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I’m eight months pregnant and just finally decided to give breastfeeding my child a go. Problem? I had pierced nipples.Well, I still have them, as the holes have not closed up.
I was told once by a piercer when I was going to get them double-pierced that the piercings were done semi-low and I might have problems with it in the future. I asked my OB and he said he’s not really had any experience with this and that I shouldn’t have problems.
I wanted to know if any offbeat mamas out there had REAL advice on the subject. Is there something I wouldn’t think of I need to do? Or not to do? HELP!
I took mine out the last weeks of pregnancy, breastfed until each kid was 6 months old with out them in. put them back and nursed without complications until each kid was 2yrs+. I’m sure it would have been fine with them the whole time but I was afraid of causing any soft palette issues.
I’m doing it right now. Mine were pierced 8 years ago. I’ve had no problems.
I had one pierced nipple (jewelry removed a few years prior to breastfeeding) and one unpierced. I was able to successfully BF from both sides with absolutely no problems. I think the spray was even more forceful in the side that was pierced 🙂 My sister also bf’d after piercings and her piercing didn’t close. I obviously had some scar tissue but it seemed that some of the friction from bf’ing reduced that and now my nipple looks much more similar to the unpierced one. Bonus!
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has a lot of good information about nipple piercings and how to manage the holes while nursing. You will do awesome! Congratulations!!
Yes, you can! Fed the toddly folk both for a year.
I took the rings out when I found out I was pregnant whith Mini Me.
(mental note: time to put them back in 🙂
Just chiming in with another “I had my nips pierced and had a great breastfeeding relationship with my baby” comment.
No issues at all. 🙂
Congrats!
If you have problems with clogged ducts (I did…took my piercings out 6 months pregnant), take lecithin as a supplement. It solved the problem for me. Good luck!
I had pierced nipples for 10 years before giving birth last September. 9 months later I am still breast feeding without issue. I think for me it hurt a little bit more because of some scar tissue on my nipples, but I got use to it after a few weeks. Breast feeding is hard with or without piercings. You may have a little extra leakage from the holes, but nothing that can’t be controlled.
Good Luck!
From an article on the Le Leche League website –
Several lactation consultants interviewed for this article said that breastfeeding problems were often observed in women who did not remove nipple jewelry before nursing. These difficulties included poor latch, babies frequently coming on and off the breast, slurping, gagging and milk leaking from the baby’s mouth. Once the nipple jewelry was removed the problems stopped. In contrast, Elisabeth Speller tells of a nurse who had her nipples pierced and breastfed while wearing nipple rings.
http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvjunjul99p64.html
I went to a Rocky Horror Picture Show, and there was a best breast contest. The winner had pierced lactating nipples and she was able to spray the first couple rows!
Oh my… I wish I wasn’t able to say this but I can fully relate
OHHHMYYY!!! that is amazing….i’m not 100% if i would have LOVED to see that…or have been grossed out…hahah but either way…that truly is awesome!!!
I had both of mine pierced, and am still breastfeeding my 18 month old. No issues at all, except the occasional side-nipple leakage.
I took mine out long before I got pregnant and I’d say they’re about half closed, I’ve had no issues. A friend had hers REpierced a year or two before having her daughter, and had some difficulty with built up scar tissue impeding flow, but if you’ve had generally healthy piercing sites I wouldn’t give it another thought. (She was still able to exclusively nurse, btw, using only one side.)
Yes you can nurse. I did! But I of course took the piercings out a few months before baby come. The piercing holes leaked a bit and definitely gave more milk. But totally doable! Good luck!
I was able to so I am sure you will be able to too. The one problem I had is that I had overactive let down and because of the scaring on my nipple not all of my milk ducts were able to release milk. The ones that did were forced to make up the difference and with all the pressure built up behind them they are like geysers on my chest. It took my daughter a while to learn how to handle the left breast but now that she is able to she perfers it over the other. It’s good for her lazy periods as it does most of the work for her.
From what Ive always understood its best to take them out because its a choking hazard.
I had nipple piercings until my third trimester. I took them out when they got too sore. I’ve been breastfeeding for nine months now with no probs. I wouldn’t worry about it! I know my piercer breastfed after having hers done as well. 🙂
Yup you totally can – my breast with the nipple piercing actually had more effective milk than my other one:)
I removed mine late pregnancy. When my 8.5 month old gets distracted while feeding it can make quite a mess because it shoots out the holes during my let down! I look like lawn sprinkler!
I exclusively (no bottle) nursed my daughter for 16 months and I while I didn’t have my piercings in my holes were still open and basically your milk comes out of every hole. It’s actually kind of cool! Your kiddo will learn to latch properly (sometimes this doesn’t happen right away so be patient!) and once he/she ‘gets’ it the little dude will nurse like a champ and your extra holes won’t matter. Good luck and congrats!
Thanks so much guys, I asked the same question last week! And I’m very relieved to hear that even if the pierced side doesn’t work that the other should!
You will have no trouble when it comes to having had nipple piercings. I had my nipples pierced on two different occasions. . . creating four holes in my poor nipples! I breastfed with no hassle with my son. I plan on having no hassle with my daughter that’s on the way!
I think the only thing to have any worry about is milk supply! There are plenty of things to help with that as well.
Good luck : )
I had large nipple piercings (4gauge) for years and years and took them out when I was about 4 months pregnant with my first babe. They were irritating with my breasts being so tender – however, I had not ONE issue breastfeeding whatsoever. I don’t know anything about breast feeding with piercings in, probably not a good idea, and you probably won’t want to – but in my experience- the piercing itself did not damage milk ducts or effect my breastfeeding in any way.
You can TOTALLY nurse no problem, you would have to have some seriously wicked scarification of your nips for them to not work. They are like a sprinkler head, except yours have 2 extra holes! I had my nipples pierced for 4 years before breastfeeding and I have been happily feeding my daughter via-da-boob for 17 months!
ps. i definitely removed my jewelry before birth. I think that is just instinctual.
I had mine done and I have been ebf for 15 months and going strong. it wont effect your production, you just will have more holes for milk to come out. wear breastpads until your supply regulates and it wont be an issue. your baby will thank you for the fast easy flow and it could actually make bfing easier!