Nipple care while breastfeeding

How do I take care of my nipples while breastfeeding?

The happiness of motherhood is often overshadowed by problems with the breast: pain, cracks, inflammation make it difficult to care for the baby. Proper breastfeeding and prevention of the most common diseases of young mothers will help to avoid this. Breast care after childbirth requires a special approach, let’s see what kind.

Breast care after childbirth: the main problems of breastfeeding

Cracks

Nipples after childbirth are exposed to active physical activity, which often results in cracks. Such a problem should not be neglected, because through mechanical damage to the nipple surface is easy to get an infection, provoking mastitis and other diseases.

To solve this problem, you first need to talk to a breastfeeding consultant, who will point out the mistakes and explain the rules of feeding, because cracked nipples after childbirth appear because of improper attachment of the baby to the breast.

There are special ointments and creams for healing wounds. Before smearing nipples damaged after childbirth, regenerating compositions, you need to feed the baby, so that the means had time to be absorbed into the skin until the next time. Advice on choosing an ointment can be obtained from a pharmacist ;an online course.

White spots on nipples

Relatively large white spots on the nipples after childbirth indicate blockage of the milk ducts. This is a very dangerous phenomenon, because it provokes stagnant milk, which in turn also entails a number of negative consequences. To cope with the blockage it is necessary to pump the milk actively or to improve feeding – if the baby is sucking properly, blockage can not happen.

Boils

When a woman has cracked nipples after childbirth, there is a high probability of formation of abscesses, or boils. An abscess looks like a pimple, which eventually fills with pus and ruptures, bringing additional discomfort.

Boils are treated with special antiseptic ointments, which are applied under a bandage.

Infant bite marks

Even if the baby has not yet had its first teeth, he may bite. He does it inadvertently, not realizing that he gives the mother painful feelings and increases the risk of getting various infections. However, even at this age, children are trainable: they can be weaned from the habit of biting. To do this, you need to focus attention on each case of biting – to tell the child in a stern voice that you can not do so. After this, wean it off the breast and put it in such a way that the baby has no opportunity to bite.

Irritation

Appears in the form of red nipples. With this problem faced by women with very sensitive skin. Help in this situation can only be properly adjusted feeding, because the irritation indicates a high risk of mechanical damage. If everything is done correctly, the redness and discomfort will soon disappear.

Prevention of nipple problems after childbirth

Breast hygiene plays an important role in maintaining health. Women who want to ensure the comfort of breastfeeding, have to use special kinds of cosmetics after childbirth: nipple cream, for example, will help in the healing of wounds received during the breastfeeding process. Gels designed specifically for breastfeeding mothers, temporarily replace soap, using which the woman risks drying out the skin and provoking cracks. Well-proven in the prevention of cracking are air baths and light massage of the breast.

The cause of various problems with nipples after childbirth can be improperly selected underwear. When breastfeeding, you should always pay attention to the quality of the material from which the bra is made. In addition, the underwear should be changed regularly – at least once a day.