What to consider before buying a Nipple Cream

Why use nipple cream?

best nipple cream

If you are new to breastfeeding, chances are you are looking for nipple cream. Your nipples can become damaged and sore from improper positioning and bad attachment to a breast pump. If you get sore or cracked nipples often, nipple creams are very good at helping to overcome all of this. They help create a barrier on your nipples and the moisture from the cream prevents pain and speeds up the healing process.

There are quite a lot of nipple creams on the market that it becomes difficult to hone in on a particular brand, especially if you have never tried them before. You should ideally look for creams with baby-safe ingredients, have good performance, have an easy application process, be nice thick and dissolves at room temperature, and have a nice scent at reasonable prices.

In general, you should avoid nipple creams with alcohol, anesthetics, chemicals, and ones that feel and look cheap. Some of the best nipple creams are made with lanolin, also known as wool wax. Lanolin protects the skin against the environment and is used as an ointment and topical lubricant. You can also look for organic nipple creams that are pesticide free and contain no additives or preservatives.

What to consider when buying the Best Nipple Cream – A Buying Guide

best nipple cream

After you go through the process of pregnancy, you should be ready to move on to the next step: parenting and breastfeeding. Unfortunately, breastfeeding doesn’t always go its way, as you may experience discomfort or pain. Fortunately, the best nipple cream can help soothe these pains. Nipple pain normally happens after your milk supply drastically increases and when your baby does not know how to latch on properly. Sometimes you can experience pain during feeding or soreness afterward that can last for a week after. So how do we go about fixing this problem?

There are some preventative measures such as teaching your baby how to latch on properly, getting your baby to cram more breasts into his or her mouth, correcting the position of your baby’s tongue, trying different breastfeeding positions, padding your nipples, and breaking the suction before taking your baby off of your breasts. If you already have sore nipples, you can try to numb your nipples, moisturize them when not in use and apply the best nipple cream to them. Please see below for some more tips on picking a nipple cream for your needs.

Application of Nipple Cream

Generally, you should be looking for nipple creams that are easy to apply and don’t leave a greasy mess. The cream should be thick and dissolve readily when rubbed on your fingers. You should be able to rub a nice and even layer on your nipples with it clumping up.

Scent

You should definitely consider the smell of the nipple cream, both for yourself and for your baby. If for some reason your baby hates the smell, you won’t be able to get your baby anywhere close to breastfeeding. The scent is more important for the baby than it is for you.

Ingredients

Make sure you use nipple cream that has baby-safe ingredients. If definitely don’t want your baby to be exposed to something he or she is allergic to. Also, if the nipple cream contains alcohol, it could dry out your skin and make your nipples hurt even more, so avoid alcohol at all costs. Also, be on the lookout for chemicals that could irritate your skin, and avoid any creams that contain petroleum. Finally, we would avoid any creams with anesthetic agents as numbing your nipples is generally not a good idea. It is better to just use a bag of ice rather than chemicals to numb them if you really feel the need.

Lanolin in Nipple Cream

Many nipple creams are based on lanolin or some lanolin derivative. We are a big fan of lanolin-based creams as they seem to work very well and some doctors swear by it. There have been studies showing that lanolin-based nipple creams outperform other creams in terms of healing powers. When you apply lanolin to your broken skin, it triggers a process called moist wound healing, which creates a barrier to protect your nerve endings and lets your wounds heal without scabbing. This is perfect for the nipples as they are a very sensitive area.

Lanolin is made from sheep sweat and comes in wax form. It is an animal product and 100% natural. It may contain some pesticides that remove parasites during the process of extracting a sheep’s wool. If you have any kind of allergies to sheep products or pesticides, we definitely recommend against using this product.

References

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6168189/

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