Blood in nipple discharge

[PartridgeJoan]

Hi,

I'm 26w pregnant and have had leaky nipples for a few weeks now (sorry if TMI!). Today I noticed what I think is a small speck of blood on one of my breast pads.

I'll be making a doctors appointment tomorrow but for the time being I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this?

Thanks

Hi @PartridgeJoan

I haven’t had any experience of that or heard of it so hope your doctor has gave you advice? My nipples & boobs are both really sore but I haven’t noticed anything unusual and I’m 20 weeks.

Hope it passes for you!

Op if it was a little speck of blood then hopefully it's just because of the skin on the nipple breaking/cracking from them being moist from leaking! I've noticed my nipples are cracked from they started leaking! Hopefully it's nothing serious

Thank you both for your replies!

The following morning I gave my breast pads a proper inspection and found some specs of orange/yellow around the 'blood'. Then yesterday the other boob produced quite a bit of yellow so I think it may just be colostrum!

Honestly my body surprises with gross stuff on a weekly basis now...

i'd still get it checked out.

It's called "rusty pipe syndrome": www.verywellfamily.com/rusty-pipe-syndrome-431996

It's common and harmless especially in FTMs. Your breasts develop a lot of new blood vessels in order to feed the baby and these often get slightly knocked about, leaking small amounts of blood into the colostrum. That's what you're seeing - the orange/yellow is the colostrum. When I was hand expressing at 36wks in my last pregnancy my colostrum was dark brown at first because of "rusty pipes". The colostrum was still fine and I used it.

You can certainly check with the doctor but I wouldn't worry.

You may want to look up Rusty Pipe Syndrome (no, really!). I had it in my first pregnancy and the upshot is that it is fine. Basically, there can be a tiny bit of bleeding within the breast tissue as the ducts etc expand, so tiny traces of blood can come out through the ducts. If it is only a few specks of blood, you can't feel a lump or any other breast changes, and especially if it is happening in both breasts, it is fine.

If you are worried there is a lot of bleeding, a lump, skin changes or you are just not happy, see your GP. If you are Googling "bloody discharge from nipples" you will almost definitely find "cancer" as the diagnosis. Not saying no-one gets breast cancer in pregnancy because it does sadly happen, but if you are otherwise low risk and fit and healthy, more likely to be Rusty Pipes! Hope that helps!

Cross Posted with @zack!

Wow - what an interesting name for a condition! I am seeing the midwife soon so will bring it up then just in case. Thanks everyone