Clogged Milk Ducts

JNR6510

For our STMs and those who have already had your LOs, how have / are you dealing with clogged ducts? I have tried the warm washcloth while pumping / manually expressing. That helps for a little bit, and I will get more milk from that breast at the next pumping session or two. But it seems like the duct gets clogged back up by the next day.

Any tips on how to end this vicious cycle?

jessieR358

I took a vitamin called lecithin to help thin my milk bc I got clogged ducts ALL the time. I also got a lot of milk blebs, so I would have to get a needle and pop them out. I know you shouldn't do that, but I literally couldn't unclog it any other way. Once I popped those suckers milk would shoot out forever lol. So if you can't get a duct to unclog after trying all the normal tips, check and see if you have a milk bleb! 

ETA: Also dangle feed. Have the baby on the bed and get over the baby. Sometimes that can help too. Massaging in the shower with hot water. Agree with starting on the clogged duct side first. The suck is strongest. 

mamaofthegarden

Start nursing on that side each feeding. Babies are the best at unclogging, even though it hurts! Massage the area while baby nurses. 

Make sure you're not wearing underwire or anything tight on your boobs. 

Sorry you're dealing with them so frequently...they suck! Unfortunately some people are just more prone to them than others (me included). 

wyomama0427

Since she's too small to dangle feed and you aren't breastfeeding right now anyway, you could try dangle hand expression. She IS a preemie so you can't expect her to be able to clear a clogged duct if she can't even do a full nursing session. 

Carebella

The only other tip I've read about is if you have an electric or battery powered toothbrush, to try using that to massage the clogged duct. So sorry you're getting them and hopefully once she can nurse it will keep you from getting them

coffee-2

The only big that ever worked for me (aside from trying multiple different angles for nursing) was getting in a warm shower and hand expressing, pushing from before the clog to the nipple. It really hurts but is better than mastitis. Good luck. 

tfrangul

No great advice here but I hope you find some relief very soon! I ended up with mastitis with my son and I thought I was dying. Thank goodness I went to the doctor right away and got on antibiotics. They just said to nurse him from that side and try and fight through the pain. 

JNR6510

I got it worked out. Also discovered a new found love for the Medela Symphony. I love my Spectra S2. It works great. But the Symphony worked much better at getting the clog out. 

mamaofthegarden

Glad you got it worked out!

lilpoots

@JNR6510 yay! So glad you were able to get the clogged duct out. You may be more prone to clogged ducts, so sunflower lecithin is a good idea. Make sure your ob approves of taking it. Another thing that can cause clogged ducts is flanges that aren't sized right. I had to use a medium flange on one breast and a xs on the other. Maybe the spectra flanges don't fit as well? You may also respond differently to different pumps. Hope you are clog free tomorrow.

ColoradoHiker

Properly sized flanges are ESSENTIAL.  It took cracked and bleeding nipples (even with lanolin) for me to learn that lesson.  I also love the Medela Symphony.  If I had the pocket money, I would buy one for at home (my work provides one for general use, which is awesome).  Target usually has the next size up in store, and a lot of the bigger (I think there's a smaller size too?) ones online from various sources.  

efrey1986

Also I used to have to set an alarm and wake up in be middle of the night every couple of hours to pump a little just so I wouldn't get clogged. Just enough to relieve the rock solidness (if that's even a word lol) It helped a lot!