Lynn Shea notes that she has seen mothers with inverted nipples that when
everted in the course of starting breastfeeding, became raw, and were
treated with Lansinoh.
I followed one case of this about three years ago. Mother had 'dimpled'
nipples, but the dimples were almost like smiles, and when everted there was
an area of about 1 cm across at the tip of each nipple, with no skin.
Surprisingly it was not painful to feed. She used shells - real shells,
from limpets! with those conical shells, found along the Norwegian coast and
an old folk remedy for sore nipples from generations ago - to keep her
nipples everted and bathed in milk between feeds, and applied anhydrous
lanolin in small amounts frequently to keep from forming scabs. The idea
was to allow epitheliazation of the skinless area, and avoid repeated
traumatic removal of dried scabs, which she had experienced in her first
course of BF, which lasted about 10 days and included a fulminant mastitis,
just a couple of years earlier.
She started with the shells and the lanolin the first week post partum.
Latch was fine and production exemplary, baby thriving and mother just
incredulous that it was working. Didn't hear from her again until 3 months
later, when she phoned to say she had just retired the limpet shells to the
shelf, had stopped the lanolin a couple of days earlier, and was pleased to
report that she had 'perfect nipples covered with normal skin', and was
loving BF. She'd set herself a goal of 3 months, not wanting to be to
ambitious after a very painful failure the first time. By then she was just
getting into the fun and easy part of it so decided to stick with it til 6
months. Next time I saw her the baby was a year old and they were both
still enjoying BF. I don't know when she weaned.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
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