Jan,
I recently had a mom who resolved this problem by "soaking her breast" in a
large container of very warm water. I didn't speak directly to her, so do
not know how long she soaked. It makes sense; bending over and suspending
the breasts will promote better milk flow. The dependent position, combined
with the heat, apparently released the plug and stimulated immediate milk
flow to clear the ducts.
Mary A. Banaszewski RN, Lactation Specialist
Hastings, MN
mailto: [log in to unmask]

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Jan Barger wrote:
> This has come up at least twice in the last two weeks -- one another LC
asked
> me about, the other is my client.  Mom presents with what seems to be a
> plugged duct behind the nipple -- yes, there is a little white bleb on
the end
> of the nipple.  Mom scraped it off with a clean nail, and bleb is gone,
but
> she can't express anything out of it (baby may have done it).  Pain is
> excruciating -- has been for the past two weeks.  Getting rid of the bleb
> helped briefly (a couple of hours), now the pain has returned.  Feels
like
> "knives" going through her breast.  Baby is 13 months old, absolutely no
> history whatsoever to suggest yeast.  Only one breast, pain is not
burning,
> nothing in baby's mouth or on bottom, no antibiotics, mom hasn't ever had
a
> yeast infection, isn't eating more carbs than usual, etc etc.  Tried warm
> compresses -- no help.  Tried around the clock NSAIDs, no help.  Any
other
> suggestions?  Mom doesn't want to quit bf for this.  She's bf about three
or
> four times a day.  Other mom, essentially the same story, except her
white
> bleb keeps returning.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Jan
>