The symbolic red flag that says: Slow down or else! (Photo by Jay Simmons)

* I make no medical claims about whether Graprefuit Seed Extract or cranberry supplements work or are in any way appropriate — I am not a doctor, just a breastfeeding mother sharing her attempted home remedies for a plugged duct!

Your Experience with Plugged Ducts

Have you ever gotten a plugged duct (or many over the years like me?) What do you do when you get one? Do you consider it a warning to take better care of yourself? Do you alter your diet, or ditch that underwire bra?

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

1. Painful latch. For the first few days, I winced as the baby latched on. I checked for a good latch, and everything seemed okay. I could tell she was transferring milk well (jaw movement, swallowing, and subsequent wet and dirty diaper output). The pain also lessened after the initial latch, and improved when the transitional milk started coming in.

I used expressed breast milk to heal the one crack that appeared on my left nipple. I would have used Lansinoh but it never got that bad.

2. Painful letdown. Unfortunately, when the milk came in there was an overabundant supply. While I suppose I would rather deal with oversupply than low supply, it comes with its own set of complications. One of them is an intensified feeling of pins and needles as the milk lets down. It’s temporary and fleeting and I can deal with it (now being familiar with the sensation). I also recall that this feeling goes away when my milk supply regulates in a couple of months.

3. Painful engorgement. When my second child was born, I didn’t have to deal with engorgement because my first child was tandem nursing and she quite efficiently drained my breasts anytime I started to feel over-full. This time I am not tandem nursing, and I have had to hand express when I start to get engorged. Then I ice my breasts to reduce inflammation and slow milk production. I know some women swear by cold cabbage leaf compresses, but they never worked for me.

I have also been block nursing — nursing on one side per nursing session. That helps drain each breast fully, ensures that my nursling does not develop green stools, and lowers milk production overall.

4. Painful plugged ducts. When I spiked a 102.5 degree fever on day five after the birth, and I started to feel cramping and back pain much like labor, that was too much for my body to handle. In the kick-you-when-you’re-down tradition of breast infections, I developed a plugged duct that eventually became red and inflamed. I rested, got plenty of fluids, and nursed, nursed, nursed on that side. I also tried a couple of remedies that I think help — but I am not a doctor and I have no proof these work at all. File them under “can’t hurt, might help.” I took cranberry supplements (I figure if they help fight the bad bacteria that cause bladder infections, they might do the same for breast infections) and drank diluted grapefruit seed extract. All I know is, the next day the red and inflamed spot was gone.

It’s day 8 as I write this, and I feel good. Everything is under control again. Perhaps the benefit of all that breastfeeding experience is that I know that with time, any problems do resolve, and perseverance is rewarded many times over with a successful nursing relationship.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Oversupply

When my first daughter was born, I struggled with oversupply. In theory oversupply sounds great because it eliminates any worry about having enough milk for the baby. In reality, it can cause a lot of problems including painful engorgement, an overactive letdown (which can cause the baby to choke, sputter, and pop off the breast), a foremilk-hindmilk imbalance (leading to green and gassy stools), plugged ducts, and mastitis.

I wish I had known more about correcting oversupply in the first place. In the end it took about 12 weeks for my supply to regulate.

Plugged Ducts

Off and on over that first year, I experienced several plugged ducts:

~ Kellymom on Plugged Ducts and Mastitis
~ NEW BEGINNINGS article on Plugged Ducts

I became adept at hand-expressing to remove the little white milk plug that was blocking the milk duct. One time, though, I found that I had damaged the nipple skin at the site of the plug, and the sore simply would not heal. I tried Lansinoh and I tried expressing breast milk on the nipple and letting it air dry. The white, cracked sore did not go away.

Thrush

Eventually I spoke to a La Leche League leader, who suggested I consult my doctor to see whether it could be thrush. I wasn’t in terrible pain and my baby didn’t have white patches in her mouth, but thrush can exist without such symptoms or signs. My gynecologist first prescribed Nystatin for me and my baby, and when that didn’t work, we moved on to Diflucan. (I also sanitized all of my clothing and any toys or other items that had been in my baby’s mouth). When Diflucan didn’t work either, I began to suspect I didn’t have thrush (that’s what I think in retrospect), or I had a stubborn case.

Gentian Violet and Grapefruit Seed Extract

I started looking for alternative remedies for thrush, and happened upon information about using Gentian Violet:

~ Using Gentian Violet – Dr. Jack Newman
~ Thrush Remedies including Gentian Violet (see also the warning on its use) — AskDrSears.com

Gentian violet is purple and does indeed stain your nipples, baby’s mouth, and clothing. I bought a few pink/purple outfits and put my baby in them for the duration of our treatment! Whether or not I actually had thrush, this is the product that finally helped my nipple heal.

Later on I learned about grapefruit seed extract and its antimicrobial properties. I tried Nutribiotic – GSE Liquid Concentrate anytime I had an open sore, or my baby developed a yeasty diaper rash. I also take it internally when I’m battling a bout of plugged ducts and/or mastitis. It’s also an effective cleaner! Just make sure you dilute it. Plain sterile water works for topical applications, and a little orange juice (or grapefruit juice!) works well to mask the bitter taste when you take it internally. A small bottle of GSE seems expensive ($10.50 or so on-line or at a natural foods store) but a little goes a long way and I still have my original bottle four years later.

~ Grapefruit Seed Extract for Treatment of Thrush – AskLenore.com
~ Identifying and Treating Thrush (with GSE) – Dr. Jay Gordon

It’s convenient that these remedies do not require a prescription, but as always, consult your physician, your child’s physician, and/or a pharmacist before using any medication.

Other Participants in the Carnival

~ Tongue Tie – Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog
~ Supplementing – Mama’s Magic
~ Oversupply, Blebs, Plugged Ducts, and Mastits – Half Pint Pixie
~ Plugged Ducts and Mastitis – Speech Act
~ Low Milk Supply and the Mini-Pill – Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go
~ Getting Rid of Thrush – Nurturing Notes
~ Sore Nipples, Engorgement, and Medications – BreastfeedingMums
~ Surviving Mastitis – Blessed Nest Perch
~ Supplementing during the First Week – Hobo Mama

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

I offer Ten Tips for Breast Health to help prevent breast infections. Cold and flu season, holiday travel and the excitement of the festivities can make breastfeeding mothers particularly vulnerable to plugged ducts and mastitis this time of year. Find out how to have a happy and healthy holiday season!

Jen at The Lactivist gives important information on Breastfeeding and Holiday Travel including the status of various state laws regarding breastfeeding in public.

Tanya from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog talks about the challenges of dealing with unsupportive family members in her post It All Starts Somewhere.

Sinead from Breastfeeding Mums discusses How to Cope with the Extra Stress Placed on Families during the Holidays.

Finally, Andi shares a bit of original holiday humor with her breastfeeding poem ‘Twas the Breastfeeder’s Nighttime.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of posts and you’ll join us again next month for the second Carnival of Breastfeeding!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

1. Wash your hands often. What does hand-washing have to do with breast infections? Frequent hand-washing can reduce the number of respiratory illnesses you contract by up to 45 percent. Bouts of colds and flu wear down nursing mothers, making them vulnerable to breast infections (particularly if the children are sick too and the whole household isn’t getting enough sleep).

2. Consider getting a flu shot. If you vaccinate, add the flu shot to your list for you and your children for the very reasons stated in Tip #1. Influenza also can leave a mother dehydrated, which in turn can lead to plugged ducts.

3. Get enough rest. With holiday travel, festivities, and the whole family sleeping in your parents’ spare room, it can be difficult to get adequate sleep. Plan ahead for time differences (decide whether to keep your kids on their schedule or slowly adjust them to any time change in advance). Keep in mind that “rest” does not have to mean “sleep.” Get some rest by retreating to a quiet bedroom to nurse in the side-lying position in bed.

4. Stay hydrated. Holiday travel by airplane can be dehydrating, and dehydration is a factor in breast infections. After you go through the airport security checkpoint, buy some water to drink on the plane. Also, if you indulge responsibly in a holiday cocktail, make sure to drink enough water to counter the dehydrating effects of alcohol.

5. Say “No.” Don’t overextend yourself this holiday season. Volunteer to bake cookies, chaperone your child’s school party, or host the neighborhood social gathering, but not all three.

6. Say “Yes.” If your mother-in-law generously offers to cook a meal while she’s staying with you for the holidays, gladly accept her help! (Guess who cooked the roast last year at my house!)

7. Exercise. Exercise boosts your immune system, so make an extra stroller lap around the mall as you shop or take a swim in the hotel pool.

8. Remember to nurse! It may sound silly but with the excitement and distraction of holiday festivities, a nursling may not ask to nurse as much and a mother may forget to offer. It’s important to nurse regularly and not let your breasts become engorged.

9. Read more. If you’re prone to breast infections, read this article on recurrent mastitis or plugged ducts.

10. Pay attention to warning signs. If you do show signs of a plugged duct (redness, swelling, tenderness) or mastitis (plugged duct symptoms plus fever and flu-like symptoms), start treatment right away. The sooner a plugged duct is resolved the less likely it is to progress into mastitis, and the sooner mastitis is resolved the less likely it is to progress into a breast abscess. Continue to nurse on the problem side.

Happy and healthy holidays!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

As always, consult your doctor with respect to medical issues. This disclaimer is particularly important with respect to breast health, given both the seriousness of breast cancer and the current debate over the merit of breast self-exams. While traditionally the recommendation has been for monthly breast self-exams starting at age 20, recent studies have questioned whether breast self-exams reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer. Consequently, the American Cancer Society has changed its recommendation to state that breast self-exams are merely an option available to women, and that the exams have benefits as well as limitations.

If a woman chooses to perform a self-exam, it should be performed when her breasts are not tender or swollen. For most women that means the exam should be performed three to seven days after a woman’s menstrual period has ended. For lactating women (who may or may not have a menstrual cycle) it also means that the exam should be performed after a nursing session when the breasts are least full of milk.

While a lump in the breast is the most common sign of breast cancer, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many other potential causes for breast lumps such as fibrocystic changes, trauma or calcifications (making it all the more important to have any breast changes or warning signs evaluated by a doctor). For lactating women, there are two additional potential causes for breast lumps: mastitis or milk cysts. Mastitis is a breast infection that if not treated properly can turn into an abscess. Milk cysts, also known as galactoceles, are sacs filled with milk.

Ultimately the question of whether to perform a breast self-exam is left up to the individual woman. The goal is for a woman to be familiar with how her breasts normally look and feel so that she may seek medical advice upon noticing any changes. 

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3