Dear Lactnet Friends:

Here's a personal opinion, based on years of experience and evidence.

The Cochrane Collaborative has reviewed the evidence. Here's what they say:

​"​
Currently, there is not enough evidence to recommend any specific type of
treatment for painful nipples among breastfeeding women. These results
suggest that applying nothing or expressed breast milk may be equally or
more beneficial in the short-term experience of nipple pain than the
application of an ointment such as lanolin. One important finding in this
review was that regardless of the treatment used, for most women, nipple
pain reduced to mild levels approximately seven to 10 days' after giving
birth (postpartum).
​"

http://www.cochrane.org/CD007366/PREG_interventions-for-treating-painful-nipples-among-breastfeeding-women

​In my private practice, I have found that when women are given product in
the hospital,  they become attached to the idea of product as the cure for
sore nipples. They never fully understand that product is a bandaid, a
temporary relief measure while the cause of the sore nipples (positioning,
something not right in the baby's mouth, inflammation or infection of the
nipple skin) is needs to be addressed.

Having to use a nipple product after every feed is an absolute marker for
needing breastfeeding help.

Using her own milk is: free, safe for baby to ingest, antimicrobial,
ecological, and always available.

​Reading the ingredients on the packet of nipple cream is always
interesting. Would you put any of them on your toast? It defeats the
purpose if the cream must be washed off prior to feeding.

What do you all think?

​warmly,​
​

-- 
Nikki Lee RN, BSN, Mother of 2, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI, ANLC, CKC
Reviews Editor,* Clinical Lactation*
www.nikkileehealth.com
https://www.facebook.com/nikkileehealth
*Communications are confidential and meant only for whom they are
addressed.*

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