Ruth had been night weaned more than 3 weeks ago so what could have caused it? And I hadn't been lying on my side (a possible cause of blocked ducts on the side of the b*east). This time round, the blocked ductS were on the top of the b*east! At 1st I thought it was 2 lumps but horror of horrors - it was 1 huge lump stretching across the armpit to the cleavage! It was sooo painful that I couldn't bring myself to touch it, less massage it! It even hurt when I had to lift up my arms!

In practical terms, I knew I had to massage the blockages hard but it was so painful! So I laid hands & prayed! And the Lord was merciful. He caused the huge swollen section to slowly diminish & I was able to massage it in the hot shower in the afternoon, with more force than I could in the morning. Dh prayed for me before we slept & this morning, I woke up with only a 10% painful feeling! Now, at 11:20pm (Singapore time), it has totally gone!!! Halleluah!

So what is one to do when faced with a blocked duct? Well, besides praying, that is :)

a) massage the affected part hard with either a very hot towel placed over the affected part or under the shower with the shower heard pointing at the affected part & again, with hot water - as hot as you can bear,

b) massage before bb latches on & continue to massage as bb nurses,

c) if you can get bb to cooperate, point bb's chin at the affected part. Eg. if the lump is at the bottom part of the b*east, then a football hold is preferred. But I must say that if your bb is older than 6mths or is a particularly fussy bb, that would be difficult to do. ask me how I know? :)

d) nurse, nurse & nurse. That is the best way to clear the blockage. No pump - manual or electric is as effective as your bb! Let me warn you tho' - it hurts!!! But so does pumping it out. i'd rather the bb do it anytime!

You must make sure that it doesn't develop into mastitis. But even if it does, you do not have to stop nursing! If need, be, get a prescription for the infection that is compatible with nursing (tell the dr you are nursing) & keep on nursing! Dont' let the dr scare you into stopping, even for a few days. It is not necesary & will not help it go away.

FWIW, I had blocked ducts with every child, except David. And I had a mastitis attack with Sarah & with Esther. I celebrated Sarah's 1 mth birthday with fever & chills, not knowing that I was having mastitis! The GP I went to tried to scare me into stopping nursing by telling me I was harming my bb by feeding her "gobules of bacteria"!!! She then told me I had to take all responsibility if anything happened to my bb! Ah! Such lovely ill-informed GPs we have! :( And no, there's nothing wrong with Sarah!

Posted by WaitingontheLord

Oh, I've never had one. I can only imagine how painful! I'm glad you're getting over yours.

Posted by FairLady

Hi Serena,

Since you read my blog, I thought I'd pop over to yours! :-) I'm so sorry to read that you had to deal with a clogged duct. I am also prone to them. I also had a mastitis with my first and with my fifth. Thankfully, with these last two babies, I am not having as many. For me, the number one thing that causes them is that I am not getting enough sleep or not drinking enough water. Almost every single time I've had a clogged duct, it has been after a bad night.

The number one thing that has helped me was a tip given to me by another momys. I wet a washcloth, stick it in the microwave for about 15-20 secs. I then put this into a ziploc baggie, and stick the baggie in my bra over the spot. I cannot believe how much easier it has been to deal with clogged ducts since I was given this tip. I haven't had one evolve into a mastitis since I learned this either.

Lots of vitamin C and Echinacea seems to help, too, but nothing helps like that washcloth in a bag!

Hope you are able to stay free and clear of any more clogged ducts!

(Oh, and thanks for looking at my blog. I hope we can afford that house, too.I just don't know how quickly this house will sell..... we are hoping to put it up for sale soon.)

Jennifer <><

Posted by mel

Thanks for your advice. Last night was the longest night of my life.

I woke up the night before with pain and tenderness on my left breast but still i went to church hoping and praying that it will just go away with no inkling that it could be a blocked duct. During service, I realised to my horror that it hurts even when i tried to lift my hands in worship.

When I reached home, the pain got worse and i read my bk on bf and - spot on- the description clearly shows that i had a blocked milk duct. That was when I msg u. i tried to massage it but as u know, the pain was unbearable. Wat's worse was i developed a slight fever and was shivering. I went to bed early in the evening with Timothy and prayed hard for God's hand of healing to be upon me. IN His grace n love, His holy spirit woke me up at regular intervals during the night to massage my breasts and when i prayed for wisdom to unblocked the ducts, I received your msg. The word HARD stood out very much and despite my reluctance, I massaged HARD! I nursed on the affected breast for a few times and pumped the other to prevent engorgement. N gradually i felt the lump softening. There's still swelling but the pain has very much diminished. During the ordeal, many negative thoughts came to mind prompting me to give up but God is so... good. He replaced all these thoughts with positive ones as i felt better and the fever subsided.Praise the LOrd!