hi everybody welcome back i'm so excited to talk about a really popular topic in this week's video
i get asked so much about sore nipples so in this video we are going to talk about the top five
causes for sore nipples and what you can do about it my name is cassie reyes i am a registered nurse
and a board certified lactation consultant i'm also a co-founder of people's lactation
based in washington dc i'm so happy that you found the channel and i would love to have you
join our community so if you want to go ahead and hit the subscribe button down below give
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so i would say the number one thing that people reach out to a lactation consultant for help with
is painful latching sore nipples and problem solving around that so in this video we're going
to cover your bases on the most common causes for that soreness and what you can do about it and how
to try to avoid it so the number one reason is usually a shallow latch and this just happens
because a lot of times especially for first-time parents you have never latched a baby on before
and you may think that it's super easy and it might it is a natural process but
that doesn't mean that it's easy it's the point i'm getting to so sometimes a little
work on your technique can really help you get a huge improvement in comfort and not only comfort
for you but the deeper and better the latch the better that your baby is going to transfer milk so
i do have a video on this it's called the blotch technique and i talk all about how to
get that deep latch but some quick pointers are to make sure that you get comfortable that your
baby is comfortable and belly to belly a lot of times pointing the nipple up to your baby's nose
helps them really open their mouth wide and come up and look for the nipple like
and then making sure that your baby's mouth is
wide open before you bring them up and over the nipple can make a huge difference
in getting them on there getting a comfortable latch and having them have a more effective
latch with better milk transfer so check out that other video if you want a more of a step-by-step
guide on how to get a deeper latch every time oh the sun is just shining in to this room right now
and i hope that you guys can see me okay but i'm really enjoying this beautiful sunshine
so the second reason that a lot of people tend to get sore nipples is if you are doing any pumping
if your flange isn't fitting you correctly you could definitely be experiencing sore nipples as a
result if you take a look at this pump the flange is this cone-shaped part and when you're pumping
you want to see your nipple move freely your nipple should never be
pushing hard up against this side here it should move in and out without any problem so that is one
thing to look for if it's too tight it's going to rub kind of all the way around the base of
your nipple and you might start to notice a red ring around the base of your nipple or cracking
even bleeding so that might be a sign that your flange is too tight another thing that could cause
some soreness is if your flange is too big and it's pulling in too much of your areola the areola
itself might start to get really sore the amount of milk that you're getting out might also not be
as efficient because your flange isn't fitting properly and it's not effectively squeezing
in the right spot on your breast to be able to get that milk out so the point is make sure that
if you're in the hospital you ask your nurse or your lactation consultant to fit you for a flange
before you leave the hospital if you're already at home touch base with a lactation consultant
who can help you figure out the right size for you especially if you're already experiencing
some nipple pain pumping shouldn't hurt and if it is hurting you can turn down the suction make sure
your flange fits properly and you can even try to lubricate the nipple a little bit with a little
bit of either lanolin or coconut oil or olive oil around the either around the base of your nipple
or just line the flange with a little bit of oil before you pump once your milk starts to come in
your milk tends to come in fast and furious in the beginning and it adjusts to your baby's needs
some people do have an over supply and sometimes it stays that way but if you notice
that your baby starts out feeding well and it's comfortable and then you once your milk wets down
you notice that your baby is clamping down and it starts to get painful it just could be that
the flow of your milk when it lets down is really fast for your baby and that obviously can cause
pain because when your baby clamps down with their jaws that's not comfortable so if you're noticing
this is happening what you can do is you can use a little bit of hand expression to just get through
that first let down until you see the milk kind of slow down a little bit and then put your baby on
in a nice deep latch that can help them manage the flow a little better and may help with that pain
that you're experiencing when they're clamping down to slow the flow if you're noticing that this
is an ongoing issue and you need help managing your supply there are ways to down regulate your
supply i just really recommend working closely with the lactation consultant through that process
because you don't want to down regulate your supply so much that your supply tanks and then
you're left trying to figure out how to increase your supply again to give your baby enough milk
the fourth reason that you might have sore nipples could just have to do with previous damage or
something else going on on the surface of the nipple so if you have some cracking or soreness
from previously shallow latches you may just find some relief by changing the position when you
change the position that your baby is eating in they're gonna hit the nipple on a different spot
when they're sucking and that may help you find some relief especially if you get a deep latch
for example if you're usually doing a cross cradle hold your baby's jaws are going to be
coming across like this whereas if you switch your baby around into a football hole they're going to
be coming up and over like this so their jaws are going to kind of hit here and here instead
of here and here if you notice some whiteness on your nipple you may have either a bleb or a
little bit of thrush going on thrush can come with a little bit of crustiness a pink sore
nipple you may also notice white patches in your baby's mouth bleb may look like a little white
bubble on the tip of your nipple and that can be really uncomfortable sometimes at home you can
work through a blib with a little bit of warmth over it and just frequent feeding and you may find
that that resolves itself if not definitely reach out to a lactation consultant if you're noticing
signs of thrush a lactation consultant could also help but you may need to also talk to your ob
or another provider to be able to properly treat that thrush and in another video we can
dive into thrush some more if you're interested in the topic let me know down below and the fifth
reason that your nipples may be sore is sometimes there is an anatomy thing going on with your baby
so whether that be a tight jaw the way that they prefer to position their head because of
maybe some tightness in the neck from the delivery they may have a tongue or lip tie that they're
working through and for signs of a tongue and lip tie you can check out this video that i have on
signs that your baby may have a tongue tie these are all things that can be worked through but
definitely work with someone on them the tong-chai you would want a good care team like a lactation
consultant maybe a pediatric dentist or an ent and for any of the other neck and jaw issues even
with a tongue tie it can be helpful to work alongside with someone who does body work
or baby chiropractic work to help loosen up some of those muscles it can make a huge difference
so let me know if you've worked through any of these before let me know if you've had nipple
soreness in the past what was causing it and what you did to fix it i would love to have
you guys contribute to this conversation and be able to help out other members of the community
so if you want to stay up to date on what's going on on the channel please subscribe down below
hit the bell so you don't miss anything that i post and i will see you all next week
bye one final note is that a little bit of nipple pain is normal when your baby first latches on
that initial 30 seconds when your baby latches on and they're working the nipple from the front of
the mouth towards the back of their mouth can be a little bit more intense but a good rule of thumb
is that if it doesn't ease up after that first 30 seconds that your latch is probably not deep
enough and you want to go ahead and use your finger to break the section take baby off and
work on getting a deeper latch the second time around the latch should never feel like more
than a two to three out of 10 pain beyond that first 30 seconds so if it does you know you need
to start again and it should in general just feel like a strong pulling but not pain not biting etc