Cracked Nipple Gash Stitches? Ideas?

[christyc]

Anyone here ever have a nipple crack get so bad and so deep that it required stitches?

I'm nursing twin toddlers, and thanks to a thrush infection that is taking forever to clear up, I now have GIANT, deep cracks (more like gashes) under the protrusions of BOTH of my nipples. We're on meds and APNO and I have no doubt the thrush will be gone completely in less than a week. In the mean time, I've been pumping only for a week now to give the boobies a chance to heal.

Problem is, they aren't healing closed, KWIM? Kind of like they're healing, but opened. Will they ever get back to normal that way? If after a few days it's still not closing and we were to go back to nursing, would it just get worse again? Is it possible that it's deep enough to need stitches to heal fully? How can I get the healing speeded up without fostering more thrush issues?

I'd love some BTDT advice.

[alegna]

I had gashes like that with dd. One nipple was between 2/3 and 3/4 of the way around.

They healed (I also nursed through- didn't pump at all)

I expect the thrush is making things worse. I was eternally grateful that I avoided that one.

good luck!

-Angela

[MelW]

Ouch! I had gashes like that with a bout of teething and thrush. Pumping actually made mine worse. What I did was nurse on one side and hand express the other for about 24 hours while it healed. And used all tricks in the anti-thrush arsenal, plus vigilant latching and no sidelying nursing (which was when the latch was particularly bad). Then I switched sides for the next 24 hours. But I only had one toddler to nurse, so I don't know if this helps you..

I had to switch back and forth for a few days, but it gave each nipple the "rest" it needed to heal. At the time I wondered if I would need stitches, or if my nipple might just fall off

[3daughters]

I've also been there. My second dd did a number on my nipples when she was a newborn. I ended up pumping until the gashes were 2/3 closed which took about 2 weeks. I had a singleton so I was able to nurse on the less injured breast for one feed and bottle feed my expressed milk at the next feed. After one side healed I let the other side heal.

[NinaD]

I also had gashes like you described. They were nipple fissures, and one was so severe that I had to hand express only for a couple of weeks because even the pump opened it up. I took my baby COMPLETELY off that breast.

Common advice is just to "nurse through it" no matter what it is. Sometimes that isn't the right advice. Hand expression won't stretch your nipple out and if you wear nipple shells your body should begin to heal quickly. I only needed to do this until the wound wasn't so raw and then with another few weeks it really now looks "filled-in."

If you're really not seeing any improvement, consider hand expression. I think I'd still be dealing with my nipple fissure had I not gone this route.

Good luck. I know it stinks.