Thank you so much to everyone who visits Pumping Moms, I hope you find it worth your while. Recently we received this plea for help via email from a struggling new pumper:
Hello! I am new to Eping, and being a mom! I have a 10 day old baby, and started 6 days ago. So far, so good. My only problem is I keep getting clogged ducts. First, the right side now the left. I was able to clear the right side pretty quickly with warm compressing and massage. But- here I am again, with another problem now on the left (not as bad as the right side was). I have been massaging each side during pumping since I started. I am to pump about 8-9 times a day, and about 2-2.5 hours between, and I have been getting away with one pump at night, about 4 hours after the last session. Am I doing something wrong? Can I avoid this? Is the 4 hour stretch the cause for the issues?
Help!
Thanks in advance... I really love your blog, its keeping me sane!
I posed this question to some of our wonderful pumping moms, and we got a lot of great replies. Here is what experienced EPers have to offer:
From Kristen:
I think that part of the problem is the 4 Hr stretch... It is a little early to be going that long but I understand needing the sleep. So my suggestion is to use a heating pad on your chest while you pump. Also web you take a shower try to let hot water hit your breasts for like 5-10 minutes. This will also help keep things moving. You don't have to keep the heating pad on the whole time I usually put on until letdown & then again for last 5 minutes of pump( when you still have milk) & then for the 5 minutes you continue to pump after no more milk is coming.
What kind of bra are you wearing? What any at night?
From Jennifer:
My two cents...
I totally feel your pain. I had recurrent clogs the entire first month that I pumped, especially on my right side (which has always been my super-producer vs. my left side). After working with several lactation consultants, one of them finally recommended a supplement called lecithin. To this day, I call it my "miracle drug." It is safe to take several times a day. I started by taking 2 at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I now just take 1 per day and it seems to still be effective.
You mentioned that you are only 10 days into this adventure. Do you have an oversupply? The lactation consultant figured that was one of the major causes of my clogs. The pump is just not as effective as a baby at taking out the milk.
I also tried the warm compresses, as well as massaging. To this day (4 months later), I still massage the entire time I pump. I find that I can do this more efficiently by using a hands-free bra. I love the Simple Wishes bras that I purchased off of Amazon.
The LC also said that you can try epsom salt. It never worked for me, but she claimed it worked for other moms. Basically, fill a giant bowl with warm water (as hot as you can stand) and dump in a handful of the salt. Submerge your breast into the mixture and keep in until you feel a release. Like I said, it never worked for me, but I was in enough pain to give it a try!
I always tried to increase my pumping when I had a clog. I would pump, rest for an hour, and then pump again. My longest clog lasted about 24 hours. You'll be amazed how wonderful you feel once it releases!!!!
From Janna:
It sounds like she is doing everything right. The only thing that I can think of is that pumping is just not as good at removing milk from the breast as nursing, so it's important to perform "hands on" pumping if your EPing. Stanford university has a good video on how to do it HERE. Also, make sure that you're fully emptying your breasts during your pumping session; you might need to pump a bit longer to fully drain them. I used a heat pack while I was pumping and that seemed to help.
From Jana:
Start taking 1200 mg if lectithan 4 times a day.
Making sure you do compresses as you pump
Drink plenty of water thru out the day.
From Ixelle:
I'm sorry you are dealing with clogged ducts (ouch!), you sound like you are doing everything right and you are doing such a great thing for your baby! Here are my suggestions:
Firstly, make sure you have the right size flanges - that makes a big difference. Medela has diagrams in their little breastfeeding booklets and here.
Secondly, make sure your pump suction is good, I got my milk blister from low suction (I needed to replace the membranes on the pump, since you have only been pumping for a few days this is probably not the problem but it might be another issue with the pump). Since your baby is so young, I very strongly urge you to rent a hospital grade pump if you don't already have one, at least for a month. There's nothing better for a pumping mom when you are initially building your supply and they're not expensive to rent.
Thirdly, make sure you are pumping for long enough (15-20 mins) each session and don't stop pumping in the middle of a letdown (sometimes I would get a letdown just as the timer hit 20 minutes), go the extra 1-2 minutes if you have to since you don't want to leave milk in the breast when you are this new to pumping and when you are dealing with blockages.
Lastly, if nothing else works, try completely soaking the breast in a warm vinegar solution bath (heard about this from a lactation consultant but never actually tried it) along with the massage and warm compresses you are using, and do it right before pumping. Apparently the vinegar helps with any milk blocking the duct openings.
All the best wishes to you, clogged ducts are no fun at all but hopefully you can fix the problem and move on with your life.
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