A good number of years ago, I got both nipples pierced on a bit of a whim. A friend of mine had one of hers done and was going back for the second and I went along as a support person. By the time we left the shop, we both had bilateral nipple piercings.
Another friend of mine, who has a single nipple pierced , asked me a little while ago what I was going to do about breastfeeding. I replied that as far as I know, my nipples work fine and I will go ahead and breastfeed normally if it all works out. She was surprised at this as the piercer who did her nipple had told her there was a high chance of breastfeeding problems related to scar tissue with pierced nipples.
Today I was reading this article about a woman who chose, for medical reasons, to formula feed her baby and the feelings of guilt she had associated with that decision...there are just so many people who will judge you based on your parenting decisions without knowing your whole story. That article got me back to thinking about my own options with breastfeeding.
I visited the La Leche League NZ website for more information. Through a bit of clicking, I came to an article entitled Nipple Piercing: Is It Compatible with Breastfeeding? According to this, there is no evidence that nipple piercing should compromise a woman's ability to breastfeed. There are many reasons not to get pierced anywhere while you are pregnant and the article does mention those quite a lot but I am not in that situation as my piercings are pre-existing. Of course, it also mentions that when you are breastfeeding, piercing jewelry should be removed due to the danger of infant choking and damage to the gums, tongue and soft palate of your baby. Mothers who do not remove jewelry while breastfeeding may experience poor latch, babies frequently coming on and off the breast, slurping, gagging and milk leaking from the baby's mouth but once the nipple jewelry is removed the problems stop.
So, this settles it for me. Onwards and upwards with my original plan to try breastfeeding normally and hope everything works out for the best. I will remove the jewelry while feeding, replacing it at intervals so the holes don't close over, and replace the rings for good once I'm finished with breastfeeding.
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