Your nipples are cracked. Feeding hurts more than you expected. A friend (or maybe a corner of Instagram) has just mentioned silver nursing cups. They're small, shiny, and apparently everyone in your mum group has a pair. But what are they, and do you really need one?

The first few weeks of breastfeeding can bring real discomfort, especially while you and baby are still learning to latch well. If you're already in pain, silver nursing cups might help. They can ease some of that while you work on your latch.

What are silver nursing cups

Silver nursing cups are small, dome-shaped covers worn over the nipple between feedings. They protect cracked or broken skin from rubbing against clothes or breast pads while it heals. The enclosed dome also traps a small amount of moisture from your own milk against the skin, which supports healing better than letting the area dry out and scab over.

Silver has been used in wound care for a long time, though most of that research is about wounds in general, not breastfeeding specifically.

A closer look at the studies

Only a few studies have looked directly at silver nursing cups. Just two appear in published research, and both are small.

A small 2015 study of 40 mothers found faster pain relief and healing with silver cups compared to usual care, with no side effects reported. Promising, but too small on its own to be conclusive. A larger 2025 study also found less nipple damage and better healing with silver cups, though it compared mothers to a past patient group rather than one treated at the same time, which makes the comparison less reliable.

Two small studies isn't enough to say silver cups definitely work,  but it's enough to say they're safe to try. Whether you use them or skip them to save the money, either is a reasonable call.

What the major guidelines say

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine lists silver cups as one option for nipple damage, alongside things like medical-grade honey and hydrogel breast pads. So it’s certainly reasonable to try, but not a strong recommendation. More importantly, breastfeeding guidelines consistently point to the same things: get your latch and positioning checked by someone skilled in breastfeeding support, keep removing milk often, and find out what's actually causing the damage.

99.9% or 92.5%?

Silver nursing cups are usually made from either sterling silver (92.5% silver) or fine silver (99–99.9%), and sellers often say the purer option works better. So far, no published study has directly compared the two, so there's no proof that purer silver gives better pain relief or faster healing. If you like a higher-purity cup, that's ok. Just know the extra cost reflects preference more than proven medical benefit.

Using them well

A few things apply no matter the brand. Wear them only between feedings, not while breastfeeding, and clean them as the manufacturer says. Watch your nipples for any increase in pain, discharge, or other signs that things aren't improving. Some brands recommend placing a few drops of your own expressed milk into the cup before wearing it, which supports the moist-healing effect described earlier. Check your specific manufacturer's instructions, since practices vary by brand.

Nipple pain that doesn't get better after the first week or two usually has a clear cause. This might be a shallow latch, positioning that puts uneven pressure on part of the nipple, a tongue-tie that matters, blood vessel spasms, or sometimes an infection like thrush. Fixing the latch that caused the damage is what really solves the problem.

If your pain isn't getting better, or you think it's more than normal soreness from a latch that's still learning, ask for help instead of dealing with it alone. Getting support early can stop small breastfeeding problems from becoming harder to handle.

At 13Thirteen, we provide personalised lactation counselling to help you understand what's happening, improve your baby's latch, relieve discomfort, and know when it's appropriate to seek medical care.

Sources

• Marrazzu A, Sanna MG, Dessole F, Capobianco G, Piga MD, Dessole S. Evaluation of the effectiveness of a silver-impregnated medical cap for topical treatment of nipple fissure of breastfeeding mothers. Breastfeeding Medicine. 2015;10(5):232-238. https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2014.0177
• Nakamura M, Sugimori H, Asaka Y, Ebina Y. Role of Silver Nipple Protectors in Treating Nipple Trauma: A Non-Randomized Comparative Trial. Journal of Human Lactation. 2025;41(3):382-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/08903344251342564
• Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. Clinical Protocol #26: Persistent Pain with Breastfeeding. https://abm.memberclicks.net/assets/DOCUMENTS/PROTOCOLS/26-persistent-pain-protocol-english.pdf
• World Health Organization. Guideline: Counselling of Women to Improve Breastfeeding Practices. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240032323
• NICE. Postnatal care: recommendations on breastfeeding support. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng194/chapter/recommendations