IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v12y2015i10p12247-12263d56524.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nipple Pain in Breastfeeding Mothers: Incidence, Causes and Treatments

Author

Listed:
  • Jacqueline C. Kent

    (School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia)

  • Elizabeth Ashton

    (Breast Feeding Centre of WA, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, 374 Bagot Rd, Subiaco WA 6008, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Catherine M. Hardwick

    (Breast Feeding Centre of WA, King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women, 374 Bagot Rd, Subiaco WA 6008, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Marnie K. Rowan

    (School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Elisa S. Chia

    (School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Kyle A. Fairclough

    (School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Lalitha L. Menon

    (School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Courtney Scott

    (School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Georgia Mather-McCaw

    (School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Katherine Navarro

    (School of Medicine and Pharmacology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Donna T. Geddes

    (School of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

Background : Persistent nipple pain is one of the most common reasons given by mothers for ceasing exclusive breastfeeding. We aimed to determine the frequency of nipple pain as a reason for consultation, the most common attributed aetiologies, and the effectiveness of the advice and treatment given. Methods : All consultations at the Breast Feeding Centre of Western Australia (WA) were audited over two six-month periods in 2011 ( n = 469) and 2014 ( n = 708). Attributed cause(s) of nipple pain, microbiology results, treatment(s) advised, and resolution of pain were recorded. Results : Nipple pain was one of the reasons for consultation in 36% of cases. The most common attributed cause of nipple pain was incorrect positioning and attachment, followed by tongue tie, infection, palatal anomaly, flat or inverted nipples, mastitis, and vasospasm. Advice included correction of positioning and attachment, use of a nipple shield, resting the nipples and expressing breastmilk, frenotomy, oral antibiotics, topical treatments, and cold or warm compresses. Pain was resolving or resolved in 57% of cases after 18 days (range 2–110). Conclusion : The multiple attributed causes of nipple pain, possibly as a result of a cascade of events, suggests that effective early lactation management for prevention of nipple pain and early diagnosis and effective treatment are crucial to avoid early weaning.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacqueline C. Kent & Elizabeth Ashton & Catherine M. Hardwick & Marnie K. Rowan & Elisa S. Chia & Kyle A. Fairclough & Lalitha L. Menon & Courtney Scott & Georgia Mather-McCaw & Katherine Navarro & Do, 2015. "Nipple Pain in Breastfeeding Mothers: Incidence, Causes and Treatments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:10:p:12247-12263:d:56524
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/10/12247/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/10/12247/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ellia Christinne Lima França & Lucas Carvalho Aragão Albuquerque & Roberta Lopes de Castro Martinelli & Ilda Machado Fiuza Gonçalves & Cejana Baiocchi Souza & Maria Alves Barbosa, 2020. "Surface Electromyographic Analysis of the Suprahyoid Muscles in Infants Based on Lingual Frenulum Attachment during Breastfeeding," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-12, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:12:y:2015:i:10:p:12247-12263:d:56524. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.