Good morning, people.  I worked with a woman who scalded her right breast
and got a 2nd-degree burn about the size of a quarter below her nipple on
the areola.  She's nursing a 3-1/2 month old.

The ER MD prescribed bacitracin ointment to the site twice a day, and gave
her gauze to cover the site.  I talked with her about creative positioning,
attempting to feed with gauze in place, and if intolerable, she may need to
manually express or pump until the site is healed (about 1 week,
hopefully).  The mother also said she would wash the site prior to nursing
without the gauze.

I had looked in Hale and couldn't find bacitracin.  I checked the archives
and the posts there said not to breastfeed if the mother was taking
bacitracin systemically due to the risk of nephrotoxicity in the infant.
What about the infant coming into a small amount of topical bacitracin
while breastfeeding?  Is this a problem?

Thanks for your help on this.

Wanda Mertick, RN, MN, IBCLC
Port Matilda, PA

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