Recurrent painful blocked ducts - did you get through this?

[MouseInTheSkirting]

I'm really struggling to stay on top of this. I'm bfing my three week old and I keep getting blocked ducts which result in hard, gold ball sized, incredibly painful lumps - so painful I can't hold my baby close, I can't massage the lumps, I can't lift my arms up etc. every time one lump subsides another one comes. I'm on my second lot of antibiotics.

I do everything I'm supposed to - except the massage. Different positions, heat, feeding frequently etc, I really want to hear from women who've experienced this and overcome it. I really need to know that this can clear up and I can feed happily one day. I dont want to give up but this pain is really getting me down.

Ooh my sympathy.

Hot water, hot water bottle, massage, pump, feed ... horrid isn't it. ibuprofen can help if the pain is really getting on your Tits (pardon the pun).

In a few months when this has all improved ... don't say it's "1000 times better" lol cause guess whose dd cluster fed since then got a cold and went off the right book. She says, massaging it like mad.

Are you getting any support? It sounds like you're doing a wonderful job but seeing someone trained in person might help to tweak something slightly so that you don't get them so often.

It may clear up once your supply has established and evened out though, just keep responding to your little ones cues and feed on demand, well done for soldiering on!

When people talk about squeezing , they mean the white bumps that can appear on the nipple. You can't squeeze a blocked duct out through the skin.
A pp mentioned it but has your baby been checked for a tongue tie? Or has anyone looked at the latch?

Shower as hot as you can bear directed on the sore lumpy bit, then wide tooth comb dragged over it towards the nipple to push out the lump. Only thing that worked for me - expressing never did anything.
This may be contravertial but I wouldn't worry about green poo. Having done a lot of reading and worrying about this, in the end there was no credible reason I found for it and it righted itself without me doing anything different, came back at odd times, went away again. You can read more on the jack Newman site but his advice is to take no notice of colour and not to worry about hind milk/fore milk (you've got enough on your plate right now and nobody's really sure if it's true by all accounts, after extensive reading on my part).
Good luck - it's horrible! My sympathies are with you. Oh and I agree that even lying down pressing on your boobs can cause blockages. As if you needed any more complications for sleeping!

Have you tried soya lecithin?

Just wanted to back up aliciagardner and say that I also having read dr jack newmans report think that green poo isn't necessarily a symptom of a problem.

Also worrying about fore and hind milk sent me potty in my sleep deprived state - once dd's tongue tie was snipped and she could effectively remove milk from the breast the fore and hind milk evened out ok I guess.

Yep several hcp and bf counsellors have all told me: if the baby is ok in themselves, green poo isn't a problem.

O was coming on to recommend combing the breast with a wide.tooth comb, in.the shower or not.in shower but with a bit of moisturiser, from.right under the armpit, down over the blockage towards the nipple.

I had recurring blocked ducts and over supply and this really helped.