Of the many things that took me by surprise in the first year of motherhood, I have to say the difficulty of breastfeeding topped my list. With a newborn who refused to latch and nipples that were literally bleeding, I had a rough start. And it really didn’t get much easier. I switched to formula a few months into the whole motherhood thing and never looked back.
But, before I did that, I gave my best shot at breastfeeding, which included the aforementioned pain and discomfort that left me frantically texting my mom friends something along the lines of, “WTF?”
Proper latch and technique makes a huge difference in a painless breastfeeding experience (which I happily had with my second baby), but I have to respectfully disagree with anyone who says that breastfeeding should never hurt. In my experience at least, as your nipples adjust to such frequent use, they’re bound to get a little chapped and perhaps even cracked.
Source: @dom.creates via #sharetheeverymom
And that’s where the right nipple cream can make all of the difference between shooting pains up your spine as your baby latches onto your boob and minor temporary soreness as your body adjusts to feeding another human, at least for the first few weeks.
The right nipple cream can make all of the difference between shooting pains up your spine as your baby latches onto your boob and minor temporary soreness as your body adjusts to feeding another human, at least for the first few weeks.
Enter: Earth Mama Organic Nipple Butter. It’s non-GMO, lanolin-free, and made without petroleum or parabens—so you don’t have to wash it off before feeding your baby. When I was breastfeeding the second time around, I used this after every nursing session both preventatively and to ease discomfort when it happened.
I credit this cream with making my second breastfeeding experience exponentially better, in addition to a baby who was just easier to breastfeed (all kids are different). It soothed my soreness and prevented some of the painful cracking so many of us experience in those first few weeks. I tried other brands, including a prescription-based nipple cream from my doctor, and this is the only one I recommend to all my new mama friends who breastfeed.
Hands down, this is worth buying if you’re planning to breastfeed. Shop it below.
Read More: I Formula-Fed One Child and Breastfed the Other—This Is What I Learned
