The nipple can be massaged to help blood flow return to reduce pain, as well as avoiding cold. In some instances, heart medication, nifedipine, is used to help the blood flow return to the nipple. Infant health problems
Infants with classic galactosemia cannot digest lactose and therefore cannot benefit from breast milk. Breastfeeding might harm the baby also if the mother has untreated pulmonary tuberculosis, is taking certain medications that suppress the immune system. has HIV, or uses potentially harmful substances such as cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. Other than cases of acute poisoning, no environmental contaminant has been found to cause more harm to infants than lack of breastfeeding. Although heavy metals such as mercury are dispersed throughout the environment and are of concern to the nursing infant, the neurodevelopmental benefits of human milk tend to override the potential adverse effects of neurotoxicants. Weak sucking reflex
Artificial teats (nipples) or dummies (pacifiers) can suppress the sucking reflex in infants. In addition, when a baby is put to the breast for shorter periods of time, milk production decreases. The time spent sucking by the infant on the pacifier or artificial teat reduces the time on the breast. The CDC also currently (2022) reports that early use of pacifiers can have a negative outcome on the success of breastfeeding and they suggest that it should be delayed until breastfeeding is firmly established. Transmission of infection
Tuberculosis
It is not safe for mothers with active, untreated tuberculosis to breastfeed until they are no longer contagious.
In 1996 UNAIDS issued a recommendation that women in developing countries consider the risks and benefits of each feeding practice on an individual level; they recommended women make an informed choice about infant feeding. In the days before the AIDS epidemic was clearly understood, some researchers pointed to the need to increase breastfeeding rates and pointed to the risks of formula feeding, citing increased rates of marasmus and diarrhea. D Jelliffe and E Jelliffe also criticized the marketing of infant formulas by US companies to resource-poor countries, something they termed "comerciogenic malnutrition." A more recent article from 1992 describes how the health of an infant can be compromised by water, which in many resource-poor countries holds the risk of environmental pathogens that are not present in breastmilk. Transmission of drugs and toxins
Medications
The vast majority of over the counter and prescription medicines are compatible with breastfeeding, but there are some that might be passed onto the child through the milk. Tobacco smoke
If one does continue tobacco smoking after giving birth, however, it is still more beneficial to breastfeed than to completely avoid this practice altogether. There is evidence that breastfeeding offers protection against many infectious diseases, especially diarrhea. Even in babies exposed to the harmful effects of nicotine through breast milk, the likelihood of acute respiratory illness is significantly diminished when compared to infants whose mothers smoked but were formula fed. Regardless, the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of nicotine exposure.