OUCH! Blocked Milk Duct?!

it almost sounds like mastitis...

warm to hot wash cloth over the affected area.

get a nipple shield until you are healed..

SORRY!!!

Ibuprofen and warm compresses/shower. If you can open up the duct a little with heat, the clog will come loose. DO NOT avoid nursing on that side, baby suckling on the clog will help. Keep at it...the above should help you. If you develop a fever you will have to go to the doctor, but that should be preventable. Good luck!!

I've had those!!! Not fun, but there's nothing the doc can do for it that you can't do yourself, so here's what you do - warm compress whenever possible between feedings, a little tylenol, and nurse as often as possible. When you're nursing, do your best to orient your little one's chin to the spot where the blocked duct is. Your baby's suckle is strongest right at her chin, so if you position her that way, it can really help.

My last blocked duct was at about the 10 o'clock mark (looking at my boob like a clock, which led to some pretty silly-looking contortions to get my little one's chin to that position. I ended up lying on my side and rolled slightly to my back, with my l.o. propped on a pillow in front of my face to nurse. My hubz gave me some strange looks, but within two or three sessions like that though, I felt better. Best of luck, and kudos on nursing that sweet baby!

*Oooh, I forgot to mention - if you start to feel feverish, extremely fatigued, or the pain, heat, and redness is radiating beyond the location of the duct, you may be getting mastitis, and should go to the doctor, with or without insurance.

Do not worry about your baby getting bad milk rom this boob, even if you do have an infection - the milk is still fine. Drink lots of water, and keep nursing as much as you can!

Take a shower as hot as you can stand... allow it to massage the breasts, after a bit, while still under the water, start massaging breasts with hands, concentrating on the breast with the clogged duct. Really knead into the area with the clogged duct and try to express some milk from both breasts.

After the shower, immediately go and nurse baby from the clogged side.

Where on the breast is it? Depending on where it is a different nursing position will help.

I have had this - not fun!

Pamela has good suggestions, as usual.

When this happens to me, I reposition the baby in a spot other than his normal nursing spot. Or, position your daughter to where she is "facing" the clog, ie her upper lip is close to it, if that makes sense. Take a hot shower before nursing, then put baby on that boob that hurts. Baby sucking will help so much.

I also massage the breast down toward the nipple as I am nursing. And, I will pump after nursing even if I feel "empty". That always helped tremendously. Also, start the baby on that clogged side and keep her there longer and more often than the other breast, just until this is cleared up. The best thing for your clogged breast is to have baby unclog it~

All I do is heat up this "bag of rice" that we bought from a craft sale. Pop in microwave for a couple minutes and then hold on breast till cool. Repeat if necessary! WORKS! I was in major pain a few times and this cured my blocks every time. If you don't have one, make one out of a sock!

I used to get plugged milk ducts all of the time (dairy was the cause for me), and I would massage the breast while I nursed, nurse on the plugged side first, nurse a lot, and hang over my son while nursing-massaging at the same time. That last one really can work, it just depends. Rest a lot, and drink a lot of fluids. I read that once you get once you are more susceptible to them (I know I was), so try to get all of the milk out of a breast if you can, and then start with the one that you didn't get all of the milk out of the last nursing.

pumping milk
applying yoghurt to draw out infections

I had one a couple of weeks ago. I stuck my breast under really hot water in the sink. Then put my baby in football hold. Duct was on bottom of nipple. Had him suck. Was extremely painful! I took nipple out every minute or so and squeezed hard milk out. Then put him back on breast. I repeated it about 5 times until liquid came out. Make sure you do this right before she needs to eat.

You may feel some hard areas on your breast if you have blocked ducts, Try a warm washcloth compress over your breast on these hard areas and massage toward your nipple to loosen it up.

I ouched just remembering it...how painful, I could not lay down becasue my breast moving on the side would hurt so bad, I hated it! Pat the breast with a warm wet towel (helps losing the clogged milk), increase your fluid intake and get some light over the counter painkiller (check counter-effects on paper for nursing women)...I feel for you, good luck!

Everyone has great ideas. I had one last week. I felt feverish and my breast appeared sunburned. I called both the doctor and a lactation consultant and they told me the same thing everyone below told me.

What I did was nurse primarily on the affected breast and still did some feeding on the other breast for about 24 hours. I did both cold and heat on it. I also massaged my breast before feeding. It went away in about two days. They said if I spiked a fever I would need antibiotics but I never ended up needing them.

I feel your pain!

take a paper diaper and cut off all the extra paper. get it wet. microwave it to heat it up (NOT TOO HOT!) Curve it around your breast to help loosen it. And then take your daughter to bed with you to nurse it. So much good luck to you!

Massage in shower and other times, nurse on that side- do not avoid it, and get yourself some lecithin granules from GNC- they Had apple flavored ones you can put in juice or water and drink...helps make fats more slippery in the milk and work out the plug. Worked for me but you have to get it unplugged or it could become infected- mastitis- and harm your supply.

if its a clogged duct you should be able to feel a lump or a swollen area, take a hot showe and massage toward the nipple and try to work it out. if you have a pump try to pump afterwards. I did this a few times and i would actually have a cottage cheese looking lump come out, disgusting. if the hot shower doesnt work apply hot compresses and try to massage it until you finally start to feel better. these can turn into mastitis. I also had that but all i had to do is call into my dr and tell him my symptoms over the phone and he prescribed stuff over the phone since its so common during breast feeding its usually not something that NEEDs to be seen. so that could help the office visit payment. try massage and heat first. when mine turned to mastitis it felt like someone poured acid over my breast and i had red hot lines on my boob. good luck!!!!!

I had a few blocked ducts when mine was little. Here is what I did: put a warm pad on it for a while (10-15 minutes) and then feed your baby from this breast with a chin pointing towards the blocked duct. Depending where the blockage is you may have to get inventive with positions. It helped me to use a handpump in between feedings on the affected breast, just as long as you feed from this breast or pump frequently, the blockage should resolve with a day or two. It does hurt (you can take an ibuprofen if you want), but mine never lasted long.
If you get a fever or flu like symptoms it has developed into mastitis and you need to get antibiotics.
For the plugged duct alone though there is no other treatment than nursing/pumping.
Check out kellymom.com (I loved this website while I was nursing) for all nursing questions or call your local la leche league if you need more help.
Good luck.