Cracked, sore nipples

[anarchamom]

From birth my little one never had a problem with latching, and only once did I have a cracked nipple that healed within a few days with some shea butter. Now he is 15 months old, and for the last month (maybe longer) my nipples have been cracked, red, and sore almost constantly. I cannot seem to get them to heal completely. I want to keep breastfeeding, but it is so painful most of the time. Sometimes one breast will be doing okay so I'll give the other one a break for a couple of days, and then the good one will start getting bad again. Neither one will heal completely, i.e. no cracks or redness.

I tried shea butter for a while with no success. I switched to lanolin which does help much more, but I'm still not totally healing. 

I've tried to work with him to make sure his latch is good. I make him open his mouth really big before he gets the boob. He is kind of teethy sometimes though when he nurses, and I can't seem to stop this. He bites occasionally, but I don't think this is the problem. 

This on top of all of the other toddler breastfeeding antics.

I'm at a loss. I'm frustrated and exhausted, but I want to keep nursing, and so does he (of course)

Any advice is appreciated.

[Ruby2]

Dr. Newman's nipple ointment! I can't recommend it enough. I had the same problem a month or so ago with my 15 month old dd. I was beside myself trying to figure out what was going on. I read about the nipple ointment on this site and got my midwife to write me a prescription. My pain decreased significantly in 24 hours and was completely gone in 3 days. I stopped using the ointment at that point and have been pain-free since then. 

[anarchamom]

Ruby--thanks for the suggestion. In a roundabout way I did get a prescription for this ointment. I didn't suggest it, my doctor found the information herself and recommended it. This saved me the awkwardness of saying "Can you prescribe me this thing I found on the internet?" I'd have asked my midwife to do it, and she would have, but she is in another state. :( 

I had to wait a week for the ointment to be compounded for me, but I got it yesterday. I think I'm seeing improvement. 

I was very happy that my doctor did not scold me for continuing to breastfeed my 15 month-old. She just helped me with no questions asked.

[Ruby2]

Oh so glad you got some! Hopefully by now it's helping. I hear you about the doctor's opinion on nursing...what a stupid society we live in where we have to worry about that.

[anarchamom]

I am feeling so much better. In fact, I think I'm completely healed! I haven't nursed without pain in almost 2 months. It's almost strange because I still flinch a little right before he latches on. I'm so happy to be better. Thanks so much for the encouragement and recommendation. I'm going to tell everyone about the all-purpose cream too.