- Home |
- Blog |
- Contact Us |
- Consumer site
EARLY DAYS
INFO FOR PARENTS -
Store Locator
Find a local stockist
Enter a Postcode / Town to find the nearest store.
Related Links
Latest News
THE USE OF LANOLIN IN HELPING TO TREAT SORE AND CRACKED NIPPLES IN BREASTFEEDING WOMEN
Breastfeeding is a learnt skill and up to 90% of breastfeeding women experience sore and cracked nipples to some degree. Most often, the cause is positioning and attachment of the baby at the breast, and midwives, health visitors and breastfeeding counsellors are best placed to offer help and support with this.
Applying expressed breastmilk (EBM) is often recommended for mothers with sore nipples. However, a recent study concluded that:
… HPA lanolin, combined with breastfeeding education, was more effective than EBM, combined with breastfeeding education, in reducing nipple pain and promoting healing of nipple trauma.
"Skin Pharmacology and Physiology;" Positive Effect of HPA Lanolin versus Expressed Breastmilk on Painful and Damaged Nipples during Lactation; Abou Dakn et al; 2010
The full study can be read free online: please click here
WHAT IS LANOLIN ?
Lanolin has been used for over 8,000 years. The ancient Egyptians used to put blocks of it on their head, to melt in the sun, resulting in soft, smooth skin. Directions for its use appear in medical and pharmaceutical texts throughout the last 2,000 years. The term lanolin comes from the Latin lana for wool and oleum for oil, although chemically it is a wax rather than oil. It is produced from the secretions of the sebaceous glands of sheep, and protects the fleece against rain and other elements.
Lanolin comes from the fleece of sheep after shearing. No harm comes to the sheep in extracting lanolin. One hundred pounds of wool yield about two to four pounds of lanolin. It is a natural and renewable raw material, not a processed synthetic compound.
Lanolin is not a generic material. There are many refinements of lanolin, ranging from a very crude grade used to coat machine parts to the ultrapure medical grade lanolin called Lansinoh HPA® Lanolin. Lansinoh HPA® Lanolin is more highly purified than any other lanolin nipple cream available. Our unique proprietary process selectively filters out colour and odour forming impurities. Unlike other lanolins, the refining process is performed at low temperatures without any bleaching, and is gentle and 100% natural. Lansinoh HPA® Lanolin contains no added water, no chemicals and no perfume, and does not need to be removed before breastfeeding.
ARE SOME PEOPLE ALLERGIC TO LANOLIN ?
Although it is rare, lanolin allergy does exist. The allergen responsible for lanolin sensitivity is present in the free alcohol portion of the lanolin. Our unique process reduces the free lanolin alcohol proportion to below 1.5%, to eliminate the risk of reactions. By refining to this level clinicians were unable to elicit a single allergic response in lanolin sensitive patients (Clark). Sin is the Latin for without and OH is the chemical symbol for alcohol, hence lan-sin-oh, lanolin without alcohol. Other grades of medical lanolin are only able to guarantee a free lanolin alcohol proportion of below 6%.
What is commonly referred to as a wool allergy is most often a contact dermatitis or surface skin reaction to dyes in the wool fibre or the fibre itself. There is no scientific proof that sensitivity to wool means one will have a reaction to lanolin.
DOES LANOLIN CONTAIN PESTICIDES AND DETERGENTS ?
Sheep are dipped in pesticides during their life to protect them from various insects and diseases. Some of these pesticides remain on the fleece in the wool grease that will become lanolin. Lansinoh only uses the best quality wool grease, with low levels of pesticides. The Lansinoh process further removes pesticides and other chemicals. Lansinoh is tested for over 40 individual pesticides. We guarantee maximum levels of only 1 PPM (part per million) total pesticides.
The fleece is washed with detergents during processing to separate the wool wax, which leaves detergent residues. Lansinoh HPA® Lanolin is further refined until the detergent residues are guaranteed to be below 0.05%, a level which ensures no allergic reactions in lanolin sensitive patients.
DOES LANOLIN CONTAIN PRESERVATIVES ?
When a wax or fat is in contact with air it can oxidise and become rancid. Many lanolin products contain BHT - butylated hydroxytoluene – used as an antioxidant to increase shelf-life. There is widespread concern over the use of BHT and it is not permitted in any form of baby food. Lansinoh HPA® Lanolin does not contain BHT – our manufacturing process produces an equally stable product, without the need for added preservatives.
IS IT SAFE FOR BABIES ?
Lansinoh nipple cream does not need to be removed before breastfeeding: it is 100% pure hypoallergenic HPA® lanolin and has:
- no smell
- no taste
- no preservatives
- no antioxidants or other additives
Lansinoh HPA® Lanolin is the only lanolin, and the only nipple cream, to have been awarded the British Allergy Foundation Seal of Approval.
Lanolin is an effective moisture barrier and helps to provide a moist wound healing environment.
The principle of moist wound healing is that skin is rehydrated from within, speeding healing without the formation of a scab or crust.
An important additional benefit of moist healing is that it offers immediate pain relief, an urgent need for any mother with sore nipples. Though the mechanism is unclear, it is thought that the frequent application of a moisture barrier protects the wound from external stimuli and maintains a more normal environment for exposed nerve endings within the skin (Mann-Mertz P. 1990).
strong
