I am the mother of four wonderful children. I was very lucky with my pregnancies as all of them were easy and uneventful. But my first breastfeeding experience is another story. Be forewarned that the details of my experience are not for the faint of heart however there is a happy ending.
When my first child was born I had no idea that we would struggle with breastfeeding. It wasn’t that she couldn’t latch on or that she wasn’t interested, on the contrary, she latched on hard and sucked with gusto. In just a day or two my nipples became very sore. And soon they were cracking and bleeding. My nipples became covered in tiny scabs. It got to be so bad that I would dread having to feed her because I knew when she latched on she would suck the scabs off and the pain would be awful. Not to mention my horror at the thought of my beautiful baby girl drinking scabs and blood along with her milk!
It was an awful experience and one that I hoped would not be repeated with my second child. The day after I gave birth to my second child I was in the hospital and a nurse came to check on me. When she asked me how the breastfeeding was going I told her that it was fine but that I was worried I would have to suffer through the agony I had previously experienced. She said that I needed teabags. I remember thinking “why would drinking tea help with this?” and she must have seen my puzzled look as she quickly explained that the teabags should be placed on my nipples and the tannin in the tea would “toughen up” the nipples.
She went to get the teabags and some very warm water. When she got back to my room she dipped the teabags in the water and then squeezed most of the water out of them. She told me to place them in my bra against my nipples with a breast pad to hold the teabag in place. She said I should do this for 15 minutes twice a day for a week. I was willing to try anything and I am so glad I took her advice. The teabags worked like a charm. I didn’t suffer any soreness let alone any cracking or bleeding.
When I was expecting my third and fourth child I started the teabag regime about a week before my due date. Again the teabags worked their magic and I had no problems with sore nipples. Obviously I wish I had known about this little secret with my first child but at least I am able to share this information with future mothers in hopes of making their first breastfeeding experience a wonderful one.
