Blocked ducts please help!!

[archiesmummy]

Hi,
Yesterday I woke up and my right boob was engorged and today I have found that I have blocked ducts on the top side of it.
I've tried feeding on it and also expressing but the ducts still remain blocked. Also tried a hot bath but no change. It's really painful!
Tried searching through old topics but found nothing (obviously not as internet savvy as I thought).
Any tips or any old threads?

dw had this and I posted last year. Read / skim from here onwards.

NQC's experience

hth a bit. Basically painkillers; ABs might be necessary if the blockage doesn't go away, so as it's Friday, maybe turn up at GPs before they close to get a script incase you get fever over the weekend ? (It's not very nice).

BTW - are you searching 'mastitis' ? There's quite a lot of info in the archives.

Example , or here

use a gentle brush and massage towards nipple, lots of hot compresses and try phytolacca homeopathic remedy (i've had mastitis 4 times and it really helps)
feed as much as you can and try different positions to help the blockage

hub2dee and shrub thank you both, no i searched for blocked ducts and got nothing..
has been reading NQC's thread and got lots of useful info from there.
surgery closes early on fri so will have to wait til mon, let's hope it gets better soon.
just off to have hot bath (with DS as DH not home yet)
thanx again

I tried all sorts of things but what worked for me was just to keep feeding from the breast with the blocked duct - always offering that one first so it got the benefit of the high-powered sucking when DD was really hungry! Obviously making sure to offer the other breast as well so that one didn't get engorged too. I also tried varying feeding positions, and I changed from cotton M&S bras to stretchy Bravado bras which were much more comfortable. It was horrible at the time but it cleared up within a week, and I'm glad I persevered! HTH

Hi archiesmummy

kellymom has some good advice

Feed your baby with his chin pointing towards the lump. You say that the lumps are on the top side of your breast, so this might involve "dangle feeding". Lie baby on a pillow on your bed and kneel over him on all fours to feed. I had to do this several times and it worked a treat. DS didn't like it much, presumably because there was no milk coming out!

Feed as often as you can. I always took ds to bed for an all night feeding session as soon as I felt like I was getting blockages.

Get your bra size checked as a too small bra may be the cause. In my case, it was lying on my side that did it every time!

mawbroon, can i have bra size checked when engorged? I think you are right actually, coz the right breast is my "good" breast and lately has been feeling bigger than normal.

Thanx for all good tips.

archiesmummy - I constantly get blocked ducts when I'm BF. I found brushing downwards towards the nipple when feeding clears it; brushing quite hard with fingers and sometimes, if its a very stubborn blockage, massaging it very hard prior to the feed, in a hot bath with boobies immersed in hot water, to disperse the blockage; then feeding immediately after he massage/bah - again brushing down to the nipple from that spot whilst feeding. If in pain take painkillers.