How to prevent the appearance of cracks in the nipple

One of the first barriers many mothers encounter, and therefore, also the children, are the cracks that appear on the nipple of some mothers who breastfeed their babies.

Normally the first days appear when the technique is not completely adequate (the position of the baby is not correct), if the mother uses soaps, laundry detergent or other aggressive chemical compounds or if alcohol-based cosmetics with glycerin are used or because of a combination of several of these factors, the baby's position being the most common cause.

Knowing the causes it is possible to prevent them, since if the triggers are eliminated or minimized, the problem will not originate or, at least, we will know the possible solutions and a worsening of the mentioned cracks can be prevented.

What are the cracks?

Cracks in the nipples are wounds, very thin cuts that sometimes are not seen, but that cause a lot of pain when the baby starts to breastfeed. The skin cracks as our lips and our hands do when it is cold and the area is very sensitive, transforming something that should be pleasant at a time that mothers do not want to arrive, in order to avoid suffering.

There are some strategies that can help prevent cracks If they have not yet been produced and they are useful to solve them if they have already appeared:

First, a good first grip

One of the reasons that many babies take badly to the breast is that they have not been allowed to breastfeed during the first hour of life or that they have been separated from their mother before having made the first take.

Babies are born prepared to suck and it has been seen that, if they are left at birth on their mother's breast, they are able to crawl and move until they reach the breast by themselves and start sucking. Some take longer and others less, but normally, within the first two hours, they all do.

If mother and child are separated or even if something is introduced into the baby's mouth (a catheter, a finger, a nipple, a pacifier ...) it is possible that the baby makes an oral imprint with what has entered the baby mouth and try to breastfeed, not as you know innate, but how you just learned by noticing something in your mouth. In that case, Most likely, it will cling badly to the chest and the problems begin. That is why it is insisted that, if the baby is healthy, continuous contact, skin to skin, with the mother is allowed, at least until the first take is made.

Value the baby's posture and grip

Since a bad position when breastfeeding is the main cause of breastfeeding hurts and cracks The first thing to do is assess the baby's posture.

First of all you have to see how your body is positioned with respect to the mother. Throughout our lives we have seen children taking bottles lying on their backs on our mother's arm. This makes many mothers take babies in the same way, with one difference: instead of receiving the food with a bottle from above they receive it with the breast from the side. This makes babies have to turn their heads to eat, making everything more difficult (something very simple to understand if we try to eat sitting in a side chair and turning our heads to face the plate and the cutlery).

The ideal posture, therefore, is that in which baby come face to chest, that is to say, that his whole body is oriented towards the mother, almost belly with belly.

Children who take a bottle rest their head in the flexion zone of the arm, so if they are placed like this they would probably be somewhat away from the nipple and would have to "pull" the breast towards themselves in order to suck properly. By forcing the chest position the grip is not adequate and can cause pain and cracks. Ideally, the child should be at a point on the arm such that, in normal conditions, without touching the chest, the nipple points to your nose. Thus, just by approaching and opening the mouth, the baby can cling to the breast leaving the nipple at the top of the mouth, which is where it should be.

The mouth should be wide open before catching. If you open it a little, it is very likely that you will take only the nipple and start milking it (and that hurts a lot), eventually damaging it if you do it often. For this reason it is recommended to touch the nose with the same nipple a little, so that the baby begins to open the mouth little by little. If we don't let you fuck in the moment, it will open more and more (while nodding). The moment we see that he has it wide open: plas! (tit p'adentro), while we press our baby a little against the chest, so that it costs him to back down (which would only suck the nipple), but without pressing on his head, as it bothers them and usually unhook from the chest.

There are occasions, especially in the first few days, when potentially "dangerous" situations are combined, such as the mother having a large nipple and the baby having a small mouth. In these cases you have to be even more aware of the grip, since babies can tend to grab only the nipple. The good thing about this potential problem is that it solves itself, spending a few days, when the baby grows a little, with his mouth and when he is also more expert in the art of sucking.

Avoid the use of teats and pacifiers

The chest should be suctioned reaching it with the mouth wide open, the teats and pacifiers, however, are usually caught with the mouth rather closed. Further, The breast sucking mechanism is very different from the way you drink milk in a bottle with traditional teats, in which the baby does not have to do anything special for the milk to fall, but rather, learn to stop it so that the flow is not continuous.

If a baby learns to put his tongue in the nipple hole to stop the milk and intends to do the same when he is going to breastfeed ("look mom, what have I learned"), the only thing he will get is to take the breast out of the Mouth, again and again. If you close the mouth to catch the chest just as you take a pacifier, most likely it will end up clinging badly and causing cracks.

Do not wash the breasts

A few decades ago, the breasts were washed after each feeding and the mothers were told to put sterile gauze to prevent the skin from filling with germs that the baby would suck. This, which was also a real torture because it was unnecessary, made the skin of the nipple dry, so much so that it was easier to crack.

The opposite is now recommended, a daily and ready shower, without even soap.

Do not apply creams or lotions on the nipple

Unless there is a problem that indicates, do not apply any lotion or cream in the areola. Nothing at all. Montgomery tubers, which are the granites that can be seen with the naked eye in the areola, secrete a fat that lubricates it to protect against external aggressions. If we encrive the area we are preventing them from doing their natural function.

Use appropriate breastfeeding discs

Use breastfeeding absorbent discs that do not irritate. I remember that Miriam was put in all colors once we bought something cheaper, having to throw them to return to the usual. Can be good idea to use some cloth, which are washable and therefore reusable.

Photos | Raphael Goetter, Daquella Way on Flickr On Babies and more | Breastfeeding can hurt but it shouldn't hurt (I) and (II), why many children don't get well in the chest, how to prevent and heal nipple cracks

Video: 18 Nipple Pain (March 2024).