TMI: Clogged Milk Ducts ... Again

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!


For the last few weeks, I've been having a huge problem with clogged milk ducts. It's been AWFUL! I'm getting clogged what seems like every other day! Once, I even clogged up on the right one and I was so focused on putting Mila on that side, that the other one got engorged and clogged up too!!! It was terrible! It took days for it to get better. Ugh.

I think it was all the pumping that I was doing that caused it. Since I was still waiting to work things out with my job, and I thought maybe I'd have to go into the office a day or two, I was pumping like crazy so I could build up a freezer stash. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to pump enough during the day, since like I mentioned in my previous post about our nighttime routine where we give her a bottle of pumped milk before bed, she downs a WHOPPING 7 oz! (I've read 3-4 oz is the norm! EEEEk! She'll cry and cry if we give her any less. I asked the pediatrician about it and he says however much she wants to eat she should get. I asked at the La Leche League meeting and they said she might be crying because she wants to nurse not just for food, but for comfort and to bond with me. So many opinions!) In any case, I had been pumping a lot during the night and I'd get as much as 12 extra ounces that I could freeze. But now that I'm not going back to work, I've cut back on pumping. But it seems like my boobs are adjusting and they still think I need that extra 12 ounces! The way breastfeeding works is where there is demand, supply is created. So the more Mila nurses or I pump, the more milk I make. If Mila starts eating less, I'll make less milk, but it takes time for my supply to adjust. Since the demand has gone down drastically, I'm dealing with the oversupply and I'm clogging up because Mila's not emptying out the breast. And let me tell you: it sucks.

The only solution to a clogged duct is to keep putting the baby on the breast. The pump won't be as efficient at unclogging as a baby is. (A baby's suck is much stronger.) And these clogs aren't like the last one I blogged about, where I had a milk blister that I could see. These clogs have been internal and I just have to massage it out. But not massage in a good way -- when the lactation consultant showed me how to massage it out I felt like she was going to rip off my boob, she did it so freaking hard!!!

Because of the clogging, I've pretty much stopped pumping and we no longer give Mila a pumped bottle of milk before bed. I nurse her as often as I can. It kinda sucks because I liked that Jorge would feed her before bed so I could get some time to myself, even if it was just an hour, but the clogged ducts are so much worse. Now I've got all this frozen milk in the freezer. I've read that breastmilk can last 3-4 months in there. I hope we use it at some point though, I'd hate to throw all of that away! I remember when Mila was first born that we had all that trouble breastfeeding and I was pumping every meal for her. I could barely get out 2 ounces! Anything I could pump was like liquid gold!! Now I have all of this milk and I'd hate for it to go to waste.

Needless to say, breastfeeding is definitely challenging. My last clog was last night but it cleared up by the time I went to bed. I'm hoping my supply adjusts quickly and this will just be one more obstacle we've overcome.