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HELP!: Deep cut from my daughter biting...doesn't seem to be healing

post #1 of 10
9/20/11 at 9:53am
Thread Starter 

 

My 9 month old sunk her bottom teeth into my right nipple 2 weeks ago and it doesn't seem to be healing.  I'm writing out of desperation because I just pumped and my right nipple is bleeding.  The cut is pretty deep.  I resorted to putting Neosporin on it at night but the ointment dries the cut out so when I go to nurse in the morning the cut cracks open again.  It is only painful when I pump and when just the first few minutes of nursing when my daughter is feeding.  It really stings at these moments.  I have also applied Lanolin which helps with the stinging because it fills in the exposed cut, but it doesn't seem to be helping with the healing.  Everything I find online make the bites seem superficial, but mine is pretty deep.  I'm also favoring my left breast because the right hurts so the right isn't producing as much milk.

 

I just don't know what to do.  Please help.

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post #2 of 10
9/20/11 at 6:55pm
Thread Starter 

Anybody?...

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post #3 of 10
9/20/11 at 7:16pm

Raw honey would heal it up but you might not want to give honey to such a young baby and washing it off before nursing will only hurt you more.

 

Have you been putting your  milk in the cut?  I've healed cuts with kombucha scoby...

 

If it's really so deep that it's not healing, you may want to have a professional take a look at it.

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post #4 of 10
9/20/11 at 7:19pm

Put breast milk on it, let it air dry also. If it's really bad, maybe you could try nursing with a nipple shield until it heals up.

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post #5 of 10
9/20/11 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 

Thank you both for your responses.  I really do appreciate it.  I have tried letting breast milk dry on it, but I think my bra tends to rub the milk off throughout the day.  

 

The nipple shield is such a clever idea.  It brings me relief to just think of having a bit of a protective layer between me and suction.  Is it possible to use one to pump as well?

 

Thank you so much.  I'll let you know how things progress.

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post #6 of 10
9/21/11 at 2:11pm

I just posted this in another thread, but might help you too:

 

All Purpose Nipple Ointment. You may need a prescription to get it (not sure), but if you have local groups (LLL or a local lactation consultant) they would know how to go about getting it. 

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post #7 of 10
10/14/11 at 9:00pm
Thread Starter 

Thank you all for your help.  The nipple shield made nursing a lot less painful, but it only worked once.  My daughter would just scream anytime I tried using it afterwards and would go for the other breast that was working overtime.  It hasn't fully healed just yet but it is coming along and I wanted to share my weird little step-by-step cure.

 

1.  Nurse with uninjured side and just give the injured breast a rest.

2.  Apply Aveeno with Calamine to the nipple to relieve any itching and burning.  This brought great relief.  I tried neosporin before the Aveeno cream but the neosporin didn't really help.  Because the cut was so deep, I also applied a bandaid over the nipple to hold it down.  I realized that every time it started healing, the cut would re-open whenever the nipple hardened. This also helped quite a bit. 

3.  When injured side starts to feel engorged, I expressed milk into a bottle by massaging.

4.  The cut has pretty much healed over but is still sensitive to suction and can sometimes bleed when I pump so I apply lasinloh to the nipple and then use it to adhere a small piece of kleenex that covers the wound.  Then I just put the pump shield over the tissued nipple.  Pumping is a lot less painful because the piece of kleenex eliminates any friction that comes from rubbing during pumping.

 

Hope this helps someone else out there as I felt a little helpless when I was searching for tips on how to encourage the bite to heal.

 

 

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post #8 of 10
10/14/11 at 10:23pm
I'm going to second Anna phor and recommend APNO, I've got decent cracked and bleeding nipples at the moment, and have been using it for exactly a day and a half, and already the smaller lacerations are healing. The bm is a great recommendation for less severe cuts, I found that when all I used was bm I had that whole dry-then-crack-and-bleed-again thing happen every time which I really feel has slowed the healing process. Seriously, the APNO and some ibuprofen...magic combo!!
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post #9 of 10
10/14/11 at 10:52pm
Thread Starter 

Has anyone used the homemade version?  Curious how it worked.

Found the recipe on this blog:  http://frugalbabytips.blogspot.com/2009/02/mom-clothering-all-purpose-nipple.html

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post #10 of 10
10/14/11 at 10:58pm
Thread Starter 

I just found this thread, but it is a short thread.  Has anyone tried this OTC version of the APNO?

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/688816/anyone-know-how-to-make-apno-from-otc-drugs

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