Itchy breasts during breastfeeding

[Sunnylands27]

Anyone else have experience of crazily itchy breasts? I’m a FTM with a 4wk old DD and am EBF but for the last week have had such intense itchiness of the breasts which comes and goes. I feel like I want to rip them off at times! All I can find online is re itchy nipples but mine are fine, no soreness, signs of thrush etc, it’s just the skin of the breast that itches.
For note; I’m having regular showers 1-2x pd, using lasinoh breast pads which I change 1-2x pd and BF is going well!
Any thoughts on what could be causing this and if this is normal?

Is it part of the sensation of milk letting down? That can feel very itchy I remember.

I’m not a big BF expert (I fed my own 2 for about 13 months each) but might be worth checking with your local service. Make sure you have the correct latch etc as if your baby is “on wrong” it can cause problems.

Good luck!

Itching starting after 4 weeks isn’t normal so I would go to a GP. Mastitis can present like this apparently. Also look inside baby’s mouth. If you see any white patches that don’t come off with a muslin you might have thrush

Thank you! I’ve just booked an appt with my GP as you suggested because I do think now perhaps it is just a strange presentation of thrush. I do see white film on baby’s tongue but assumed it was milk as I always see it straight after her feed. I’ll check her mouth again when she awakes from her nap and see if it’s still there.
I saw a latch specialist a few days ago and they confirmed her latch is good and so are our positions so not worried there as I thought that was the reason she was unlatching whilst feeding but suspect could be due to having a sore mouth from thrush!
Will let you know when I see the GP :)

Is the itchiness all over the breast or just on the underside?

@Somethingsnappy

Is the itchiness all over the breast or just on the underside?

It’s on the outer sides of the breasts.

It can be pretty normal actually to get itchy breasts in the early days, due to the rapid expansion of breast tissue when engorged with milk. It can cause dryness to the skin and thus itching, but is also just generally while your breast tissue adjusts. I wonder if your baby has just had a growth spurt and so feeding a bit more and causing your supply to increase. Try putting moisturiser on the itchy parts (away from the nipples though). See if it improves. Otherwise contact your GP to rule out thrush etc.

Hope this helps!

If you're showering twice a day it could just be drying out the sensitive skin on your breasts while they've stretched a bit while milk supply is being established.

Are you using lanisoh cream? I was allergic to the lanolin which made me very itchy!

Does it go away if you wear a looser bra or a sleep bra all day?

I had this on one breast in particular. I scratched and it went went red and irritated. I think I was getting too gross and sweaty and milky (lovely) and made an effort to shower more frequently. I don't know if that did the trick or not. Eventually the itchy redness went away.

I get this and never thought anything of it. My baby is very healthy and feeds well. No mastitis or blocked ducts either

I get this too sometimes - I think it happens to me as the skin stretches and my breasts fill. Seems to go away after a feed

OP UPDATE
both DD and I have thrush… brilliennnt. Also my partner has now developed ringworm on his body which is also a type of candidate fungal infection and doctor has said it’s really common for other family members to get fungal infections if mother or baby has thrush as you’re sharing bed linen, muslins over the shoulder on bare skin and if you’re not washing hands after every nappy change or breastfeed this can also happen.
What a nightmare! Hope this helps someone else though as this has been going on for over a week now and it’s taken til now to figure it out and start getting us all treated.
Also, thanks for everyone’s really helpful replies

Hi again OP. Thanks for update. Sorry you're struggling, but at least you know now. Coconut oil is a safe and effective way of clearing up fungal infections on the body, including thrush on the skin etc. Put some on the affected areas 2 or 3 times daily and things should clear up after 2 weeks or so, improving along the way.

Although you'll need something different to treat your baby's thrush in the mouth of that's where she has it. What has the GP recommended?

I'm a lactation consultant. Itchy breasts sounds like a really unusual presentation of thrush to me. Usually it would present as itchy nipples, or deep pain in the breast, not itchy skin on the sides of the breasts themselves. Itchiness as pp have said can sometimes just be due to the expansion of the breasts.

If the treatment works then great, but I'm sceptical!

@teezletangler. I think it sounds like OP has a thrush/ringworm infection of the skin in addition to the usual mouth/nipple thrush of mother and baby. It can occur entirely separately. It's common in warm, moist areas like the underside of breasts or armpits and then can easily spread to the general breast or stomach area. Especially in this weather. Easily cleared up though! Even with natural 'medicine' like coconut oil (for the skin infection, that is - not the mouth/nipple infection).

@somethingsnappy have never come across this before in lactation but the connection to the ringworm sounds interesting

I was coming on - to say similar to @teezletangler - did the GP do a thrush swab for you and baby OP?

My immediate thoughts were more along the lines of D-MER (dysphoric milk ejectiom reflex) for an itchy / skin crawly feeling or even an allergic reaction to the oxytocin / prolactin. Hopefully the treatments work but this might be an interesting read if not OP breastfeeding.support/negative-feelings-d-mer-aversion/

[quote teezletangler]@somethingsnappy have never come across this before in lactation but the connection to the ringworm sounds interesting [/quote]
Fungal infections of the skin are nothing to do with breastfeeding, so there would be no reason to have come across it through the lactation route, if you see what I mean. In OP's case, it's probably purely coincidence that she and her baby have thrush of the mouth and nipples and she also has a fungal infection of the skin (caught from her husband in this case). It seems like it should be connected because the infection is on her breasts, but this is purely because areas like armpits and undersides of breasts are common areas to get a fungal infection as they have the conditions favourable to fungus! Then it easily spreads across the breasts and often tummy etc too. It's very annoying and very itchy but easy to clear up after a week or two.