Among the suggested sources of the inch-long gelatinous blobs in one
mother's milk:  pus, damaged tissue, incipient plugs.

The incipient plugs idea seems to fit the best.  This mother was producing
at least a bottle-cap's worth of blobs at every pumping.  They looked like
milk - not yellow or clear, even tho she had some crusted yellow areas of
damage on her nipples - and were too copious to be sloughed skin or even
surface pus (her opinion and mine).

As soon as she stopped pumping with the soft flange and used a hard flange
of the same brand as the pump, pumping became comfortable and the blobs
ended.  In 3 days, she has seen only one very small blob, as opposed to
multiple large ones at each pumping.  Her nipples are large, a good 1.5 cm
diam, and I think the narrowed neck of the soft flange just kept squeezing
and damaging them every time she pumped.  They're healing now tho not
healed... and her angry, non-latching baby is mellowing out with a focus on
holding, shared sleep, bare skin, and a more respectful offering of food.
Mom cried as she watched Heather Harris's "Matt and Mandy" video on bathtub
self-attachment from ILCA '95, and feels much more hopeful.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL