Facts About Female Breast

To prevent sore and cracked nipples, rub the nipples with a mixture of pure lemon juice and olive oil throughout pregnancy.

Whilst nursing add a few drops of essential oil of geranium to a pot of cold cream and soothe the nipples with this.

Honey mixed with Olive oil or Lanolin (thick tacky fat available with dispensing stores or druggists, has a softening and moisturizing effect and is a good skin food) is used to anoint cracked nipples.

Lanolin rubbed into the nipples soothes and softens but before using make sure you are not allergic to it.

Crack and Fissure in the Nipple
The difference between a crack and fissure is very little. A fissure is generally at the base of the nipple and is often very painful and may ooze blood. It may become infected if the baby has thrush in its mouth. In case a mother suffers from a fissure she may have to keep the baby off the breasts for a couple of day till the fissure heals. In case of a crack, a mother does not have to take the baby off the breast.

You must keep in mind the following precautions to prevent cracked or sore nipples:

• Just wash your breasts with plain water and keep the nipples dry in between the feeds. If these are not kept dry, they tend to become care. Therefore, do not soak nipples in water.
• Do not clean the nipples with soap, as this leads to cracking.
• If you experience the problem of leakage of milk, then absorb this leakage with a piece of clean cloth or cut a piece of cloth cut from a nappy, keep in the cups of your bra and change this as required.
• Always wear a clean bra.
• Clean your nipples after feeding.
• Expose the nipples to air for some time every day.
• Apply cream or oil to keep the nipples soft and supple. Do not use mustard oil, since it is irritating. Make sure to wash the cream or oil from nipples before you breast-feed.
• Apply cream or oil during the pregnancy, even though greasy material is produced during pregnancy which keeps the nipples supple.

Continue breast-feeding even if nipples are sore or cracked. Try to feed the baby from the less painful nipple first so that it does not hurt too much during feeding. By the time you have finished, the milk may start to drain from the other side and breasts will become soft, allowing the baby to feed without suckling too hard. Express milk from your breasts to take tension away and prevent aggressive and painful suckling by the hungry baby. Remember, pain can be reduced and healing promoted by paying attention to the way you breast-feed. Make sure that the areola is in the baby’s mouth so that the baby cannot bite or chew at the nipples. Change your position every time you feed the baby so that the baby does not suckle at the nipple continuously in one position and make it sorer. Feed the child in such a position that the child is unable to pull the nipple. Do not remove the crusts of dried milk from a sore or a cracked nipple since this can worsen the situation. Occasionally blood oozing from the sore or cracked nipples may be swallowed by the baby, but it will not harm in baby in any way. If the problem is very severe then consult the doctor, who may suggest exposure to a sun-lump and application of an antiseptic cream. Exposure of nipples to air for some time every day would help in the healing process.

The treatment of a fissure is the same as for a cracked or a sore nipple. Remember, the fissure may be considered more painful and you may have to use a nipple shield when you resume the baby on a breast-feed. Make sure that the nipple shield is clean.