Nipple ointment for nursing mothers: Ökotest examined 16 products

Sore nipples
Which nipple ointment is safe for mother and child? Ökotest reveals it

When a mother breastfeeds her child, her nipples may become sore and painful. The symptoms often go away on their own, but if this doesn’t happen, a nipple ointment should help. But which one is recommended? Ökotest took a closer look at 16 products.

The good news is: None of the 16 nipple ointments tested were rated poorly – only one product scored “satisfactorily”. Six ointments even received the top rating of “very good” (including certified natural cosmetics), the remaining nine were rated “good”. The main ingredient in almost half of all nipple ointments is wool wax, also known as lanolin, while the remaining ointments used beeswax or glycerin, among other things. Below we list the test winners in detail and tell you how Ökotest examined and evaluated the products.

Nipple ointment in the (eco) test: the winners

Lansinoh Organic (certified natural cosmetics)

The nipple ointment from Lansinoh Organic contains sunflower, olive and coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter, marigold and argan oil. The product is fragrance-free and suitable for sensitive nipples.

Töpfer Mamacare (certified natural cosmetics)

The Töpfer nipple ointment Mamacare with organic marigold is tasteless and odorless, so it does not need to be removed before breastfeeding. The product is also free of animal ingredients. Available from dm.

Baby Frank

The Baby Frank Nipple ointment contains wool wax, sunflower oil and tocopherol. All ingredients are harmless to health. This makes the product also suitable for caring for sensitive nipples.

Baby love mom

The Babylove mommy time Nipple ointment also uses lanolin, sunflower and coconut oil. Fragrances and perfume as well as alcohol, preservatives, parabens and paraffins/mineral oils are not used here.

Burt’s Bees Mom

As in every Burt’s Bees product, you can also find it in the Nipple ointment mom nourishing beeswax as well as sunflower and coconut oil. According to the manufacturer, all ingredients are 100 percent natural.

Mom’s baby dream

Babydream’s Mamas nipple ointment uses lanolin, sunflower and jojoba oil. According to the manufacturer, the product can also be used to care for dry lips. Available from Rossmann.

Another care tip: To soothe irritated skin, it can be helpful to spread some breast milk on the sore nipples. It has healing properties.

This is how the nipple ointments were rated

The 16 nipple ointments tested came from drugstores, online shops and pharmacies. They all contain neither perfume nor essential oils. The ingredients were examined to find out which products contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phthalates. If water was also an ingredient, Ökotest also had the ointments analyzed for formaldehyde releasers. As far as packaging is concerned, those products that contain plastic were examined more closely: they were tested for PVC/PVDC/chlorinated compounds. Controversial ingredients such as PEG/PEG derivatives were also sought. The result is all the more pleasing that 15 of the 16 nipple ointments tested were classified as “very good” or “good”. Only one product performed slightly worse, but still received a “satisfactory” grade. You can find a list in the next section.

These nipple ointments perform “well”.

A pharmacy product was classified as “satisfactory” due to the PEG compounds it contains: Garmastan breastfeeding care. Ökotest sees the synthetically produced polyethylene glycols as critical.

Source: Eco test

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