This question is about nipples, but since this is a board all about boobs and babies, I figured I'd ask!!

Sometimes after Heidi finishes nursing, the nipple she was just on changes color, and the tip gets white. And it hurts. A bit of Googling found me this:

kellymom.com :: Nipple blanching and vasospasm

Since it turns white after she's done and not while she's nursing, I'm gonna go with it being this:

Vasospasm can be a secondary response to pain or nipple trauma (damaged nipples or thrush). In this case, the nipple(s) turns white shortly after nursing (rather than coming out of baby's mouth white and misformed). Mom might notice a white circle on the face of the nipple a few seconds to a few minutes after breastfeeding. Cold often triggers the vasospasm and/or makes it worse. Unlike blanching due to compression, latch and positioning may be fine if the source of any nipple damage has already been fixed. Healing the nipple trauma or other source of pain should eliminate the vasospasms, although they may persist for a short time after the nipple has healed (previously damaged tissue can remain sensitive for a time).

Does anyone know more about this? Heidi had Thrush about 3.5 weeks ago. I squirted Nystatin in her mouth once and it was gone. I also coated my boobs with the stuff at the same time. I don't have any symptoms of Thrush, and neither does Heidi. Could I still have it?

Heidi is tongue-tied, so her latch isn't spectacular, but it doesn't hurt to nurse (it did for the first week, which happens even with a perfect latch, IME). Could she be causing the trauma even though there's no pain?

I'd like to fix this, but I don't know how!

[starrsgirl]

Wow...I have this too...I just never knew it had a name. I'm curious to see if anyone has some helpful advice too.

[mylene169]

I think I'm having this too!! I'll nurse Kolbie and about a minute after she finishes my nipples feel like they're burning. We haven't had thrush though in the past few weeks I've had some cracking and bleeding again due to marathon comfort nursing sessions.

[andi2284]

I had vasospasms in the first few months with my first daughter. She was both tongue-tied and had thrush (we both did) so I have no idea if it was either one of those that caused it. It's been so long now, I'm not sure when it stopped either. I remember that I used to put my hand over my nipple though to try to warm them up. One thing I read was that cold can cause it, so I would try to keep them warm after she unlatched. I don't really have any advice, I can't even remember everything I read about it at the time, but I'd encourage you to do more research and see if you can come up with any helpful tips.

[lhug_nar]

I had this this past winter while I was pregnant with DS3... It only happened after DS2 nursed for 16 months. I used a rice bag that was warmed in the microwave to warm my nipples. It worked for me since the warmth made my nipples quit spasming. HTH.