How to Survive Breastfeeding with Nipple Vasospasms

Breastfeeding nipple vasospams cause a lot of pain. If you are experiencing pain breastfeeding your new baby, this post is for you.
Breastfeeding is rewarding, but it can also be really hard. In our society, we don’t often see women openly breastfeeding. The ins and outs of breastfeeding still aren’t commonly discussed in mixed gender company. Few people really feel like they are “experts” on breastfeeding.
While I am NOT a lactation consultant, or certified or formally educated in postpartum care of breastfeeding, I do have experience as a breastfeeding mother who had to endure a lot more pain than I ever thought I possibly could.
And that pain was a powerful motivation for educating myself! I’m going to share what I’ve learned about nipple vasospams as someone who has experienced it.
I don’t know your medical history. I am not qualified to give medical advice, so please seek out the help of professionals if you have any concerns about your (or your baby’s) physical or mental well being.
But I hope this post will help you ask professionals good, informed questions. And I hope it will help you have courage to self advocate in this new landscape of breastfeeding that you are in.
This post is part of my breastfeeding series that I’ve put on the blog to be an encouragement to breastfeeding moms. Feel free to check out my other posts, too:
- Early Breastfeeding: 7 Tips for the First Six Weeks
- Breastfeeding the First Three Months: Tips and Resources to Flourish
- Breastfeeding Months 4-6: Benefits, Helpful Tips, and Schedules
- Breastfeeding Lifestyle: Helpful Gear and Systems to Support Life with Baby (coming soon)
This post contains some affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

My history with vasospasms:
Nipple vasospasms have been an unexpected and rather unwelcome part of my breastfeeding journey with all four of my babies.
When I gave birth to my first baby and came home from the hospital with her, I started a long journey of figuring out how to feed my baby the most “natural” way I knew while experiencing pain that seemed very, very unnatural.
As my nipple and breast pain continued long past what I understood was “expected” for first time breastfeeding with a baby who appeared to have a perfectly normal mouth, I started to desperately deep dive into the depths of google to figure out what was wrong with me.
While my midwife tried to coach me on latching the baby well, my mom urged me to get treatment for thrush, and my husband brought me painkiller and dodged my reactionary kicks when our baby latched on to my breast every 2 1/2 hours, I found this new term that I had never heard of: nipple vasospasms.
I read other women’s experiences of what was happening in their bodies as they breastfed, and I felt like I had unknowingly joined a club that I never wanted to be a part of.
But it was helpful to give my excruciating pain a name, and to learn I wasn’t alone in experiencing this really challenging hurdle to breastfeeding.
What are nipple vasospasms?
According to this excellent article by Miranda Buck et al on nipple pain and nipple vasospasms in breastfeeding mothers during the first 8 weeks of a baby’s life, “Nipple vasospasm has been described in case studies of breastfeeding women as a reduced flow of blood through the capillaries” of the nipple.
This restriction of the blood flow can be caused by compression of the nipple, trauma of the nipple, or a blood circulation syndrome called Reynaud’s Syndrome.

How do you know if you have nipple vasospasms?
Nipple vasospasms are usually extremely painful. Women describe the pain as burning or throbbing. I remember it feeling like a stabbing, throbbing pain all the way through my chest to my back.
I’ve never been stabbed with a knife, but in my mind it felt like a knife was stabbed through my chest and left there.
While my nipples were damaged and they did hurt, the vasospasm pain was deeper in my body. More in my chest cavity. And the pain started when I was breastfeeding. But it would persist after the baby was finished feeding.
It continued hurting intensely all the way until the next nursing session 2.5 to 3 hours later. The pain was so intense it kept me from sleeping.
There is also usually blanching of the nipples. The center of the nipple will be white when you unlatch the baby, or it will become white after a few minutes.
Aa common cause of nipple vasospasms is a latch that is causing the nipple to be tightly compressed. So you may notice your nipple looks flattened or has a “sharp” point on the tip of it, rather than being round.
Are nipple vasospasms common while breastfeeding?
In short, yes. Nipple vasospasms seem to be quite common in breastfeeding. Anecdotally, they seem to be a common experience particularly in early breastfeeding.
According to the article mentioned above by Buck et al, at 8 weeks after leaving the hospital with a new baby, 23% of the moms in the study were reporting that they were still experiencing nipple vasospasms. This is interesting to note in comparison to the fact that at the time of being discharged from the hospital, almost 80% of the women in the study reported nipple pain.
So, almost 1/4 of the women in the study confirmed they had nipple vasospasms at 2 months after having their baby, and presumably some of the other women (who reported nipple pain upon leaving the hospital) also had nipple vasospasms that had gotten better during the 8 weeks.
All that to say, this study indicates that at least 1 in 4 women will likely STILL experienced nipple vasospasms after 8 weeks of breastfeeding. It seems very probable to me that more than 25% of women will experience nipple vasospasms in the first 8 weeks of breastfeeding – potentially much more than 25%.

What is the difference between nipple vasospasms and thrush?
Sometimes nipple vasospasms are misdiagnosed as thrush. Thrush is a fungal overgrowth that causes the nipples to be sensitive and can cause pain. This article from the Le Leche League International’s website explains a bit more about thrush.
Essentially, though, thrush is often the diagnosis of nipple pain, without vasospasms being considered. And that can result in an anti-yeast treatment plan for mom and baby for something that wasn’t ever a yeast overgrowth to start with.
In addition to causing a pain in the nipple, thrush often includes itchy nipples, flaky skin on the nipple, and white patches on the baby’s tongue or in their mouth, according to the UK’s NHS website.
But it is important to try to diagnose your nipple pain correctly, because treatment for one will not likely be helpful if the cause is the other.
How do you treat nipple vasospasms?
There are a number of ways to treat nipple vasospasms once you know that’s what you’re dealing with.
Like the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Which is definitely true with vasospasms. So much of my advise for breastfeeding nipple vasospasms treatment has to do with preventing a nipple vasospasm attack to begin with.

Tip #1 to prevent nipple vasospasm attacks: Stay Warm
First, cold seems to exacerbate nipple vasospasms, so STAY WARM. Keep your body warm in general, and your breasts and nipples warm specifically.
Wear warm breast pads. I like bamboobies reuseable overnight breast pads because they are nice and big in diameter, and they are thicker than the normal everyday ones.
I wear them all the time, not just at night time. And I switch them out at least morning and night, and more often if they start to get wet from milk leaking.
Wear wool sweaters or down vests. I have found wool sweaters definitely do a better job keeping me warm than acrylic or even cotton. Merino wool is usually my wool of choice because it is softer and less scratchy!
I also love my down vest with a hood. Gabe bought it for me on after Christmas sales when I was pregnant with our third baby, and since that baby was born at the start of winter, I wore the vest all the time!
Keep your feet warm. I steal Gabe’s work socks a lot during the early days postpartum. They’re a wool blend and moisture wicking. I also wear warm house slippers a lot around the house.
Keep blankets handy. I like to wrap up when I’m nursing.
Dry off in the shower. I hang a towel right outside our shower door so I can slide my hand out the door, grab the towel, and pull it back into the shower unit with me to dry off without getting out and getting so cold.
Use hot pads. I keep a microwaveable hot pad on hand a lot during early nursing. Sometimes, before nursing the baby, I’ll heat it up and put it on my neck or behind my back.

Tip #2 to prevent nipple vasospasms: Consider Supplements
My experience with nipple vasospasms has gotten a lot better with my later breastfeeding journeys. I think part of that was learning how to get a better latch earlier in the process.
And I think part of it has to do with my intentionality to supplement well.
With my 3rd and 4th pregnancies and postpartums, I have been much more diligent about taking good quality vitamins daily.
Personally, as far as vitamins, I’ve used doTerra Lifelong Vitality Pack (off and on during pregnancy #1 and 2). I’ve also used Garden of Life prenatal vitamins (pregnancy #3). And I’ve taken Neolife Pro Vitality Pack as well (pregnancy #4).
Another supplement I think helped my vasospasm experience in hindsight was taking magnesium supplements. I took them religiously after baby #3 and baby #4 were born to support bowel movements and to help me get the best quality of sleep that I could.
Although I didn’t take them for vasospasms, my nipple vasospasms were better with both of those breastfeeding experiences. In reading other women’s experiences, magnesium supplementation (and vitamin B6) come up as common similarities.
I suspect magnesium helped reduce my vasospasms attacks.
Tip #3 to prevent nipple vasospasms: Get Properly Fitted Bras
Avoid bras that are too compressing. Avoid bras with seams over the nipples that may compress the nipples. And avoid bras that are too small.
My early experience with nipple vasospasms was likely compounded by bras that didn’t fit me well. I noticed immediate and significant relief when I got a four-way-stretch bra.
I highly recommend Medela brand sleep bras because of my own positive experience with them. They are basically all I wear for the first 6-8 weeks postpartum now. I know that is the stretch of time that I am most likely going to experience nipple vasospasms.
The Bravado body silk bra is also a great one with four-way-stretch technology. It’s style is less sports bra looking.

What to do when you’re experiencing a vasospasm attack:
I have found applying direct heat to my breasts to yield the quickest recovery from a vasospasm attack.
My go to strategies are:
- Get into a HOT shower and hold a small hand towel over my chest to help even out the heat.
- Heat up my microwaveable heat pad and hug it while wearing my puffy down vest.
- Put layers on my extremities (feet, head), and sip a hot cup of tea
There are also reuseable breast warmer pads that you can get. I haven’t personally used them, but they would also help get your breasts warm quickly, I believe.
What medical treatment is available?
Essentially, there are two medicalized routes of treatment for nipple vasospasms.
The first one is medication. Nifedipine 30 mg is a calcium channel blocker that is commonly used for treating high blood pressure. It is also prescribed for vasospasm treatment. It relaxes blood vessels, which ideally results in fewer vasospasm attacks.
The other medical treatment option is to address any abnormalities in the baby’s mouth. For example, a tongue tie could result in the baby not getting a deep latch. Which then results in the nipple being compressed when the baby is nursing.
So something like a tongue tie release could help the latch deepen. And the deeper latch could help avoid vasospasm attacks.

What is the outcome of having nipple vasospasms on breastfeeding?
This is going to depend on your specific situation. In most cases, though, vasospasms can get better.
If you don’t have high blood pressure or Reynaud’s Syndrome, the most common cause of nipple vasospasms while breastfeeding has to do with the baby’s latch.
Get support helping the baby learn to latch well. You will likely experience an improvement in nipple vasospasms.
In a study in Western Australia in 2011, Kent et al found that “Incorrect positioning and attachment was attributed as a contributing cause of nipple pain in 90% of cases.” Although getting the baby’s position and latch optimal might not be the only issue at hand, it certainly is worth getting an expert to help!
I highly recommend Global Health Media Projects video series on breastfeeding. This video series is extremely informative and helpful for learning how to latch a baby well.
And I also found utilizing the “flipple” technique helpful in the early weeks of breastfeeding. This technique taught me how to help get a deep latch.
The study by Kent et al mentions that working on positioning and latching were associated with mother’s reporting pain lessening or resolving within 20 days. So it isn’t an instant fix, but in the scope of a baby’s first year, it is relatively quick.
So even with nipple vasospasms, it is entirely possible that, with some corrections and adjustments, you can go on to breastfeed as long as you want with significantly reduced pain.
In my experience, the pain was lessening by 8 weeks, and by 3 months breastfeeding was almost pain free.
My final encouragement:
I hope you feel more knowledgeable about nipple vasospasms and nipple pain. And I hope you feel a sense of hope and possibility for continuing to breastfeed even if you are currently experiencing painful breastfeeding.
I know, it is really, really hard to breastfeed through pain. Only you can decide whether it is worth it.
But I would encourage you that with good support, it is entirely possible that you can resolve a painful breastfeeding situation within a few weeks. Even with nipple vasospasms.
I would love to hear from you in the comments below if you’re currently experiencing breastfeeding nipple vasospasms, and what you’re doing about it. Let me know if any of these tips and ideas have been helpful!