Help! Almost 7 years of nursing and I am baffled by these problems!

[Nic24]

I am having problem after problem this past month with my boobs and need some insight please! This is my 4th child and I have had the typical breastfeeding woes of clogged ducts and mastitis but things feel differently lately.
Story- ds is 15 months and nurses a few times a day and 4-6 x a night (laying down position).
Jan 1 my right boob felt like I was getting a clogged duct. I used heat and it went away about 5 days later. A week goes by then my nipples feel like they are burning and I have a quarter size lump to the right of nipple that is tender. (Not thrush). A couple days later I have a white painful spot on nipple appear. I think possibly it could be a bleb? It is still here and painful off and on. Now today my left boob on the underside feels bruised like someone punched it. It is very tender and hurts very badly when I lean over.
Things that could trigger problems or that are different are: I wore a real bra today (usually wear sports bra), I am recovering from the flu and have been on nasal sprays and tyelenol and Advil, I take ambien several nights a week.
Oh and I don't know if this is concerning but I still have not had AF yet. I usually get one at 11 months postpartum then get pregnant the next month but here I am at almost 16 months and nothing. (I am not pregnant, dh had a v)

Thank you if you made it this far! I have called by OBGYN but he seems lost when it comes to BF issues.

[HappyHappyMommy]

Hi Nic24. How are you doing now? I'm sending support your way. Perhaps a lactation consultant would be helpful? I'm bumping up your post to see if others have suggestions.
 

[alice379]

I'm not sure if your symptoms fit exactly but they sound similar to mine and I've just discovered I'm suffering from vasospasm of the nipples...the main features being a painful white patch on the end of the nipple and pain (like bruising) in the rest of the boob. It doesn't necessarily happen during nursing 'episodes' - in fact is usually in between times, and is more related to coldness than nursing (although with me it only started 3 weeks after I started nursing). Maybe look into that as a possibility if it's not thrush or mastitis? Even though it's horrible and painful I'm still relieved to know I don't have an infection!

[BfeedingBabies]

It sounds more like you are a bit overtired and your body isn't coping so well.  A lot of what you've mentioned happens frequently in those early days of breastfeeding because of the overtired part of things.

Definitely the bleb will hurt, some doctors tell you to sterlise a needle and prick them - it's a skin overgrowth over your duct and there's milk behind it getting thick from sitting there too long.  If you can get it out it will help your pain a lot.

You definitely sound like you have some persistent blocked ducts, this will likely be because you're overtired.  Also nursin gthat often overnight your supply is likely to be still quite good because it will be stimulating lots of milk production when your hormones are most active to produce it.

i would definitely try some different breastfeeding positions to help get those ducts clearing, generally facing baby's/toddler's chin towards the lump will help to unblock it, you can use things like legs over mothers shoulders and the saddle position if you need something other than football hold to help.

There's also lots of other massages you can do to help unblock the ducts, rather than just massaging during the feed, definitely try to get that breast moving.

Probably my biggest advice though is call in some favours and get some rest - you need a little hep right now to get yourself back on track.  Waking overnight for that long and presumably not getting sleep during the day because of other children takes its toll in the end, so ask for help and get some naps.

Good luck, you've come this far, I'm sure you can fix this up!

Edited by BfeedingBabies - 2/22/13 at 3:12pm

[Emaye]

Get checked just in case it is something more serious. Then workout the issue from there. I think it is important for you to rule out inflammatory breast cancer. I hope everything turns out okay.

[3girls1boy]

I think vasospasm might be a possibility as well.  I had this with my third and 4th babies.  With 3rd it just went away after a while.  With 4th, when it persisted into the 6th month, I had a recommendation from a LC to take Evening Primrose oil.  12 capsules a day for about 6 weeks and then I had to wean off it.  I nursed my my 4th until he was nearly 4 and after this initial treatment, the feeling would come back once in a while (I felt like it may have been related to ovulation) and I found that a couple days of taking the Evening Primrose oil would take care of it.

If you search reynaud's syndrome of the nipple and vasospasm, I think you should be able to find the paper on this treatment (I believe fish oil also works) that was published some years ago by a couple of Lactation Consultants in Australia.