I have permission to post and would be grateful for any help with this
problem.
I have been contacted by a 38 year old who is expecting her 4th baby in
December. She breastfed her first 2 and was feeding without problem for a
total of 4 years. At 32 weeks in her third pregnancy, in 2002, she developed
a greyish-green sticky discharge from both nipples. Her doctor sent some off
for culture - it did not grow any pathogens. It was suggested that she pump
for 24 hours after the birth, 'to flush it out'. Unsurprisingly this didn't
work, if anything it got worse, she describes it as 'like the consistancy of
condensed milk and ranging in colour from green to black'. In the hospital
the woman in the next bed vomited when she saw it in the pump bottle and
various staff told her it was bad and she shouldn't feed it to her baby, all
of which she found very distressing. She did attempt to breastfeed for a few
weeks and baby went on and fed happily, but she gave up as anyone who saw
her feed was disgusted by the green milk in baby's mouth when he came off.
She says her milk never came in although she was able to express 125ml at a
time in the first few days and apparently the leaking milk stained her
clothes. She has continued to be able to express this thick, sticky green
milk, it has never dried up.
Back in '93 she had a lumpectomy which was benign, and several small lumps
aspirated since. She has had breast ultrasound scans which have shown
nothing untoward.
I have searched the archives and come up with ductal ectasia. My questions
are: Is she producing milk and is it going to be as nourishing as 'normal'
breast milk?  By that I mean superior to formula. Is it a problem apart from
the aesthetic aspect? Is there anything she can do to improve the situation?
She was devastated not to have fed her son and has never got over it. She
wants some hard evidence with which to face her critics.
Hilary Myers RM IBCLC
Somerset, England

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