The painful side of breastfeeding..
I’m sure alot of mums are wondering, how I can continuously get blocked ducts, and finally mastities, when I successfully breastfed my first two kids quite smoothly.
I have to say, it’s a combination of these :
1) Nursing bras - yes..I have three, which I have been using since Day 1. Day 1 of No.1’s birth, that is. It could be the seams that are jabbing into the ducts.
2) Distraction - heaps of it, when u have more than 1 kid. When the boys play, the lil baby gets all excited and always tries his best to join in. How? By squealing and shouting. So…how can he nurse if he wants to play?
3) When I was in Malaysia, I was quite bra-less. Heh..I stayed home alot, I didn’t see the sense in wearing bras! Over here, I’m out and about, having to pick the kid up from school, having to do grocery shopping…so, I’ve been wearing bras alot. Quite restricting! Plus, I’ve been wearing new re-usable pads. Not sure if this was hindering the milk flow.
4) I’ve had sore blistery nipples (basically milk under the skin) since the first time I had blocked ducts. I didn’t really think about it..until I had full blown mastities. Interestingly enough, when I brought this up to the GP, she told me not to do anything to it. She said the Antibiotics might just clear it up. When I got home, I checked with Kellymom.com, decided to ‘peel’ this blister out and hopefully the milk will flow out well.
So….what have I been trying to do? The usual stuff like :
1) Massage. It’s gotten to a point, it’s not pleasurable anymore. It is extremely painful…but one has to do what one has to do..or it’ll stay.
2) Heat/Cold compress. I’ve been doing it the crude way…but I recently got Sweetpea to order me in a breast-shaped compress….just for my poor boobies. Thank god I have friends in the right places!!! Heh!
3) Nursing like mad…but somehow this time, Baby’s über powers aren’t working!!!
4) Being a real cow. Yes……dropping on all fours..with my udders facing south..and pumping like mad.
5) Doing the marmet technique..this is a really gentle technique..which is a real big relief for me..as my poor boob is really sore, tender and painful!
I’m still trying to deal with blocked ducts…it hasn’t all dissipated yet. Been quite a frustrating week for me…but I do have some silly moments, which I’ll probably blog about later. I’m just glad that kellymom.com is around……it’s a really good resource for breastfeeding mums!
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I also kena….. I was so sick that I couldn’t get up to feed S2 nor pump…which resulted in very clogged milk ducts. *sigh*
GET WELL SOON…
I never use re-usable breast pads. I use the disposable pads from Lansinoh. Somehow I never like the idea of reusing the pads and thinks it doesn’t soak the leakage well. If you want to safe money, just throw the disposable pads once a day. I always change into a new pair after my shower. A friend of mine gave me a pair of those that stick to the nipples. It’s a great concept but it’s quite tedious to stick ‘em on esp during the night feeds. And, if there’s leakage, the milk will just pool in the silicon pad. Constant milk contact isn’t good for the nipples. So, that pair of silicon pad is now inside my drawer..hehe.
Btw, do you wear sleeping bra during the night? It’s just like a workout bra but it keeps the pad intact. I wear the regular (with underwire) nursing bra during the day and the nursing sleep bra at night. During the days I don’t have to go out, I just wear the night bra ‘cos it’s less constricting.
try using a comb and comb your breast with block ducts.
I do that.. combing out towards the nipple (which will actually try to unblock the duct line trying to push something out from a host). I read about this technique somewhere. And it worked for me.
*look at zmm’s comment -COMB? *
anyway sigh poor woman la. Make me so scared to breast feed now. But I will try my best.
ehh. thank you.