Stopped: Low recruitment
Around 30 to 90 percent of all breastfeeding women suffer from painful and sore nipple lesions. Reasons for these lesions are still not completely clarified. Nevertheless, irrespective of the underlying cause, these painful nipple lesions lead to an early stop of breastfeeding, which has negative consequences for the infant as well as for the mother. Even if the painful nipple lesions do not lead to a weaning of the baby, they cause an increased psychological distress for the mother and therefore may negatively influence the mother-child relationship. Since breastfeeding is the natural and best possible type of nutrition for healthy, full term babies problems causing an early stop of breastfeeding should be addressed. The low-level laser therapy (LLLT) represents a simple and low risk treatment to change (reduce) pain and accelerate wound healing. It is supposed to improve tissue organization and should have a positive anti-inflammatory and immune modulating effect. Therefore, this therapy is more and more frequently used to also treat painful nipple lesions, although hardly any studies have been conducted. Furthermore, in women with too little mother milk, the LLLT seems to increase the milk production. The aim of this study is to investigate the positive effects of LLLT on painful and sore nipple lesions. This would justify a LLLT for women with painful nipple lesions on a wider scale, with the overall goal to reduce early stopping of breastfeeding and therefore having a positive impact on both, the child's health as well as the mother's wellbeing.
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AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Pain Reduction: visual pain scale from 1 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain)
Timeframe: though individual study completion, an average of 3 days