Nipple Piercings While Breastfeeding

[dreamastarr22]

Alright, so I am an individual with quite a few piercings. Most of which are facial piercings that I am slowly growing sick of and taking out for good. I had had my nipple pierced back in May of 2014. I was told by the shop owner that it would take anywhere between 6 months-9 months for the piercing to completely heal.

Being someone with experience with keeping piercings, I realize that even after the piercing is healed, that they still can heal over in a matter of minutes once the jewelry is removed.

I am currently 5 1/2 months pregnant, but have definite plans to breastfeed my child. I was just curious if any other mothers are in the same situation. My doctor assured me that I could keep the jewelry in, just as long as I removed it during feeding. I have concerns that the piercing may not be fully healed by the time that I give birth and could cause some problems with not only me, but the baby as well.

Can anyone help me with this? I am completely lost.​

 

[noon_child]

Breast milk is a great antibiotic so I doubt you'd get any infections from feeding. However the hormones involved and then the constant feeding can mean your nipples get extremely tender so I'm not sure I'd want to be constantly taking out and putting back a piercing (I've only experienced ear, nose and lip though).

I'd just play it by ear if I were you and if it seems like it is healing over and is painful to put back in I'd just let it heal and get it re-pierced once you have stopped breastfeeding. If it causes no issues then you can go on as normal.

 

[misspriss]

I fully intended to take my jewelry out and put it back in at every feed....i tried once and just left them out after. Mine were well healed (7-8 years) I have not tied jewelry back in them yet and it has been almost 2 years...

 

[ishvisahaani]

I googled this topic and read an article about Nipple Piercings While Breastfeeding. Read this once https://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/qa/pierced-nipples

 

[LunarSpoon]

Both of mine were pierced and had been so for about 2 years before I got pregnant. I chose to remove the jewelry around 5 months pregnant due my boobs swelling and the piercings becoming a bit of nuisance. I have successfully breastfed my son for the past 7 months and once he is weaned (probably another 5-6 months,) I will have my nipples re-pierced. It is so much easier than trying to remove your jewelry everytime LO wants to eat, especially at night when all you want to do is whip a boob out and go back to bed!

 

[SarahBear]

You might not want my advice because I don't have piercings like that. I have, however, nursed a newborn. I'd honestly advise that you just let them heal over and consider re-piercing when you're done having nursing children. Consider trying to nurse a baby in the middle of the night. Do you want to fumble with jewelery or just pop a nipple in a mouth?

Another thing to consider is feeding in public. I can see that being a bit of an issue if you have to remove and replace jewelery.

 

[Kirsty3051]

I guess it depends on how committed you are to keeping the piercings. My newborn went through stages where he just wanted to feed constantly. I'd have maybe a 10-20 minute break and then he wanted to feed again. I definitely wouldn't want to be faffing around with piercings in between nursing.