Boob Woes

Another topic that is uncomfortable to talk about, but I will share my experience in an effort to provide some other new mom comfort. Have you ever had a plugged duct in your breast? This can happen now and again when you are a breast-feeding mom and it has happened to me several times. It hadn't happened in months though....

It is painful. For me, it begins with pain in the nipple when the baby is feeding. Then I notice a lump develops in the breast that is hard and tender to the touch. There may also be some redness in the affected area. It hurts when the baby nurses.

The first time it happened to me I was nervous. I didn't know what was going on and I thought I was going to need to go to the doctor. It’s scary to have pain in your breast. So, as I do with everything, I googled it. That’s when I learned about plugged ducts.

So what is a plugged duct exactly?
Well, just what it sounds like. Your breast has ducts that lead from the milk making cells to the nipple. If there is a blockage along one of the ducts, you have a plugged duct in your breast. There are a number of things that can contribute to getting a plugged duct. I think for me it was an ill-fitting bra, the baby rushing feedings (not getting the milk out) and sleeping in a position that my boob didn’t like! I didn’t have all of this happen at once, I don’t think, but these items have contributed to my troubles. It happened more frequently when my son began sleeping through the night and not feeding so often. Engorgement was another issue. It also occurred when we were on the road and he was to distracted to complete full feedings.

What can you do about a plugged duct? I searched long and hard for the remedy. Dr. Sears has a good summary page. It pretty much encompasses everything that I do. The most important thing to do is to continue nursing – as much as you can and baby will allow. It might be painful, it is necessary to get the mild out and flowing. Its kind of a good hurt. You know, that feeling of ‘it hurts but I know it’s to make me feel better’ (kind of like a good work out!). When the baby doesn’t want to eat, pump. I pumped a lot. I pumped probably more than was necessary but I was thinking, “make this damn thing go away already” and so I pumped and pumped and pumped.

Heat also worked well for me. Some say moist heat, but what I did was put rice in a sock and heated it in the microwave. Aside from the dog wanting to eat it, it worked really well! It was compact enough where I could get the heat on the exact spot that was hurting and I just pressed down toward the nipple. Sometimes I even put the heat on the lump while pumping. Massaging the breast is also recommended. I liked combining this with the heat therapy.

Many people recommend getting as much rest as you can. One person suggested staying in bed all day, if you can, and just nursing. I like that idea, and when my son was little I could justify doing this. I can’t even imagine it now though! It’s hard enough to get him to focus on eating without wanting to crawl all over the place! Seriously though, rest is important.

So yeah, the end of this week was a bummer. I had myself one of these plugged ducts, which I had not experienced in months. It was especially hard on me because I don’t do much resting anymore. I don’t nap when the baby does and I have been working out a lot. I skipped my stroller strides class because I know I am supposed to rest and I don’t think that using resistance bands and doing a bunch of arm exercises would help my situation. So that bummed me out. The baby also didn’t want to nurse very often. He is so much more interested in traveling around the house than eating these days. This meant I had to pump more. The thing is, the pump doesn’t work as well as the baby at expressing your milk, so when I was pumping, I wasn’t getting enough out of my breast. So frustrating. So frustrating in fact, I even tried expressing milk with my hands (milking myself as my husband so eloquently put it when he walked in on me)! I know now though that it will go away. Within a day or two it will go away. ***If it doesn’t go away and you have other symptoms of illness, see your doctor. You may have an infection and you don’t want to let it go untreated. *** So this time around I tried not to focus on it too much. I rested when I could. I didn’t nap when my son did, but I did watch a movie! I left the housework unfinished for a day and I am finally feeling better. I can still feel the tenderness but its not so bad. It is not so scary once you know what the heck is going on. It does bring me down though so I am happy to be moving forward.