TMI: Clogged Milk Duct

As I go through motherhood, I find that I come across experiences that are interesting to me that I would like to discuss, but at the same time they may be too much for some people. I know I appreciate hearing and learning from the expereinces of other moms, especially the ones no one talks about. But I also understand some people just come to read my blog to catch up on the Mila, not to read about clogged milke ducts, haha! So, I'm going to label these posts as "TMI" as in, "too much information." Stop reading now if you're not interested in learning more about motherhood than you want to know. Ok, you've been warned!

Today's topic is clogged milk ducts. What's that, you ask?? I had no idea until yesterday. Last night, my left breast was ridiculously engorged. I thought I must have missed a side with Mila during her feedings. Maybe I put her on the right boob twice instead of alternating between them, which is what you're supposed to do. I loose track of which one I'm on all the time. So I figured I'd use the pump to release some of the engorgement. I pumped for 10 minutes, and where normally I would have expected 2-3 oz, I only got 1 oz. Not only that, but I still felt engorged and it was starting to get painful. For those of you who've never felt this, the closest thing I can imagine an engorged boob feeling like is an extremely full bladder and not being able to pee. Like it's about to pop. It was sore and tender. I'd felt this before, but I thought perhaps I was increasing my supply or something? So I put Mila on the engorged boob. She latched on like she usually does, but after a few minutes, she started crying and pulling off. I'd then put her back on, but then she'd cry and keep pulling off... At first I thought she had a burp, as she does that sometimes when she has one building up. But I burped her and nothing, she just kept crying as if saying, "I'm still hungry, put me back on the boob!" But when I did, she would continue the crying and pulling off. "Is nothing coming out?" I wondered. She would normally be chugging, especially since I know there's a ton of milk in there! She did seem to get some out, as some of the pressure had subsided a little bit, but I still felt engorged. The top half of my boob felt hard to the touch and I can feel the full milk ducts underneath, but the bottom half felt fine.

So I put her on the other boob to finish nursing and I figured it would just go away on it's own. I'd felt this a couple times before and it just eventually went away. She finished nursing on the right boob and I waited. I was distracted by the tv for a while, but about an hour later I was feeling worse. I was soooo full! It was getting closer to bedtime and I couldn't imagine falling asleep with all this pain! I tried pumping again, this time using a hot compress and trying to massage it out and still got hardly anything. It almost seemed like the milk was stuck in there. I went to the bathroom and to take a look, not that I expected to see anything... but to my surprise, found a little white dot on my nipple. What could that be??? I swabbed it with a Qtip and nothing. I had read breastfeeding manual "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" cover to cover and I remember reading about mastitis, a terrible, extrememly painful infection in the breast caused by a plugged duct. Symptoms include soreness, fever and flu-like symptoms. I cringed at the thought this could be mastitis!

I jumped online and googled "engorged breast and white dot on nipple" and got a ton of responses, all of them referring to a clogged milk duct. After a bit of reading at AskDrSears.com, I realized it was a plugged duct, not mastitis -- at least not yet. Seemed like the white spot was a small milk blister and that if I used a needle as directed on kellymom.com, I could relieve it. Needless to say, I was not keen on the thought of putting a needle anywhere near my sore breast, but honestly, at this point it was hurting so much I was practically in tears. I figured I needed to do try anything!

I sterilized it in alcohol and I gently ran the side of the needle (not the tip) on the affected area and immediately milk came out! Seemed like the blockage was right there. I was so relieved! I then swabbed it with a Qtip and then went back to the pump and it worked! What a relief! It was such an easy fix and I felt soooo much better. I had felt this before in the past and I'd always just dealt with it until it went away on its own, usually after a nursing. Now I know what to do.

It must have been caused by nursing Mila on the same side consecutively. She had also taken a long nap in between, so that also extended the time I had last nursed on that side. Don't let this happen to you!

Another technique you can try is mentioned here in this hilarious post about clogged milk ducts. Despite the pain, it really made me laugh.