It is often found that women who have given birth recently suffer from sore nipples, when they breastfeed their newborn babies. You may panic and worry about your or your baby’s health. In reality, there is no need to worry because sore nipples are not a very serious problem and can be tackled with simple home remedies.
Sore nipples could be caused because of blockage in the milk ducts or breast engorgement or mastitis. Though painful, first two are harmless and you can treat them without much fuss using some simple home remedies.
Home Remedies For Sore Nipples
Warm Compress
When there is blockage in your milk ducts, then you might feel some heaviness and tenderness in your entire breast or both breasts along with the nipple. The pain might be a lot, but you can be rest assured that you will not get fever and breastfeeding your baby is completely safe.
Before breastfeeding, you can apply a warm compress to your breast & nipples to ease the pain somewhat. Hold it for some time using slight pressure on the breasts and then breastfeed. You could apply warm compresses between breastfeeding sessions too.
Fresh Milk
When the nipple is cracked and hurting, you could try applying freshly expressed milk from your other breast. This heals cracked nipples as well as prevents bacterial infection. If you have a yeast infection, you should avoid this remedy because human milk provides excellent ground for yeast to multiply.
Coconut Oil
Applying coconut oil or olive oil on the nipples will also help relieve soreness of nipples. Oil forms a layer on your skin and keeps the natural moisture of the skin trapped. Therefore, your nipples will heal faster. Some fresh cream applied on the sore nipples will also do the trick.
Ice Cubes
Wrap a few pieces of ice cubes in a cloth and place them on the affected region for about two to three minutes. Repeat this process for at least three times in a day, which will bring relief to you.
Basil Leaf Paste
You can take some basil leaves and make a paste by crushing them well. Applying this paste on the nipples will help reduce soreness as well as tackle infections, as basil has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Remember to wash off the paste before breastfeeding.
Aloe Vera
You need fresh aloe vera leaves for this. After removing the thorns and outer skin of a leaf, you can extract the gel like substance from it. Applying this gel on sore nipples will give you comfort from soreness. You must wash this off before breastfeeding your baby.
Other Remedies For Sore Nipples
Drying your nipples after every breastfeeding session is very important to help reduce soreness. While bathing, use only very mild soap on your breasts and nipples. Also, use a mild lotion and apply in light strokes. Check your breastfeeding position as wrong position is also a possible cause of sore nipples.
If your breasts are engorged due to excess supply of milk, which is stored in your breasts and making them heavy, you must express the milk by either breastfeeding your baby frequently or pumping the milk out into bottles. If the soreness is because of mastitis, you must consult a doctor because it is a bacterial infection and you should refrain from breastfeeding your baby unless you are completely cured of the infection.
Caution: Please use Remedies after Proper Research and Guidance. You accept that you are following any advice at your own risk and will properly research or consult healthcare professional.
