I couldn’t believe it when I woke up on Tuesday morning, 1 August, 2006. I groaned in pain. Blocked ducts AGAIN!!! How did that happen?
What caused the blocked duct?
Ruth had been night weaned more than 3 weeks ago so what could have caused it? And I hadn’t been lying on my side (a possible cause of blocked ducts that are located at the side of the breast). This time round, the blocked ducts were on the top of the breast. Weird.
Pain, the pain!
At first I thought it was just 2 lumps. But horror of horrors – it was 1 huge lump stretching across from the armpit to the cleavage! It was sooo painful that I couldn’t bring myself to touch it, much less massage it! It even hurt when I had to lift up my arm!
In practical terms, I knew I had to massage the blockages hard but it was sooooo painful! So I laid hands on the blocked duct/s and prayed! The Lord was merciful. He caused the huge swollen section to slowly diminish and I was able to massage it in the hot shower in the afternoon, with more force than I could in the morning.
Pray!
Henson prayed for me before we slept and the next morning, I woke up feeling just 10% of the pain of the previous day! By the end of the day, it was totally gone!!! Hallelujah! A miracle indeed!
How to clear a blocked duct
So what is one to do when faced with a blocked duct? PRAY! And then…
a) massage the affected part hard
You have to do it with as much force as possible to release the blockage in the duct. Yes, OUCH indeed!
Either place a very hot towel over the affected part and massage hard or stand under the shower with the shower head spraying at the affected part and massage hard. Make the water as hot as you can bear without scalding yourself. Heat plus the massage will release the blockage in the ducts.
b) massage before baby latches on
Before you latch the baby on, spend at least 1 minute massaging the blocked ducts. Then as he latches on, continue to massage as he nurses, You should feel the lumps shrinking.
c) position baby’s chin at the affected part
This may require some acrobatic twisting around. So only attempt this if it isn’t awkward. For example, if the lump is at the bottom part of the breast, then a football hold is preferred. But I must say that if your baby is older than 6 months or is a particularly fussy baby, I wouldn’t even bother to attempt this.
d) nurse, nurse and nurse some more
This is the best way to clear the blockage. No pump – manual or electric is as effective as your baby! Let me warn you though – it hurts!!! But so does pumping it out. I’d rather the baby do it anytime!
Watch out for mastitis
You must make sure that the blocked ducts do not go on to develop into mastitis.
But even if it does, you do not have to stop nursing! If need, be, get a prescription for the infection that is compatible with nursing (tell the doctor you are nursing) and keep right on nursing! Don’t let the doctor scare you into stopping, even for a few days. It is not necessary and will not help it go away any faster. In fact, it may slow it down because nothing is more efficient at clearing a blocked duct than a baby’s suckling motion.
FWIW, I had blocked ducts with every child, except my first. And I had a mastitis attack with #2 and #4. I celebrated #2’s one month birthday with fever and chills, not realising that I was having mastitis!
Watch out for ill-informed doctors
The doctor I went to tried to scare me into stopping nursing by telling me I was harming my baby by feeding her “globules of bacteria”!!! She then told me I had to take all responsibility if anything happened to my baby since I was forcing her to give me a less potent antibiotics! Ah! Such lovely ill-informed GPs we have! :::eye roll:::
Let me repeat : you do NOT have to stop nursing just because you have blocked ducts or mastitis. In fact increasing your nursing sessions will help to clear up the blocked ducts when you combine it with firm massages.
Do you have any stories or remedies to share? Please do in the comments below!
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*** Post has been updated 23 July 2017 ***