OBJECTIVE: To examine various comfort measures and evaluate their effects in alleviating nipple soreness. DESIGN: Prospectively randomized, experimental study. SETTING: Postpartum unit of a community teaching hospital. PATIENTS: Seventy-three primiparous, postpartum, breastfeeding women. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups, with all women receiving instruction about breastfeeding and using one of the following treatments: warm moist tea bag compress, warm water compress, expressed milk massaged into the nipple and areola and air dried, instruction only (control group). The subjects completed a questionnaire each morning for 7 days regarding nipple soreness. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Effect of treatments on postpartum nipple pain. RESULTS: Subjects in the warm water compress group demonstrated significantly less pain on Day 3 than did the tea or breast milk group. CONCLUSIONS: Anticipatory guidance by obstetric nurses may assist breastfeeding women in treating their pain nonpharmacologically.
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Buchko et al. (1994) studied this question.
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