Blood clot in milk

[fruitpastille]

I have been ebf dd for 4 months now with nipple shields due to problems with latch and pain. So far, so normal. This is my 3rd bf child so i know a fair bit and a variety of experts have not helped that much. I have had bouts of mastitis as well although the last couple of times have been mild so have just taken ibuprofen and fed lots to clear it. I know that this usually happens when I have a cracked nipple. Dd has been posseting a bit of milk with blood in, which while can be upsetting, I know is harmless. But tonight when she unlatched there was a, frankly gross, blood clot at the end of the shield - god knows how it got through as it was about the size of a raisin! Anyway, my first question is how much blood is too much for dd to ingest? And secondly is this something I need to get checked out? GPS don't always know that much but I thought I would phone the feeding counsellor midwife at the hospital on Monday as she seems pretty clued up, she checked for tongue tie and gave bfn leaflets for future reference when I saw hwe before. Dd v healthy and sleeps through 9 hours a night so I am reluctant to make changes!

Any advice welcome :-)

Bump. I will have to feed from this side shortly and am feeling a little apprehensive!

I don't have any advice but really hoping someone who does is along soon.
Could you call breastfeeding helpline? Think they are open on a sun and get some advice before calling advisor tomorrow?

Thanks, I might do that. In the end I expressed a little and it looked fine so dd feeding from it now. A tiny bit uncomfortable but nothing too unusual! Fingers crossed. Have done a bit of googling which didn't give definitive answer but was reassuring that there is no need to panic.

When my eldest dc was born I had quite a lot of blood in my milk from one breast. I wasn't discharged from hospital until it was checked. I had to pump from that breast and discard, so dc fed exclusively from the other breast for a couple of days. I had an examination and an ultrasound, which were all fine.

The bleeding ceased in a couple of days and feeding was fine from then on. Definitely go see your doctor or phone the breastfeeding helpline just in case. Don't just ignore it, not just for your child, but for your own health.

Yes I will get checked out Monday, just keeping calm for time being! Might get a carton of formula in before thd shops shut just in case anything bad emerges this eve.

Final bump!

That must be really worrying, but it's probably not a big issue.
You'll know from your experience that possetting blood looks like loads more than it is. A raisins worth will look massive, but only be 1-2mls.

Probably the clot was related to your soreness and worked its way through - as long as you don't feel you're getting worse, all good!

You might find it useful to ring the helpline 0300 100 0212 rather than your doctor - you're guaranteed proper advice that way?

Good luck

Thanks, I seem ok, a bit sore but nothing unusual.

I don't know how much is too much, but it's not going to hurt your DD to intake some blood, in all honesty. If it's a LOT, then she might vomit - but it would have to be a LOT and what you've described isn't that much.

If you're not a vegetarian, then if you think about it, blood is perfectly ok as a protein source - it's in meat, it's in meat juices that go into gravy etc. etc. As she's 4mo, some people would be starting to put her onto solids at this point (not recommended, I know, but it used to be!) so she should be able to digest it pretty well. It's a good source of iron for her, after all! (Sorry)

Yes, I thought I may as well give rare steak as a first food after this ;-)
The other thing which wasn't very nice was the clot seemed to have manky stringy bits (skin maybe?) in it and when I went to pull it away, was actually still attached by a thread which I had to steal myself to detatch it. Nice. Hope nobody is eating...

Thanks for the words of reassurance.

Stringy bits are most likely where the blood has begun to harden a bit in the ducts, so looking stringy when they come out... Better out than in eh?

Seriously though, I hope you're feeling better.

Stringy bits is normal - clots are made from proteins in the blood plasma, and if you remember your bigger scabs (knee ones, usually) they used to be a sort of lattice of stringy bits with hardened blood caught in them (or maybe you never investigated yours that closely? I did ). Anyway, the proteins form up in strings to make the lattice, so it's not that unusual but it is a bit gross, I'll give you that :)