Pain in breast? 12 month old

[ihugtrees]

My daughter is going to be 1 on Tuesday ( I made it to a year! Here's to another year!) She didn't nurse much today--too busy exploring & eating lots of solids. I've had shooting pain in my breast all day and tonight it is really bad. I felt engorged, so I pumped & nursed (I never pump, either...) Still having constant shooting pain in my breast, though it feels good to be nice and empty. The pain is mostly in the lower left quadrant of that breast, & radiates into the rest of my breast. Underneath my breast on that side is very sensitive and almost bruised feeling? Is this a clogged duct? Mastitis? Ugh, I hope not...I am a solo mom for the next month & can't get sick! What do I do?

[ewe+lamb]

Sounds like the start of blocked duct, so you need to rest - these things come on when you've been stressed, busy or a bit run down - or we are most susceptible, use hot compresses, now then we I say hot I really mean HOT, not so hot that you burn yourself, but HOT HOT HOT, as hot as you can stand, what you want to do is melt down the thicker milk which is causing the block, then once you've had the hot compress on for a while and it's starting to cool down let your dd nurse with her chin directed towards the affected area, the chin does the hard work of pulling out the plug. You can put fridge cold cabbage leaves in your bra to relieve the pain and reduce swelling but it can also contribute to a reduction of milk production so if your supply is a bit iffy at times I wouldn't recommend this. Make sure you are not running a fever and keep your fluids up and rest rest rest, not so easy with a toddler all over the place but do try to do the best you can, healthy snacks - don't worry about the cooking and cleaning, you can do that sort of thing when you are back on your feet, this is the time when the tv - if you have one is not so much of the devil and you can use that to get a little more rest. Hot baths and showers can help unplug the area too, be good to yourself!!

PS Yeah for the one year of breastfeeding and yeah yeah for another one!!