How awful for this mother to have her breastfeeding experience full of itching. It must be hard to keep going.

There is an article in Journal of Human Lactation 14(3), 1998 by Jo Watson MacDonell RN, MScN, IBCLC, and Shinya Ito, MD called "Breastfeeding Anaphylaxis Case Study".  The reactions are different but it may be of interest.

A colleague previously shared this reference when we encountered a mother who broke out in hives upon breastfeeding:  Lawrence & Lawrence in their book, Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession (5th ed.) state, "Urticaria (hives or itching) reported during lactation usually occurs at the onset of let-down. The itching may be intense. Some relief has been achieved by medicating the mother about 15 minutes before breastfeeding with antihistamines. An alternative is a low-dose, sustained release antihistamine preparation such as loratadine (Claritin), which does pass into milk but at levels less than 0.03% of the maternal dose. Because it dries mucous membranes and decreases secretions, such a preparation could decrease milk supply over time." (p. 549). Exact cause of uticaria (hives) associated with let down is unknown, but it could be caused by the sudden increase in hormones (especially oxytocin) which occurs with let-down.”

Regards,
Cassie Kent, LLLC, IBCLC

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