Help! Engorged breast, no milk coming out

[autumneve]

I've been up for nearly three hours trying to relieve my engorged breast. It's uncomfortable but not excruciating pain. I've had mastitis twice when DD was newborn (now 11 months) - I don't feel ill ... yet... but if I don't find relief soon I suspect this will get worse.

DD has tried nursing but can't get anything out so gives up , wanting to sleep. Pumping- I've tried two different pumps and nothing will come out even having tried for last 2 hours. I've had a hot shower, put a hot flannel on. Nothing.

I'm so tired but worried to sleep as I haven't solved the problem. DD sleeping now (having been up with me!)

Oh poor you OP! Personally I would keep trying to feed from that breast as much as your little one will tolerate. Both my DCs are the ones who seem to have saved me in these situations! Really hope it clears soon

Yes keep feeding from the affected breast, baby is the most efficient way to get things moving again.

Nurofen is ibuprofen.

It's nurofen. Take paracetamol too.

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate hearing everyone's experiences.
I'll take nurofen and paracetamol and keep trying. I hate my breasts in these situations.

Drink lots of water too. I hope you manage to unblock it soon

Definitely check for blebs/blisters. I got them a couple of times and it was excruciating - whether the breast was hard all over or just one place depended how many there were. I found attempting to express in a shower sometimes made them more obvious. If you do have one, they can be difficult to clear and Kelly Mom does say to go to a doctor if you can't get rid of them with a rough towel.

I felt where the blockage was a really pushed down on it then towards my nipple then squeezed quiet hard to express. Lots of hard bits came pinging out followed by milk. Sometimes the bits got stuck halfway out so I used tweezers.

Take ibuprofen as much as you can. Watch out for a temperature, if you do make an urgent doc appointment.

Milk blisters are fairly common - just a white fatty lump that gets stuck in the duct, as you stop draining it also builds up behind it.

In the shower, hot running water and see if you can see a tiny white dot on your nipple, if you can they recommend a sterilised needle but I just scratched them off. Dangle down, massage the hard bits of your breast as best you can and it should flood out

I used to get this a lot. You need to feed the baby with the breast hanging down to use gravity to help release it. Doesn’t always help, but with the worst one I put “as hot as I could stand” water on a nappy and wore it in my bra for most of the day, then massaged the breast quite firmly. This worked!

Good luck, it makes you feel quite grumpy and misery with it.

Sounds like a blockage. Maybe try your gp? Mine managed to remove a blockage that had turned to mastitis. The relief was amazing. There was rather a lot of milk on the gp though!

Run hot/warm water into a nappy then hold it to the breast. Far better then a flannel.

Rub your breast either sides and try to hand massage until you get some release. Keep using a nappy as it absorbs water and heat best

Just to update...
Saw doc at lunchtime, diagnosed mastitis. Now on antibiotics.
Actually I don't feel too bad and I think we caught it early. Just the breast is very sore still, and clogged- no milk when pumping but my DD managed to get a tiny bit this afternoon- but will keep trying those remedies you all so generously advised me with earlier today.
Thank you all very very much.

Glad you’ve got antibiotics, it’s always better to get it early before you feel like you’d quite like to chop your boob off!

Keep up with the suggestions and hopefully you’ll be feeling 100% ASAP.

Glad you have got antibiotics. It might be worth taking a probiotic to prevent thrush.
Also, I found lecithin (I got it from Holland & Barrett) helped with blocker ducts

kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/lecithin/

You still need to work at clearing the blockage, or the infection will just recur when the antibiotics stop. Lots of advice already on this, hope you find something that works for you!

Just posting again in case anyone else refers to this thread and is going through similar situation...

Antibiotics (flucloxacillin) started yesterday afternoon. DD feeding successfully and almost normally by late night. By the early morning feed at 3:30am-ish, the inflammation had already subsided and less painful. Earlier today it was still tender but right now feels normal. Will keep taking antibiotics as advised by doc.

This time yesterday I was still worried about the clogged duct but the antibiotics seemed to have sorted this out.

Thank you again for all your support yesterday x

Planestrains Thank you for the probiotic advice. I've bought some kefir to drink so hopefully that'll keep my gut balanced.

Urgh, I've woken up today to a clogged breast it's already pretty warm, hoping the baby will move things for me but also thumbing through the tips here to try.

I found hand expressing in a hot bath (breast submerged) helped clear blockages.

Other things, like the comb and hot compress helped too.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

Feed as much as possible-this was the old advice anyway (kids now nearly grown).

Oh no @TheBabyAteMyBrain good luck.
The boob-sin-the-bath sounds like a good idea AroundTheWorld

TheBaby don't do what I did- I think I was too rough and made it worse. Apparently massage shouldn't be stronger than if you were just applying moisturiser.

Good to know, thanks op. I seem to have cleared the 'knot' which was under the breast by the nipple but have another lump I can't seem to shift and feeding is getting increasingly painful. Think I'll be making a Dr's appointment in the morning.

Good to hear first blockage seems to have cleared.
If you feel shivery or headachey overnight tonight call 111 in case of mastitis. Hopefully not but doesn't hurt to be aware of these things. It's worth catching early.

Good news, second lump cleared over night with block feeding. Thankfully ds is a constant feeder atm 🙌