On Plugged Milk Ducts

Owie! Ok, so I'm not sure if every nursing mom experiences this at one point or another, but I thought I had escaped. That was until today.

It is pretty common knowledge the effects of plugged milk ducts left untreated. If for some reason you don't know, a plugged duct feels like a hard knot on your breast. If left untreated or not emptied, you run the risk of your breast tissue becoming infected and getting mastitis. This can be painful, lead to abscess, fever, etc. No fun. The good news is, mastitis typically affects the tissue around the milk duct and has no effect on the milk itself meaning you can still nurse, in fact, it will help you heal. The bad news is that nursing on an infected breast is super painful. So, to avoid issues, if you have a plugged duct, get it empty!

I'm guessing I caused myself to get a plugged duct, but it is a complicated sort of round about way and I really don't know if it could have been avoided. The good news is that I was able to empty it out. This is what happened:

My teething baby at nine months feels like he's got a mouthful of teeth. He has eight and that is plenty. For some reason, his latch has been off and oddly enough, it is only on one side that it doesn't seem quite right. I find myself having to detach him and let him latch on again multiple times. Unfortunately, he still seems to revert to a closed mouth, nipple only latch even when I readjust him. So, needless to say, my right side is rather sore and I'm back to using lanolin. I'm not giving up though, I'm going to continue to try to correct his latch on that side.

In any case, starting last night, my right side was particularly painful, so I decided I'd nurse only on the left side and pump off the right side. I did this several days ago and it worked well and gave my right side a bit of a break. This morning, however, after I pumped off the right side, I noticed a knot on the top inside of my right side. This was not the little knot that they demonstrated in my breastfeeding class. It felt as if I had a knot about the size of my baby's fist.

I went through the list of recommended solutions:

First, I tried to massage the area. It was a bit difficult and it just seemed to make it more sore. Before it was mildly tight, massaging it made it actually hurt.

Second, I nursed the baby, despite the pain, with his chin towards the plugged duct. Given the position, it wasn't the easiest. I did this by laying on the floor on my back. I placed the baby on his belly with his feet over my left shoulder (remember, the plugged duct was on the top inside of my right breast). He was positioned kinda upside down. He managed to latch ok with minimal pain (since his teeth were in a different spot than usual, after all, I don't typically nurse him upside down) but this didn't seem to help a ton. I did try massaging the duct as he nursed, but I'm not sure it had much effect. The baby wasn't all that hungry so he tried to crawl away after a few minutes.

Third, I tried to apply a warm compress. I heated a small towel in the microwave for about 30 seconds and applied it with light pressure. This kinda made it hurt more and the heat dissipated from the towel pretty rapidly. I tried to heat the towel for longer and that made it too hot. I applied the warm towel until it cooled about three times (I noticed the plugged duct in the morning and the three applications were an hour or so apart).

I was at a loss. I didn't know what else to try and it seemed that no matter what I did, I was causing more and more pain to myself. I was also beginning to panic as I do not really know the time period it takes for mastitis to develop if a duct is not emptied. I was about to call and ask my mother-in-law who is a lactation consultant (IBCLC) but she was probably at work at the time.

Finally, frustrated, I decided to try nursing on that side again, normally this time. Since it hurt so badly to nurse in a normal position, I pulled out a nipple shield in hopes that it would block some of the pain caused by his teeth resting on me. He doesn't really bite, it is more just the position his teeth fall and press in while he is suckling. Well, apparently, the silicone of the nipple shield is not the same texture as a real nipple and he bit down. Hard. I screamed, I cried, after all, my nipple was inside the shield! I can not describe the pain it caused. This of course, caused the baby to scream and cry. Luckily, he hadn't broken skin. When I felt brave enough again, I tried one more time (with clenched teeth) - without the shield.

I laid down on my side and laid the baby alongside me. He latched on and while it was a little painful, I did manage to get him positioned, after a couple of tries, in a manner that wasn't tear inducing. As he started to nurse, I massaged the duct towards him. Slowly, I felt the knot get smaller and less tight until I couldn't feel it any more. Success!

I'm not sure if this last thing was all I needed to do or if everything I tried throughout the day helped to loosen it up even though I didn't notice a change. All I know is that it worked and now everything feels normal again. The one thing additional thing I've heard suggested for plugged ducts that I did not try was taking a hot shower and massaging it. I'm just happy it worked out. If you find yourself in a similar situation, try it all until it works. That's the best advice I can give. If you are lucky, you won't ever have to worry about it, I hope you don't!