oh no, help me!!!!

[thisisyesterday]

feeding has been uncomfortable on the right side for a little while now this evening i noticed it feels a bit like i have a bruise on my right breast, and on feeling it just now it fels like a hard mass under the skin!!!!

i tend to feed ds3 from the left more often because it's easier to then do stuff with my right hand!!! argh!

what is this? i SO ought to know this lol, i've been breastfeeding since forever but never had this before! blocked duct? please don't let it be mastitis!! what can i do right now to help?

'stuff' means MN, right??
in my non expert opinion, sounds like it might be, sorry worth getting checked. is it hot/red

Whenever I have had this I have just expressed a bit by hand and tried to feed as best as I could from that side as frequently as possible. Also warm flannel does help to relieve that bruised feeling.

DS1 and 2 both had their favourite sides which meant I was almost constantly wonky breasted ...

Am sure someone more expert than me will appear to help.

sounds like a blocked duct?

mastitis gave me a fever and a hard, red looking patch

take some neurofen to see if it helps the reduce any inflamation

noooo! i mean the washing and ironing and stuff like that!

ok, yes, mn and facebook. lol

oh there i was being all blase about never having had a blocked duct or anything! dammit

I was told that kellymom recommends ibuprofen taken early for mastitis. I'm not sure if that was what I had a couple of times, but both occasions, the feeding like Washersaurus says and one dose of ibuprofen seemed to help it settle in a day or two.

I am pretty careful to make sure I alternate sides fairly religiously, which seems to be the best tactic.

blocked duct.

feed with child's chin pointed at the site of hurt (they might need to lie on bed and you position above).

go into shower / bath and comb poor breast downards with a wide tooth comb under hot water. surprisingly soothing.

look at areaolaal (sorry never could spell that) and see whether anything inflamed.

cool, will take some ibuprofen and seek out a hot flannel

this is going to be interesting, the inflamed area is on TOP of my breast.

oh how dp will laugh at me trying to get ds3 to feed with chin pointing towards that!

Sounds like you have a blocked duct, which could lead to mastitis.

Check out the mastitis/blocked duct references on www.kellymom.com for full info, but generally:

• use cold compress to relieve inflammation between feeds ( a cold flannel or first aid ice pack)
• use a v warm, moist compress for a few minutes prior to BFing (dampen a flannel and microwave for approx 30secs, be careful not to burn your skin)
• massage your breast as you feed, towards the nipple, gently with your thumb
• BF from the affected breast first at each feed until blockage has cleared
• when you shower, have the water as warm as you can manage, and direct the spray over your back (not directly on the breast) - try to do this or have a warm bath just before a feed
• use savoy cabbage leaves inside your bra to relieve pain; remove outer leaves, take leaves from next level and score with a knife, or bash with a rollingpin, then wear inside bra for 20mns to relieve swelling and any pain (no more than 2-3 times per 24 hours as very effective at reducing milk supply
• take ibuprofen at max dose whilst affected
• if prone to blocked ducts, ask doctor to give you a packet of flucloxicillin (antibiotics you may need if progresses to full blown mastitis) to keep at home for emergencies - mastitis can come on very rapidly, you can feel fine one hour, and rough as hell the next (flu like symptoms) - if you have the antibiotics you can deal with it more rapidly
• try not to be too dispirited if you get mastitis - keep on breastfeeding (it's painful, but the best way to clear your breasts) and talk to someone from the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM) or La Leche League if you get repeat occurrences. Some women find they are more prone to mastitis in one or other breast, it generally gets better with time.

Depending on age of your LO, and helpfulness of DH, you could try BFing on all fours (position baby beneath you on pillows) and get DH to massage your breast (downwards towards nipple) as this can help clear the blockages.
(Another bizarre situation you find yourself in once you have a baby!)

thanks for all the tips!

i fed ds2 til he was 16 months, and now onto ds3 who is almost 7 months and this is the first time it's ever happened!

now anxiously waiting for baby to wake up so i can feed him from bad booby!

Meanwhile, expressing in the shower really helps if it gets really uncomfortable.

I am preparing to feed DC3 in May...have only just blardy finished feeding DS2 (2.5yo) a couple of months ago (he only gave up his bedtime feed because of the pregnancy I think)

Lol at "bad booby". Hope it isn't too uncomfortable for you and settles down soon. Is weird to get something like this after so many months where it just seems to be working, isn't it? I'm sure you'll be fine in a day or so.

yeah, i think i may have slept awkwardly on it or something, not sure really!

have just been trying to hand express a bit off, but it turns out i'm really crap at that lol

oh feeding will help lots. i got second (and worst) blocked duct when ds was 8m, he had op and had to be starved. he was fine but i wasn't!

Don't talk to me about hand expressing! Is anybody any good at it? I could manage a tiny bit in the shower now if needs be, but I sent DH out when DS was a few days old to buy a manual pump so that I could get my left breast, ahem, working, as I was so worried that DS would only feed from the right side. It worked!

I have a blocked duct every time I ovulate. Are your periods back? Just be careful if they aren't in case ovulation affects you the same way!

Feels bruised, sore to touch, big lump, bit hot? You should be able to clear it before it turns to mastitis but if you feel unwell see the doc.

It's normal for it to stay sore for a couple of days after it clears too, just like a bad bruise and swollen tissue. That's normal.

You'll have to find what works for you. Compresses, combing etc doesn't work for me, only feeding feeding feeding on that side.

Sounds like the blocked duct I had.

I agree with what's been said so far. My midwife team advised massaging the breast whilst in the bath - use any vegetable based oil (I used olive oil!) and massage from the outside of the breast in towards the nipple, especially over the area where the lump is. They told me that if you don't use oil, you can irritate your skin.

They also told me that feeding whilst in the bath helps - something to do with the heat / steam encouraging the milk flow. Massage in the bath followed by feeding in the bath certainly worked when I tried it!

thanks all, it feels much better today, we've fed lots on that side, and managed to get most of it cleared I think, still a little tender, but much better than last night

periods are back, but just had that last week, so not ovulation

oh that's good, hopefully just a blocked duct. When I had one it was just a tiny lump, which is why I thought your description sounded a bit more like mastitis

Had this lots with each child, not sure why. Found feeding helped and got pretty good at differentiating the various homeopathic remedies. Know this might be frowned on here, but IME the right remedy works much faster than a GP appointment + antibiotics (hours rather than days). Even with a temp (which came on suddenly, often before lump appeared) I cleared the symptoms within 24 hours.

Never really worked out why I had such problems as all 3 DCs fed pretty much constantly, at least in the early months so neither breast got overlooked!