, I'd recommend she up her water intake and soak in the tub (no soap), use lanolin, etc. Remind her to avoid soaping her nipples while washing, it can make it worse.

Also, there is an ointment my LC gave me, but I can't recall what it's called, but it's "medicated" and has an anti-fungal agent in it. I use it every time I have a crack show up and it heals within days.

Did she just start solid foods with her DD? A change in nursing habits can cause issues sometimes.

Thanks ladies. I appreciate it. She did start soilds recently So that could be it. She has basically been feeding though the pain and has one nipple almost back to normal. The other is still painful for her. Her biggest worry now is that her supply is way down because she has been giving formula when it was too painful to nurse.