Milk blisters

Gah, me again! LOL. Whoever said this breastfeeding caper was easy must've been high on something.

My right breast is not cooperating at all. This morning I woke to a rock hard breast with lumps and soreness, I've had a little white spot developing on the nipple for a few days which appears to be a milk blister. Essentially the skin is growing over the little ducts/openings that milk squirts from. I'm guessing over the course of the day yesterday DD was struggling to drain the breast (probably accounts for her extra fussiness on that side) and its built up overnight too. She's sleeping through at night and has been consistently for a couple of weeks so my boobs are used to the long stretch without a feed but this morning my boob was enormous. I tried to feed her from the side with the blister this morning and she was very frustrated despite the boob being very full so the milk was just not coming out. I couldn't really hand express any like I normally can either.

Jumped in the shower and managed to break the skin and try and peel off the blister which worked. Fed DD and she as happier with better flow but I need to know how to prevent the skin from blistering over again. I've been using Lansinoh but its just not making a difference (I'm wondering if its actually making it worse?)

HELP!

Oh that sounds painful! No advice; but you're doing so well!! Go mum. :hug:

Not sure how to prevent them hun, I get them still randomly and DS is 7months. And I've never been able to get them to pop so yay for you!

Hope everything settles down soon and you can really start to enjoy the breastfeeding journey with Miss H

Just bumping this thread to see if anyone can offer any suggestions. Struggling a bit with this....the blisters just keep scabbing over and DD is still really frustrated on the right hand side. Getting more and more painful too. I can't keep picking away at them :(

I'm concerned its going to impact on my supply and I'm seriously considering cutting this boob loose, its given me no end of problems right from the start and I'm well & truly over it.

HELP!

Lecithin may help - cutting that boob loose at the moment is probably not a good idea, since it is already overfull and you have to empty it to stop the blocked-duct-and-mastitis monster.
Can you try and get it started while she's having the other side - squirting into a warm wet facewasher or something similar might do it.

Don't give up hun, you've worked soo hard to get this far :hug:

Does the ABA have any suggestions to help? Sorry I can't be more help

Will try and ring ABA when I get a spare moment....DS has gone down for a nap finally so I'll try & get DD down shortly too.

Kmn, what is lecithin? Cream, supplement??? Not heard of it before. I'm not as concerned today about the breast being overfull, I managed to get the lumps out yesterday I just had to pick off all the blisters first for the milk to release....doing that before every feed will probably work but its mighty uncomfortable. About to feed her off the sore breast and will try a hot compress before the feed to hopefully open the pores up without needing to pick.

Lecithin is a soy extract that you take as a supplement. It acts a bit like a detergent and makes milk droplets smaller in theory - so less blockages.
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi.../lecithin.html

Hmmm ok thanks. I've not yet established if I've got little blockages (plugs) under the skin or whether I've just got a layer of skin superficially blistering & getting in the way. Once I pierce the skin more milk seems to flow so I don't think I've got the blockage variety IYKWIM. Hot compress before feeds appears to be working a bit, we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Got onto the ABA and I'm afraid they weren't really all that helpful this time. The kellymom site has been helpful, i'm just following that guidance for now.

Sorry to hear the ABA wasn't helpful :hug:
Hope it all settles down for you soon and fingers crossed there are no blockages

Oh and completely off topic, you need to update your avatar to include Miss H!!

Bumping as I'm still having problems with the right boob blistering over....getting very painful & frustrating. Got better for a few days and then gone downhill again. Boohoo.....please just function normally boobies I'm so sick of being in constant pain. Arrrgh.

Infinity, I feel your pain! I have had a milk blister since OCTOBER! It just won't go away! I went to the doctor who said just to leave it alone but it's been three months now and it's still there! I always pop the blister and try to pull out the dried milk but it doesn't make a difference and usually ends up bleeding. Feeding is still painful on that side but I am no longer getting milk build-up, it just seems the nipple just can't recover.
Sorry, I've been absolutely no help at all! Just thought I'd let you know you're not alone and that, even though mine hasn't gone away, it has definately gotten better over time.

Good luck xx

Aw Stoked you poor thing. Mine bleeds too once I take the skin off....just can't seem to make any headway with it. I'm beginning to accept its probably going to be uncooperative for good now. Thanks for your post.

Infinity, try loofering it (sp?) it everyday with a warm, damp facewasher, and definitely if you can loofer (sp?) the top off, pull out the dried milk. Some mums are prone to them re-occuring but daily cleansing seems to help.