Healing Open Wounds

[TinyLynne]

Hi everyone

I have some scar tissue from nursing My first child, which appears to have been opened up when I started nursing my second. I’m talking pieces are missing from the center of my nipples. When my youngest was 5 days old he started spitting up blood clots, which I quickly realized are from my nipples. When I started pumping after 2 weeks I found I could pump without blood, but when he nurses it gets to the point where he is spitting up red, ruining his clothes, my clothes and anything else he comes across. It’s not just a little blood, like black specs in spit up or poop (happened a few times only with my first) but his poop gets straight up black. I started giving him expressed milk and his poop goes the normal orange color in a day, so I know the blood is from me. I saw 3 LCs in the hospital because his latch hurt, all said his latch looked great. I started seeing another LC since coming home who says the same thing. He transfers a good amount of milk in a short amount of time, he has gained really well, so I don’t think the latch is really the major issue. I just need these open wounds to heal!!!

I feel like I’ve tried everything: lanolin, Newman’s nipple cream, taking a break and pumping, silverettes (which seem to irritate me), a dentist who specializes in tongue and lip ties (says all looks normal as did everyone else), hydrogel pads.... oh and I tried a nipple shield which lasted 30 seconds and was a literal bloody mess. everytime I start nursing again he seems to spit up blood by the third session, of not the first.

Please if anyone has any ideas or experience with this, I am welcome to anything. I’ve spent so much money on supplies and appointments to lead to no solution. I really don’t want to exclusively pump. It is killing my sleep at night to get up, heat a bottle (while he screams) feed him and then pump and of course deal with the milk and the pump parts and bottles.

I’m desperate.

anyone else go through this? How did you resolve it?

 

[noon_child]

That sounds very painful. I recall how shocked I felt when chunks of my nipples fell of, and I was dreading every feed!

You say you don't think the latch is the problem but I really can't think what else would be causing the damage. It doesn't matter whether it "looks good" - if it feels painful and is causing damage you need some support to improve it. I feel angry on your behalf that you have paid people to help you and they have ignored your pain.

It is possible to heal cracked and bleeding nipples while breastfeeding as long as the latch is a decent one, but sometimes its easier, psychologically, to work on getting a better latch once the nipples have had a rest and completely healed - that choice is up to you. However I don't know how to get you the help you deserve around trying to work out what is going on when your baby feeds to cause such damage.

Do the wounds start to heal when you are pumping not breastfeeding? Infected wounds can fail to heal - so might be worth getting a swab done?

If your baby sucks on your finger, can you feel his tongue cup under your finger or can you feel gums 'biting'? My LO would cup with her tongue for a second or two then pull it back and use her gums, which was causing me pain. This was despite a ENT consultant saying there was no tongue tie. Luckily for me as she got bigger and stronger it was easier for her to extend her tongue and breastfeeding became painfree at 3months but I needed a lot of help tweaking my latch in the early weeks to stop my nipples falling to pieces, as we weren't getting nearly enough breast tissue in her mouth even though it "looked good" from the outside.

It's so difficult to give practical help online without being able to see what is going on. Where are you based? This might help me find you some good help although it looks like you've been doing a great job asking for help and saying something isn't right.

EDIT: Just thinking as well that if he gets lots of milk in a short amount of time it may be that you have such a plentiful supply of milk that he struggles to cope with it. This can lead to babies pulling back to slow the flow and ending up sucking on the end of the nipple rather than having a full mouth of breast (ouch!). Has anyone shown you reclined or laid back positions? These can help slow abundant milk down and also is a great position to get a deep latch. However they can be tricky to master at first so it can be confidence boosting to have people help you the first few times.

Re night time feed/pump/bottle feed/settle/wash/steralise exhaustion - I went through the same. Do you have a partner or relative who can stay for a few days/week or so who can do the bottle-feeding/settling while you pump? It's not forever, but mums need support in these early days.

 

[TinyLynne]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

It could still be the latch. But even with pumping they don’t seem to ‘heal’ even though they don’t bleed (once in a while they will a little when pumping) when I do latch lately it usually doesn’t hurt, if it does I pull him off. But even when nursing my oldest, it hurt horribly, but it didn’t bleed. It’s like he latches and it bleeds instantly. The missing pieces where the wounds are were there before the youngest was even born, he didn’t rip them off. Though he has pulled on them when he has gotten gassy.

no one has shown me any laying back techniques. In fact the LC hasn’t focused much on any latching techniques. I know, like you, it did get better after a few months with my first. But I never had to deal with all of this bleeding.

at the OB now and she is recommending a steroid cream? I’m not so sure about this. She honestly doesn’t know what she is doing. I had to ask for a swab, and she is seeing if she can even do one. ‍ I’m so lost on where to turn.

I do feel like I’m being failed. I’m in Michigan.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I'm so sorry, that sounds incredibly painful. I've breastfed my children for a long long time but I haven't been through anything like this. When they did hurt my nipples I was told to express a tiny amount of breast milk and put it on the nipples and then apply Lansinoh cream. The breast milk will contain antibodies to help with healing.
I hope that you're feeling better soon

 

[noon_child]

I’m so lost on where to turn.

I do feel like I’m being failed. I’m in Michigan.

Im not that knowledgeable about help in the USA but I found this link for La Leche League in Michigan Find a Group
I don't know if you have already tried LLL, but they helped me and so many other I know.

EDIT: steroid cream will help inflammation but if there is an infection it wont. Intraductal carcinoma (benign tumours not cancerous) can cause blood to flow out of the nipple, and I'm wondering if baby's sucking technique was irritating them it would make them bleed more than the action of a pump???

Keep following up with your doctor about infections, irritations, growths etc - the medical side of things but consider LLL for the feeding side of things, even if its just that they might have tips to help to make pumping and bottle feeding expressed milk easier.

 

[TinyLynne]

She did 2 swabs (at my request) will know results in 5-7 days. And prescribed bacitracin 3x a day in the meantime. So I started that last night. I hadn’t heard of anyone using this before, but I will try anything!

 

[noon_child]

Have you had any success contacting LLL in your area - I know you are probably wiped out with everything you are dealing with, I'm just really hoping they can help you.

 

[SummerMother]

I know your in the US but have you heard of Dr Jack All purpose Nipple cream? It may be worth looking into here.

How to Make and Use All Purpose Nipple Ointment to Treat Sore Nipples

You have to get a prescription for it though but maybe if you mention it to your care provider they can look into it too.

I have used it for my previous breastfeeding journey as I had a big split through my areaola that was sooooo painful I cried out every time I latched. Other creams just were not doing it no matter how often I applied and pumped instead of breastfed. Once I got this cream it was amazing as soon as I applied it gave me pain relief and with applying and pumping the crack started to heal in a couple days and I continued to breastfeed my baby.

 

[noon_child]

Did you ever get help with or resolve this issue?