I spoke to an amazing mother today.  She has just had her 6th baby and I was
asked to see her as she has fissures on her nipples.  The fissures are from
10 o'clock to 2 o'clock on both nipples (shaft of, not tip) and are 1mm deep
(no, I didn't use a ruler) with pink tender looking skin at their base.
They are not immediately obvious just looking at the nipple until the mother
puts a little traction on the nipple when they open up.  She said she has
had them as long as she can remember and pregnancy or not being pregnant
makes no difference to them.  She has never been able to stand any touching
of her breasts/nipples, sexual or otherwise.
In her previous lactations they have caused her considerable pain (crying
while feeding, breaking out in a sweat, dreading a feed, etc) and bleed and
open up even more.  However, she says she has made a decision to give each
baby at least 3 months of breastfeeding before she weans.  (I think she
deserves a gold medal, and I'm awfully pleased I was never put to a test
such as that)  She gets very angry with mothers who wean at the first hint
of a problem.
Good positioning is, as always, the first step.  She wasn't very interested
in expressing (I mean hand expressing, which is probably the most common
form of expressing done in Australia).  She assures me that no matter how
much pain she has to go through, she'll do it again for at least 3 months.
What a pity nipple transplants aren't possible - she could use those perfect
ones that some women possess and never want to put to their true use.  Does
anyone have any other bright ideas?
Another passing thought - the midwives on the midwife list were at one stage
talking about a type of super glue that was being used on perineums.  Does
anyone know anything about it?

Denise, RN RM BNsing IBCLC
being totally bedazzled with the variety (and number) of breastfeeding
problems encountered since starting my job in Jan.