They say that in order to prevent plugged ducts, the breasts must frequently be emptied. That ensures the passageways are free and clear for milk to pass through. Sounds fine. But plugged ducts can also be caused by the very nature of the milk. If milk is fatty it will clog faster. Makes sense, doesn't it? So someone like me is prone to clogged ducts because my milk is pretty fatty sometimes. It's not that I don't empty my breasts enough by feeding often.
They sound scary. Especially because online everyone warns you that if you do not treat the plugged duct aggressively (and immediately) then you will most likely get mastitis. I can assure you that I have never gotten mastitis from a plugged duct and I've had at least 50 plugged ducts. They often resolve with some basic care and most are gone within 24 hours or less. I'll walk you through a typical scenario.
It's 3:30 PM, just after my second pumping session at work, and I feel a bit of soreness on the inner edge of my left breast (90% of the time the plug was in that spot since they tend to come and go in the same area). By the time I come home from work I can feel real pain each time I press the area. I also see faint redness. Not like poison ivy red, but more like my boob is blushing.
Now. If I do nothing, Sam will not really enjoy eating from that side since the flow is obstructed and slower. More and more milk will pool up in the affected area. My breast will really hurt by nighttime. Tomorrow it will also be hurty.
However, here's what I do. At 3:31 I head to the bathroom at work and start to really give it to my boob. Using the heel of my hand, I press down from the top of my chest, down the affected side of the boob, and squeeze hard. It's supposed to hurt. Sometimes I'll be lucky and I'll see a white pinprick show up on my nipple right away, but other times it can take even a day to rear itself. That's the plug showing herself. I massage and squeeze (as if I'm hand expressing) and I can literally see a white piece of hardened milk pop out. Sometimes there is more than one milky clump. Often there's a few stringy strands of milk that follow. I keep massaging until nothing comes out anymore. With practice I have learned exactly where on my boob I need to press in order for milk from that specific duct to shoot out.
Some disclaimers:
- Sometimes I have to repeat the process again, so I do that after each nursing session. The area WILL feel sore after the plug is released but that clears away within a day or so. Additionally, milk will flow slowishly from that side, so your baby might not love nursing there. Always start with that side, and then hand express when you're finished nursing.
- The milk from the plugged area might also taste ickyish and salty (it has happened to me plenty of times - the milk also turned a weird shade of yellow). That's why it's common for the baby to stop nursing after a few moments because he's stopping once the milk starts tasting weird - which is when the older milk is coming down the chute.
- It often hurst to breastfeed from the affected side. This is because the area is firm and the baby cannot get a perfect latch - the shallow latch causes sore nipples.
- Sometimes you cannot release the plug via massaging. In such a case I take a hot shower and use a sterilized needle to prod the plug from below, in an outward motion (poking it inward just pushes the plug in further). You shouldn't be bleeding from this. To sterilize a needle, stick it through a flame until the tip turns red, and then rinse under cool water.
- They say to use heat either by showering or a heating pad, but I found none to be as effective as brute force of my hand massaging. The last 30 or so clogs that I had were treated solely with this method, and no heating element.
If you catch it early, treat it early, and you'll save yourself a lot of discomfort. And having a clogged duct is a pretty good sign - for me, at least - that there's plenty of milk for the baby. In a way, I welcome these since it means I've got lots of milk!
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