I had a client who breastfed about a year with a nipple piercing that just kept leaking. When she came to see me the baby was about 2 weeks old, and she was drenched in milk constantly. She began wearing a newborn disposable diaper in her bra. Not great for a T-shirt look but it managed the mess. Eventually, when she wasn't feeding every 45 minutes anymore, she began putting a rather thick ring in the piercing site so it dripped instead of ran. She never did get it to a point that it didn't leak at all. Pressure on the site abated the flow for a minute or so , but it began again right away.
She chalked it up to "paying the price of a dumb thing" she did when she was young and lived with a disposable diaper in her bra for a year or so. Disposable diapers are very thin now, and hold a LOT of fluid.
BTW-if she ever needed a bottle for the baby, she just took out the ring, taped a zip lock type of sandwich bag over her breast and caught what leaked. It was A LOT! She never had to pump though she did work part time. She thought of that as the positive result of this whole messy mess.
Please post if you find another solution!
Barbara Leshin-Zucker, IBCLC
22 Cindy Lane
Highland Mills, NY 10930
845-928-6906 (home)
845-551-7527 (cell)
Aim with your heart, adjust with your head, and always, always, always, do all you can.
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Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 17:15:59 -0400
From: Ana Estorino Uribasterra <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Continuously leaking areolar piercing
Hello great minds!
I'm writing with the hope that Lactnet's collective wisdom can help me with a tricky situation.
I've been contacted by the mother of a 7 day old who is continuously leaking from a hole on her areola created when she had her nipple pierced years ago. I haven't seen her, so am relying on her description of the location of the piercing; she tells me it is just past the base of the nipple, on the areola. When the baby is nursing, it is inside his mouth. When he is not nursing, it is continuously dripping. She has been wearing a menstrual pad (don't know if a light or heavy flow one, plus three breast pads and has to change them every hour because they soak through. Needless to say, this is very uncomfortable for her.
When I spoke to her, my first thought was that there's probably not much that can be done here...
Upon further thought, only two possible things to consider have occured to me:
1. Maybe she can put gentle pressure on it after feedings with her fingertip for ten minutes or so, to see if the flow will be reduced or stopped until the next letdown.
2. Possible future surgical closing of the hole.
I have no idea whether either of these would be advisable or work. It seems to me that the first idea might help some. I have told this mom that, probably, as time passes and her breasts are not on immediate postpartum overdrive to make milk, the leaking will slow down. Of this, I am also not so sure. She knows that this is an unusual situation and I was honest in telling her that I am just thinking of possible ideas without having any experience or evidence.
So, brilliant friends, anybody have other ideas or experience with something like this? Your suggestions would be MOST appreciated. I told this young mom that I would look into this and email her in the next couple of days with any further information...
Thanks for helping!
Best,
Ana
Ana Estorino Uribasterra, IBCLC
www.lovingstartlactationservices.com
South Florida, USA
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