Recurring Plugged Duct

[@llli*mskalinin]

Sorry, I know this is an oft-repeated subject around here, but I have a question about this problem again! I developed a plugged duct today that I noticed while pumping. I didn't really have anything I could use to help clear it other than the pump at school, but when I got home I nursed the baby a lot then I jumped in the shower.

I massaged the area a ton and really got it flowing again. Some small, hard white bits came out now and then so I really felt like I made a lot of progress. Afterward I pumped some more just to try and get it really empty, then I did some other things for a while. I noticed that it was hard again just recently! So I don't understand, did I NOT get it unclogged even though my breast felt super soft after all the pumping and massaging? Anyone have any advice other than the usual techniques? I feel like I can never get this duct(s) completely unplugged and it just keeps flaring up over and over.

[@llli*kst.7399]

Some women find taking lecithin helpful.

[@llli*kmanih]

I don't know about a recurring plug, but it has happened to me that I thought I had cleared a plug when I hadn't. Although the breast felt softer for a day, it got hard again overnight... But then I managed to unplug it completely after three days. Now I'm being extra vigilant and feeling my breasts for engorged areas, that's how that other plug felt like in the beginning (no pain, just hard).

Hope you get rid of yours for good!

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

to all of the above. If you have an area that tends to clog easily, you may want to work on massaging it a bit every time you pump or nurse that side, to ensure it empties, for a while, until it hasn't bothered you for some time. You may also want to look at your bras, bags, etc., to see if something might be putting pressure on that area and either causing it to inflame or preventing it from emptying when you nurse/pump. And every time you get in a bath or shower, massage that part of the breast and try to hand express milk while you do so.

I had recurrent clogged ducts, and it is not fun. I had to be constantly vigilant. It wasn't something I could forget about, really ever. I know it's hard. It did improve GREATLY after the six month point, although it didn't go away entirely until Joe was over a year (pump weaning caused me some issues with it). So hang in there.

[@llli*mskalinin]

Thanks ladies. I have been working on it all day but its hanging around. I am thinking the tenderness must be at least partly due to the fact that I have been putting pressure and massaging it for about 48 hours!!

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Thanks ladies. I have been working on it all day but its hanging around. I am thinking the tenderness must be at least partly due to the fact that I have been putting pressure and massaging it for about 48 hours!!

I often got a bruise from massaging the living daylights out of a clog, which sometimes felt similar to the tenderness of the original clog. But I would know that things were resolving when I no longer felt full or lumpy after a good nursing or pumping. It can take days to really resolve a clog, and a week to feel that it is completely gone.

[@llli*irismom]

with the PPs. I wanted to add, as one with terribly recurring clogs (just got rid of a bad one NOW, or did I??) I found an electric heating pad REALLY helpful. Any times I feel something that seems like a clog is forming, I immediately apply warm wet pressure (an dampened electric heating pad remains moist and warm for a loooong time) and on it for like half an hour, and then nurse. Works most of the time. I was WITHOUT it this time and really suffered .