Evidence Based Guideline Using to Alleviate Traumatic Nipple among Nursing Mothers

Abstract

Abstract: A comparative intervention study aimed to evaluate the effect of evidence based guideline for alleviating traumatic nipple among nursing mothers. The study was conducted at the Postnatal Maternity Unit & outpatient family planning clinic at Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital. Through purposive technique, 150 women were included in the study, based on the following criteria: newly nursing mothers medically diagnosed for traumatic nipples with different degrees, healthy women with healthy infants. Data were collected through three tools: a structured interview sheet developed to collect mothers’ data and practices related to breast feeding; Visual Analogue Scale conducted to assess pre/post intervention nipple pain; and Nipple Trauma Score (NTS) conducted to assess pre/post intervention traumatic nipple, in addition to Arabic evidence based guideline. The results of the study showed that all mothers suffered from different degrees of traumatic nipple, most of the mothers had poor practices related to breastfeeding and didn’t have any reaction toward nipple trauma. The results indicated positive effect of evidence based guideline on mothers’ practices & degree of traumatic nipple and also showed that lanolin, tea bag compresses and expressed breast milk had the same effect of relieving nipple trauma. The study came up with the following recommendations: developing a counseling program for women during pregnancy and immediate postpartum period about prevention and treatment of traumatic nipple; conducting further prior research to determine the relation between pregnancy preparation for lactation & the occurrence of nipple trauma.