{"id":327723,"date":"2025-08-06T16:07:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T20:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=327723"},"modified":"2025-10-01T13:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T17:21:10","slug":"sore-or-cracked-nipples-2","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sore or cracked nipples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not uncommon to get off to a rocky start in the first few weeks of breastfeeding. It\u2019s a new experience and skill for your baby (and it may be for you too). One of the most frequent challenges parents experience is the pain that comes with sore or cracked nipples.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why do sore or cracked nipples happen?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most nipple pain and soreness happen when a baby is latched on or positioned improperly, which compresses the nipple in uncomfortable ways. In an ideal latch, the nipple is moving and compressed against the soft back part of the mouth by the baby\u2019s tongue. While everyone is still learning, often the latch is too shallow, and the nipple is rubbed against the hard part of the baby\u2019s mouth (or palate) over and over again. Nipple pain can also be caused by physical issues like a tongue or lip-tie, a short tongue, or a very recessed jaw. Flattened, wedged, or white nipples at the end of a feeding are additional physical signs of an improper latch. Thrush or other infections of the breast can also cause nipple pain at any point in your feeding journey.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can I treat painful or cracked nipples?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re concerned that a shallow latch or other physical issue might be causing nipple pain or soreness, the first thing to do is get support. Professional lactation consultants and peer breastfeeding supporters are two excellent places to start. They can work with you and your baby through alternative holds, positions for feeding, or ways of latching on. Sometimes even small changes can make a world of difference. An experienced professional can also help with referral if advanced support for physical or mechanical challenges is needed.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many nipple creams and lotions available, both over the counter and by prescription. The best remedy may be a little closer to home! Expressing a small amount of breastmilk and leaving this on your nipples to air dry is likely just as healing&nbsp; as any cream or lotion. Some creams and lotions may actually increase the risk of mastitis (whatever you use, be sure to apply with clean hands). Washing or soaking your nipples isn\u2019t necessary, but if you have open wounds your provider may have specific wound care support for you. Again, the best treatment for any nipple pain or soreness is working on a successful latch.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re unable to get a successful and pain free latch, you may be pumping to maintain supply and feed your baby. Or perhaps you chose pumping from the get-go! Pumping is not a one-size fits all feeding method. Pump flanges need to be sized correctly, and suction levels that are right for you are also important. Without the right tools, pumping can cause nipple damage and soreness just like directly breastfeeding can. Not every breastfeeding professional is a pumping expert, but there are many who can help to guide and support you on your pumping journey.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, your Ovia lactation experts are here to help. While nipple pain and soreness might be really common to experience at some point in your feeding journey, we want to make sure you get the personalized support and information you need to troubleshoot and feel better. Being pain free can make all the difference in a sustainable breastfeeding experience.<\/span><b>&nbsp;<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jahaan Marten. \u201cNipple Pain: Causes, Treatments, and Remedies.\u201d\u00a0<em>Leaven<\/em>. 36(1): 10-11. Web. February-March 2000.<\/div><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mayo Clinic Staff. \u201cBreast-feeding tips: What new moms need to know.\u201d\u00a0<em>Mayo Clinic<\/em>. Mayo Clinic, November 23 2016.<\/div><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><div style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBreast-feeding questions.\u201d\u00a0<em>HealthyChildren<\/em>. American Academy of Pediatrics.<\/div><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cSore or cracked nipples when breastfeeding.\u201d\u00a0<em>NHS Choices<\/em>. Gov.UK. March 20 2014.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most nipple pain and soreness from breastfeeding ends after the first few days or weeks, but in some cases, a new mom-and-baby breastfeeding team needs a little extra help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":237455,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ovia_author_name":"","ovia_author_prefix":"","ovia_author_image":"","ovia_content_type_id":"242","ovia_product_mode":"2","ovia_days_from_signup":"","ovia_days_from_lmp":"","ovia_days_from_baby_birth":"","ovia_days_from_enroll":"","ovia_health_module_days_from":"","ovia_article_for_email_days_from":"","ovia_health_module":"158","ovia_legacy_id2":"","ovia_ttc":"","ovia_article_subtype":"","ovia_health_symptom":"","ovia_partner_id":"","ovia_partner_custom_group":"","ovia_legacy_category":"","ovia_legacy_category2":"","ovia_content_url_id":"327723","ovia_include_share_buttons":"","ovia_fertility_goal":"4","ovia_secondary_module":"","ovia_trimester":"","ovia_child_age":"","ovia_share_image":"","ovia_more_menu_image":"","ovia_button1_url":"","ovia_days_from_postpartum":"8","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"fert-category":[20132],"preg-category":[],"parent-category":[],"fert-tag":[],"preg-tag":[],"parent-tag":[],"class_list":["post-327723","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fert-category-breastfeeding-support"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sore or cracked nipples - Ovia Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sore or cracked nipples - Ovia Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most nipple pain and soreness from breastfeeding ends after the first few days or weeks, but in some cases, a new mom-and-baby breastfeeding team needs a little extra help.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ovia Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-01T17:21:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Grace Pfister\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aca213ce8c75444c4827cbb6e3afb3ff\"},\"headline\":\"Sore or cracked nipples\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-06T20:07:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-01T17:21:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":616,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\",\"name\":\"Sore or cracked nipples - Ovia Health\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-06T20:07:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-01T17:21:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sore or cracked nipples\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"description\":\"Digital health personalized for every family journey\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"width\":507,\"height\":112,\"caption\":\"Ovia Health\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aca213ce8c75444c4827cbb6e3afb3ff\",\"name\":\"Grace Pfister\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0965adbf7a42fb359caaac0a26a456751ffec6a7428da58b56acac00eaaf559?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0965adbf7a42fb359caaac0a26a456751ffec6a7428da58b56acac00eaaf559?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Grace Pfister\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sore or cracked nipples - Ovia Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sore or cracked nipples - Ovia Health","og_description":"Most nipple pain and soreness from breastfeeding ends after the first few days or weeks, but in some cases, a new mom-and-baby breastfeeding team needs a little extra help.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/","og_site_name":"Ovia Health","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","article_modified_time":"2025-10-01T17:21:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@OviaHealth","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Grace Pfister","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aca213ce8c75444c4827cbb6e3afb3ff"},"headline":"Sore or cracked nipples","datePublished":"2025-08-06T20:07:23+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-01T17:21:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/"},"wordCount":616,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/","name":"Sore or cracked nipples - Ovia Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-06T20:07:23+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-01T17:21:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100634.jpg","width":600,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/327723\/sore-or-cracked-nipples-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sore or cracked nipples"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","name":"Ovia Health","description":"Digital health personalized for every family journey","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization","name":"Ovia Health","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","width":507,"height":112,"caption":"Ovia Health"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/aca213ce8c75444c4827cbb6e3afb3ff","name":"Grace Pfister","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0965adbf7a42fb359caaac0a26a456751ffec6a7428da58b56acac00eaaf559?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a0965adbf7a42fb359caaac0a26a456751ffec6a7428da58b56acac00eaaf559?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Grace Pfister"}}]}},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":327723,"es":327725},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/327723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/327723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327724,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/327723\/revisions\/327724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fert-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-category?post=327723"},{"taxonomy":"preg-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-category?post=327723"},{"taxonomy":"parent-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-category?post=327723"},{"taxonomy":"fert-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-tag?post=327723"},{"taxonomy":"preg-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-tag?post=327723"},{"taxonomy":"parent-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-tag?post=327723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}