Do I have a plugged duct?

[waitingwaitingwaiting2]

Baby is nearly 2 weeks old, been working to improve shallow latch. Milk is abundant, can catch loads from letdown on non-nursing side.

Baby wasn’t back at birth weight on day 10 so have been waking to feed and doing breast compressions. Not sure if I’ve overdone it with the compressions but right breast (the side that tends to create even more milk) feels bruised along the outer half, and I have the sensation of engorgement but the breast is soft. No areas of firmness, heat, or redness that I notice. No blocks on the nipple either. I stood under a hot shower for 30 mins and hand expressed whilst dangling my boob, thought maybe some teensy stringy bits came out but hard to say under the running water. I tried the comb massage technique as well. I do have a hand pump I could try but don’t want to increase supply on that side.

Warm compress feels lovely. Is it possible to have a blocked duct and only have soreness? Anything else I should do or look out for? Xx

Baby not being backed to birth weight by day ten is totally normal, it can take around three weeks for them to reach that. Between the amount of heat and the compressions, expressing, massage it sounds like you could have aggravated it a bit, any massage to the breasts should be the same pressure you’d use to rub a baby’s face, nothing harder. Have you tried an ice pack wrapped in something against the sore area for a few minutes at a time? If it’s become inflamed or sore from all the activity and pressure ice is usually better for inflammation than heat.

@Garman Oh goodness, thank you, I was really squeezing hard, much more than I would do to baby’s face. The midwife told me I needed to get her weight up so I’ve been worried. I’ll try the ice, have also taken some ibuprofen.Thank you so much xx

Compressions are different pressure to massage but should still be as gentle as possible and not for long, and shouldn’t be painful when you’re doing them. Lots of regular feeding and skin to skin are the best ways to get baby’s weight up/increase supply if needed x

Ibuprofen
Forget compressions, you have good supply anyway
Just have the next week on the sofa watching Netflix. Loads of skin to skin and feeding opportunities will then hopefully lead to the weight gain you are hoping for.
The rest will help you heal. If it is a blocked duct baby will unblock most easily, try a few positions though.

Ignore house stuff and just feed this week.

Thank you @Garman and @Montague22. MW worried me saying she was still 3% down from birth weight and needed to get her back or start supplementing. Yes, I was doing massage as well to try to loosen the pressure. MW Referred me to peer support but they wouldn’t meet for another week so was trying on my own. Feeling much more reassured now, thank you both xx

Hope it goes well. Just feed loads and use Lansinoh in a purple tube if you need to. I would use it anyway to prevent you getting sore. Drink loads of water/juice.

@Montague22 thank you, it’s massively improved already, so if it was a duct I reckon it’s cleared and feeling loads better xx