How to choose nipple creams during pregnancy
4 min readWritten by Arjun KR
We glorify motherhood a lot. There is a concept among us that mothers can do anything and can bear everything for their children. Although this is true in a way sometimes you just don’t have to bear all the pain. Nipple Creams can successfully reduce the pain your nipples get from constant breastfeeding. It can make your nipples more tender and moisturized and give you a soothing breastfeeding experience.
What are Nipple creams used for?
Nipple cream has the same purpose as all the other creams. It moisturizes the skin and heals any crack or roughness. But it is specially formulated for nipples. So, you can use nipple cream to:
- Soften and heal the skin around your nipples.
- Reduce sores, cracks, and itchiness caused by breastfeeding.
- Cure dry, painful, and bleeding nipple tips.
- Prepare your breasts for breastfeeding while pregnant.
- You can also use some multipurpose nipple creams as lip balms, skin moisturizers, or even as a diaper cream for your baby.
How can a nipple cream help?
Nipple cream is a yellow, thick, ointment-based cream made especially for the sensitive skin of the areola area. Nipple cream contains soothing and rejuvenating properties to give you comfort from pain and cure nipple cracks easily. Traditionally nipple creams are made of lanolin. But now nipple cream brands prefer using natural healing and moisturizing ingredients like coconut, milk, shea butter, etc. So, nipple creams will help to cure dry, painful, sore nipples.
When to use a nipple cream?
You can use nipple cream at any time of the day. But you will have to apply it in between breastfeeding.
If your baby Sleeps long at night, then you can apply it before sleep. The more often you use nipple cream the more quickly your nipples will heal.
Women suffer from nipple soreness, dryness, pain, and nipple cracks during the first few weeks of breastfeeding. So, use nipple cream during this time.
Also, you can use nipple creams if your baby bites the nipple while breastfeeding after teething.
What should you consider when buying nipple cream?
Before buying nipple cream you need to keep these in mind:
- The fragrance of the cream: Avoid nipple Cream with a flashy smell. Your baby may not like the rough smell of nipple cream while breastfeeding. So, choose odourless or mild smelling nipple creams.
- Ingredients of the cream: Check the ingredient box of the nipple cream before buying. The ingredients should be organic and the product should be paraben-free.
- Numbing properties: Some nipple creams offer numbing effects to reduce the pain. But this can be harmful to your baby and can even numb the lips or mouth of the baby while breastfeeding. So, choose a normal nipple cream or nipple balm without numbing properties.
- Texture: Don’t choose very thick and grainy textured nipple cream as you will have difficulty applying it. Oil-based nipple cream is also not great in terms of leaving oil stains on your clothes and innerwear.
- Allergens: Check out the ingredients list to see if there are any hypoallergenic ingredients in it or not. If yes then it is wise to avoid it. If you are allergic to any ingredient present in that nipple cream, avoid it.
Benefits of using Nipple creams
There are many benefits of using nipple cream. These creams
- Make your nipple soft
- Reduce pain
- Heal the cracks and cuts on nipples
- Cure roughness and dryness
Besides these benefits for nipple care, nipple cream can serve many other purposes like
- Soothing itchy stretch marks
- Providing relief from burns, minor cuts, and skin abrasions
- Curing cracked heels
- Working as a moisturizer
- Treating eczema
Do Nipple creams have any side effects?
There are reasons why we advise you to remove nipple cream before breastfeeding. This is because the adverse effect of the nipple is quite serious for your infant. These are
- Ingredients like chlorphenesin relax the skeletal muscle and can slow down the nervous system and cause respiratory issues like slow and shallow breathing in babies.
- Nipple cream can cause vomiting and diarrhoea in babies. If this continues, then it will cause dehydration.
- Creams containing chlorphenesin can cause skin problems like dermatitis in women. This will worsen the situation.
So always use the nipple cream your doctor suggests.
Tips for Nipple cream usage
Here are some tips and restrictions you must follow while using nipple cream
- Put a generous amount of the nipple cream when you can let it there for the longest time.
- You can pump some breastmilk in the feeding bottle before applying nipple balm so that you can keep it for a long time.
- Though most of the nipple creams claim to be safe for the baby and that you can keep the nipple cream while breastfeeding, we advise you not to do that.
- To wipe the cream, away you can use soft tissue paper or wipes. You can clean the area with water after that.
- Apply nipple cream again once you finish breastfeeding.
- If you feel that your baby is not liking (showing discomfort and unlatching repeatedly, making weird facial expressions or crying, etc.) the smell of the nipple cream, then don’t use it again.
So, nipple cream can serve you more than just soothe your nipples, it works as an excellent moisturiser too. You just need to make sure to buy an organic product. Choose the one with less smell so that your baby doesn’t feel any difference while breastfeeding. Nothing should come in your way of breastfeeding your baby. Ask your doctor to get some suggestions and follow our tips to get only the goodness of the nipple cream.
Arjun KR,
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