Breastfeeding - blocked breast?

pprendeville

Question for the ladies; Have your breasts ever become blocked? Sounds silly I know but my wife's left breast appears to be blocked. Our daughter has been drinking it for a while now but nothing is coming out. It's quite funny actually to watch as she's sucking away but gettin nothing in return and looks none too impressed. The right breast is fully functional.

We decided to use got out the breast pump and managed to take out about 5ml but no more. The thing is is that it appears fairly full as it is hard in the area over the nipple indicating there's some milk there. It's quite tender to touch as well she said so we're just a little bit worried. My wife has had a heavy cold recently and her diet appetite hasn't been as strong as usual.

Any suggestions?

Das Kitty

It's pretty common and will most likely lead to mastitis if it doesn't get sorted.

First thing I would do would be to have a hot bath and apply face cloths to the breast to warm it. Then try to hand express.

Has she ever successfully fed from that breast? My next port of call would be a lactation clinic to see if it's a latch / positioning problem on that one side. If it starts to get painful she needs to get to the doctor because it'll only get worse as the trapped milk gets older.

pprendeville

Das Kitty wrote: »

It's pretty common and will most likely lead to mastitis if it doesn't get sorted.

First thing I would do would be to have a hot bath and apply face cloths to the breast to warm it. Then try to hand express.

Has she ever successfully fed from that breast? My next port of call would be a lactation clinic to see if it's a latch / positioning problem on that one side. If it starts to get painful she needs to get to the doctor because it'll only get worse as the trapped milk gets older.

thanks for the advice. she actually had a bath tonight so she'll be happy enough about that. good idea re the warm face cloths.

plenty of successful feeds after 4.5 months of doing it. no previous problems. definitely not a latching problem. took to it like a duck to water.

Decco

There is a difference between no milk in the breast (highly unlikely) and a blocked duct - however, a blocked duct will only block one of the outlets of the breast milk.

Think of breast milk as coming out of many many holes in the nipple, each with its own channel leading to that hole. It is when one of these channels gets blocked you end up with a blocked duct. This can indeed lead to mastitis if not cleared quickly and before infection sets in from the blocked milk being left hanging around.

I don't know if we are allowed to direct users to other sites, but kellymom.com really is the best site on the internet regarding breastfeeding advice. It saved me when I was having trouble in the early days!

I worked on a blocked duct ALL night once as I knew if I got mastitis that would be the end of me breastfeeding.

Anyway, yes a warm bath is nice, but really hot and cold flannels alternating on the affected area will work just as well, if not better. Then massaging the affected area with your hand or, oddly enough, the back of a comb, towards the nipple so that the blockage is moved towards the outlet.

She should put the baby so he or she feeds with her jaw working under the affected area as that will also help the blockage to shift.

I slept with a hot water bottle under my arm and rested the affected area against it so that in the morning when I could bear to (with the help of painkillers) I massaged it and finally ridded myself of the blockage. It really, really hurt but was very satisfying all the same!

If you google blocked duct you'll get tons of better remedies than this.

However, just because one duct is blocked doesn't mean that no milk is coming out and pumping should seriously not be affected that much so I wonder if your wife's supply has suffered the 4 month dip - again, you'll find everything you need on kellymom.

She's lucky having you to support her. My hubby was great too.

pprendeville

Decco wrote: »

There is a difference between no milk in the breast (highly unlikely) and a blocked duct - however, a blocked duct will only block one of the outlets of the breast milk.

Think of breast milk as coming out of many many holes in the nipple, each with its own channel leading to that hole. It is when one of these channels gets blocked you end up with a blocked duct. This can indeed lead to mastitis if not cleared quickly and before infection sets in from the blocked milk being left hanging around.

I don't know if we are allowed to direct users to other sites, but kellymom.com really is the best site on the internet regarding breastfeeding advice. It saved me when I was having trouble in the early days!

I worked on a blocked duct ALL night once as I knew if I got mastitis that would be the end of me breastfeeding.

Anyway, yes a warm bath is nice, but really hot and cold flannels alternating on the affected area will work just as well, if not better. Then massaging the affected area with your hand or, oddly enough, the back of a comb, towards the nipple so that the blockage is moved towards the outlet.

She should put the baby so he or she feeds with her jaw working under the affected area as that will also help the blockage to shift.

I slept with a hot water bottle under my arm and rested the affected area against it so that in the morning when I could bear to (with the help of painkillers) I massaged it and finally ridded myself of the blockage. It really, really hurt but was very satisfying all the same!

If you google blocked duct you'll get tons of better remedies than this.

However, just because one duct is blocked doesn't mean that no milk is coming out and pumping should seriously not be affected that much so I wonder if your wife's supply has suffered the 4 month dip - again, you'll find everything you need on kellymom.

She's lucky having you to support her. My hubby was great too.

Hello Decco,
Thanks for that really detailed advice. Really appreciate it. Will look up that website shortly.
We were at the doctors today; himself and a nurse examined my wife. They said it’s probably mastitis and prescribed Augmentin tablets, specifically Amoxicillin and Clavulanic Acid, 1-off 3 times a day. So she’s started on these and the doc said a week should do the job. Did you get a prescription? But I’d like to do our own little bit of natural remedying as well. Sometimes the old methods are the best and I’ve just shown my wife the email and got her the comb. She has a question:
Can she feed away with the breast that’s blocked? Our daughter has been sick for the last week. She had a cold and was very stuffy in her nose and chest. She was bringing up a lot of milk after feeds when she started coughing. We’re not sure is this because the muscles in her throat aren’t strong enough to stop her from gagging when she gets a bout of coughing or whether it’s something to do with the blocked breast/mastitis? Can she feed away with that breast is the main question?
The area that’s affected is directly above the nipple perhaps in a 3cm diameter. I’m not sure how to interpret your advice in relation to the baby feeding with her jaw under the effected area. The way I see it we’d have to turn the baby upside down or else have my wife liying down and the baby facing the opposite way?
Thanks again for your help.

pprendeville

Looked up http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.html#what and got great advice on mastitis. Thanks a million. Didn't realise she needed to nurse it so frequently and empty it out as often as possible. Said that the milk of a mastitis affected breast contains more salt than normal so this might be the reason for our baby bringing back up the milk.

Not criticising you advice or anything but there was a note in relation to pointing the baby's chin toward the blocked area:

Note: Advice to point baby's chin (or nose) toward the plugged area is not necessarily going to be helpful as it is based on the idea that the milk ducts take a nice, direct route to the nipple - recent research tells us that this is not true, and that a particular duct might begin in one area of the breast but can "wander" in many different directions before terminating in any area of the nipple.

But I suppose it could do no harm anyway.

Cheers.

aniascor

I've had both a blocked duct and mastitis before. With the mastitis I took plenty of warm showers and used warm facecloths to help empty that side. I also fed baby as much as possible.

The blocked duct was different. Does your wife have a distinctive white spot on her nipple when she finishes feeding? If so then that could be the blockage. Ibuprofen helps takes down any swelling and may relieve the blockage. And a sterilized needle can be used to pierce the white spot and let the milk out. Sounds worse to do than it actually is.

Good luck!

pprendeville

aniascor wrote: »

I've had both a blocked duct and mastitis before. With the mastitis I took plenty of warm showers and used warm facecloths to help empty that side. I also fed baby as much as possible.

The blocked duct was different. Does your wife have a distinctive white spot on her nipple when she finishes feeding? If so then that could be the blockage. Ibuprofen helps takes down any swelling and may relieve the blockage. And a sterilized needle can be used to pierce the white spot and let the milk out. Sounds worse to do than it actually is.

Good luck!

Hello,

Thanks for your input. I don't think she has any white spot on her nipple after feeding. We used the hot nappy idea. Much better than the facecloth as it retains it's heat for much longer. The results were immediate. the breast wasn't half as hard as before. Our daughter drank it completely also last night so that helped as well.

Don't like the sounds of a syringe so I might keep that idea to myself. haha.

thanks.

neeb

The baby drains the ducts near her chin the best, so if you can position the baby with her chin under the blocked duct that might help clear it.

bogtotty

Decco's advice is excellent - that is what helped me out when I got a blocked duct. The blockage was quite sore and prevented let-down, which may be why your wife is getting so little milk out with the pump.

Just an add-on re colds and flu etc. If she can, get your wife to take some raw garlic each day for the next fortnight - it acts as a natural antibiotic, is completely harmless to the baby, and can really benefit bf moms in preventing mastitis (and general bugs). Also, it's a good idea to gently but firmly massage each breast towards the nipple at least once a day when feeding - it helps to keep everything free and flowing well.

PS I pmed you re your other thread - it was closed for some reason.

twomaddogs

Just a quick one on the antibiotics - they can lead to thrush, both in the baby and in the breast. Both me and DD got a very bad bout of thrush from being on antibiotics, it's not nice at all and can take ages to clear up.

Your wife can take Udo's Probiotics while on the antibiotics which are great for preventing thrush. That's all she really needs to do, although cutting back on yeast will help (if she eats a lot of bread etc). Any chemist will be able to advise , I wish I'd have known while I was taking them as it took nearly 3 months to completely clear the thrush

pprendeville

bogtotty wrote: »

Decco's advice is excellent - that is what helped me out when I got a blocked duct. The blockage was quite sore and prevented let-down, which may be why your wife is getting so little milk out with the pump.

Just an add-on re colds and flu etc. If she can, get your wife to take some raw garlic each day for the next fortnight - it acts as a natural antibiotic, is completely harmless to the baby, and can really benefit bf moms in preventing mastitis (and general bugs). Also, it's a good idea to gently but firmly massage each breast towards the nipple at least once a day when feeding - it helps to keep everything free and flowing well.

PS I pmed you re your other thread - it was closed for some reason.

That sounds like a typical Chinese medicine. I remember when I was there everyone used to eat it. Apparently it was consumee in huge amounts during the time of SARS. We do eat it a lot alright but usually cook it. Very strong to eat raw. Wonder why that other thread was closed?

laughingtoaster

hi,

i see from your other post that this is resolved now, but watch out as it could reoccur.
I had frequent problems with blocked ducts and found the best way to clear it was a hungry baby. So whenever the baby is hungriest (for us it was the middle of the night feed), put her on the breast that is blocked - even if it is not the turn for that breast.

I would strongly recommend attending a breastfeeding support group, like la leche or cuidiu ( i didn't find the phn run group much good), there should be one in your area.

http://www.cuidiu-ict.ie/frulcrum.html?ep=40&ad=17&to=0
http://www.lalecheleagueireland.com/Local%20Groups.htm

best of luck