[libbylu]

Depending how serious the damage is. I had a crack which became a blister which became an open pussy wound on my right as well as several other smaller cracks and blisters on both sides. It was excrutiating and I don't know if I could go through it again. But it was all healed up and toughened up by 5 weeks. No issues beyond then. I think smaller problems might take a week or two, but maybe do 48 hours feed, 48 hours express, and repeat the pattern, if you can keep it up without getting mastitis, which is what happened to me when I only expressed off the damage nipple.
Most people are over the worst by 2-3 weeks.

[BadKitteh]

I actually would prefer to just keep feeding and i know what you mean about compromising feeding - poor DS was so sad by the end of the da¥ yesterday after expressing for a day he just wouldn't settle without comfort sucking on my finger (which he normally spits out). But people kept scaring me saying things like "open grazes are a source for mastitis and you really SHOULD get them healed as quickly as possible..." which was the only reason I tried to give them a break. So I'm actually quite happy to go back to taking panadol and keep feeding.

And no its not infected, but being a doctor doesn't mean much now, LOL! It's still a learned skill, no matter what theory you know!

I certainly didn't mean to imply that it would be easier for you as a Doctor, sorry if it came out that way. What I meant was you would be better at spotting symptoms and signs of infection than someone who was not a Doctor. You are a right it is a learned skill for Mum and baby, it takes time and patience.

I hope things are better for you and you're on the mend and baby is doing well.

My understanding of Mastitis is that it is infection within the ducts deep within the tissue of the breast. When a duct becomes blocked with milk if not removed out of the duct it may become infected. Grazing to nipples is different again as it is the areola and nipple that are damaged and these can become infected as well but it is not by definition Mastitis. Both are painful and require care, however, most current advice indicates that continuing to feed is best in the short and long term. (I am a volunteer for the ABA and by no means an expert but do keep up to date with the latest information).

libbylu - I agree about the blister pussy wound, I had that with DS and oh my it was nasty. The sweet relief when it popped and then the pain again until it healed. I think of this when contemplating TTC 3. By the 6 week mark it was all running smoothly with DS.

[SeaPrincess]

Thanks everyone! An up to two week timeframe I can live with

I can still remember weeping over DD as I fed her. When Mum told me 2 weeks, I thought she was insane. But she was right!

[bikingbubs]

Yup about 2 weeks for me too .... And oh boy do I remember the wincing every time he attached. Never had any problems after they healed

[~ Lucy's Mum ~]

I had the same issues early on and reckon it healed by the time bubs was 4 weeks.

My mum went to the chemist and bought me Lansinoh, Multi-Mum Compress and Hydrogel Breast Discs. All of these helped in some way and aided the healing process for me.

I still use Lansinoh when they get dry or DD has a particularly long feed.. it's kept in the nappy bag!

Good luck and hope you feel better soon.

[sigh]

I think my grazes settled down at about 4 or 5 weeks. I didn't really notice them as I had mastitis repeatedly.

[AvadaKedavra]

Thanks everyone!

I also ended up getting treated for thrush due to the burning pain after feeds - I'm still not sure if it was really thrush or just nipple pain, but anyway...

And you were all correct - four days on they are about half healed, so two weeks should do it. And they are nice and scabby so they don't hurt as much now.

Entirely incidentally - I'm not sure I believe in moist wound healing.... It's based on a 1962 paper by a zoologist named Winter who did an extremely poorly designed study involving a couple of pigs and some cellophane and found an extremely marginal increase in healing time. But it was just an observational study, it had no statistical power, and really is pretty crap. An yet has driven wound management for 50 years!

I actually found all the hydrogel dressings and Lansinoh made everything a lot more painful and macerated. I git rid of all the dressings/products on Monday and just wore a t shirt for a day, and it was all dry and scabbed over. And I'm rather fond of the scabs... I can now feed without any pain at all because the nerve endings in an open wound are protected by thick scabs. There's something to say for that! Sure it might take a day longer to 'heal' under the scabs... But in the scheme of things, that's not so bad!

[zogee]

oooh ow! you poor thing. I had a really scabby nipple on my right side and completely rested it for 4 days, (pumped exclusively) then saw an LC to check our latch before I put my son back to the breast on that side. The scab dropped off after another week maybe? I used to dry it off with a hairdryer on cool after a shower and used breast pads with lansinoh to stop it sticking to my bra.
In my case I think nipple shields contributed to my problems as my son's mouth would slip off the silicon and then chomp the end of the nipple plus the nipple ended up very soggy.
I found also that as my son grew and my nipples were drawn out more by feeding constantly the latch problems we had disappeared. I hope this is the end of your troubles too!