I have been helping a mother for 6 weeks. Her breastfeeding has never been pain-free, and for the last week she has rested one nipple (expressing and giving the EBM by bottle) because despite what appeared to be (to me) a good attachment, the nipple on that side remained especially sore. Tonight I watched her try the baby on this side for the first time after this week's rest. To look at, her nipple was normal, though there was a tiny 'hole' about the size of a pinprick, in the very centre. You would not notice it unless you were peering at it. The baby fed beautifully on this side and it was pain free. Then, when the baby came off, this pinprick hole was gaping - it was now about the size and depth of a large pin head and bright red raw. This part of the nipple was tender, but the rest of the nipple was fine. It struck me that this was, indeed, a very slight inverted nipple of some sort, and the inside bit lived happily enough tucked away, but when it came to being put into a baby's mouth, it didn't have an epidermis to protect it. Is this possible? Am I right? And what can the mother do to achieve healing? She is slapping on the Lansinoh, but although this seems to be doing a good job of not making it worse (there's no apparent infection there), the skin remains raw. It's just struck me that maybe it's not an inversion but a cut of some sort, that could be repaired with a little suture or a steri-strip......are these mad ideas? Heather Welford Neil NCT bfc, tutor, UK *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html