Things to Know When You Have a Clogged Milk Duct
Key takeaways:
A clogged milk duct can be one of the most uncomfortable aspects of breastfeeding.
Many times, there are simple solutions to unclogging a duct — such as a warm compress or massaging the lump.
If the lump does not go away in a couple of days, contact your healthcare provider. It could be a sign that you have an infection.
Having a baby comes with all sorts of twists, turns, challenges, and surprises. One common problem that breastfeeding women might experience is a clogged milk duct. Some women go their entire breastfeeding journey without a single clogged duct. Others experience them on a regular basis. In this article, four moms share their experiences with clogged ducts, what they feel like, and how they find relief.
What is a clogged milk duct?
Milk ducts are the tubes that carry milk from the breast to the nipple. Clogged ducts can range in severity from mild to complex. It can feel anywhere from mildly uncomfortable to extremely painful. A plugged milk duct can sometimes lead to an infection called mastitis.
Clogged ducts can happen for a variety of reasons, including:
Spacing feedings too far apart
Not draining the breasts enough during feedings
A poor latch
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Some solutions to unclog a blocked duct include:
A hot compress
Pumping
Hand expressing milk in the affected breast
Massaging the breast area
In some cases, medical intervention
What does a clogged duct feel like?
Stefanie Leone is a stay-at-home mom from Jarrettsville, Maryland. She has a 9-month-old child. Stefanie wanted to strictly nurse. But she says because of latch issues, she is exclusively pumping.
“My first clogged duct just felt like a tiny knot or ball in my breast,” she says. “Milk flow seemed restricted. It wasn’t so much painful, but it was noticeable.”
She used heat, vibration, massage, and manual pumping to clear the first clogged duct. But in her 9 months of breastfeeding, she says she has experienced more than 20 clogged ducts.
Most of the time, she was able to find simple solutions to unclog her milk ducts.
“About 80 percent of my left breast was clogged,” she recalls of her worst episode. “I tried everything, including sunflower lecithin, massage, heat, shower, ice, and Motrin. My entire breast was hard, and it felt like a softball was shoved inside my breast.”
Stefanie went to the doctor for treatment for an infection of that clogged duct. She ended up having ultrasound therapy at a physical therapist’s office to fully break up the clog.
Once she was properly fitted for breast pump flanges, she says, she had fewer clogged ducts.
A lactation counselor's story
Kathleen Winters is a lactation counselor and doula from Newport News, Virginia. She has two children, ages 4 years and 16 months.
Part of what led to her career path were the struggles she faced with her own breastfeeding journey.
“My oldest had a severe tongue tie,” she says. “It was difficult to diagnose and treat, and I pumped exclusively for the first few months of her life.”
Kathleen experienced her first clogged milk duct fairly early in her breastfeeding journey.
“I had recurrent plugged ducts with my oldest,” she says. “I could feel it; your whole breast gets really hard, and it felt like a bruise and a sore spot. It feels like someone punched you in the breast. I knew it could lead to mastitis, so I called my lactation consultant. She showed me how to do breast massage. And I submerged it [the breast] in a hot bath and was hand expressing for hours until it finally came out.”
Kathleen experienced clogged ducts with her second child as well.
“This time, I was at least more prepared,” she says. “I was able to handle and clear some of the clog much quicker.”
Even with her experience and training, there was a time while she was nursing her youngest child that she was unable to clear a clog. It developed into mastitis and required medical intervention.
How it felt for a lactation counselor and doula
Sara BhaduriHauck is a mother of four from Delta, Pennsylvania. She is also a lactation counselor and postpartum doula. She never got a clogged duct until breastfeeding her fourth baby.
“I woke up one morning and just had a lot of soreness in my breast,” she says. “A lot of people will say they felt a lump. I never felt a lump. It just felt like a deep bruise. It was just really tender for about 2 days. I filled a haakaa (silicone breast pump) with warm water and epsom salt and used a hot compress with massage.”
It felt like a marble
Amy Lentner, Washington D.C.-based doula and certified lactation consultant, is a mother of two who knows the feeling of a clogged duct.
She breastfed her first child for 18 months and her second child for 2 years. When it came to breastfeeding at first, “I had no idea what I was doing,” she says.
Her first experience with a clogged duct came when her first child started sleeping for longer stretches of time. Clogs happened again during the weaning process.
“My breast was warm to the touch,” she says. “It felt like there was a marble under the skin, and it was a dull, throbbing pain. I was very aware of the specific area I was feeling this in.”
She tried taking a hot shower and massaging her breast. She also tried what she calls the “down-under nursing position.” That's where she pointed her baby's chin in the direction of the clog to try to unclog it.
With her second child, Amy says she paid attention to her body. If she felt the slightest inkling of a clogged duct, she would do a warm water and epsom salt compress. She would reposition her baby at the breast and express milk by hand or with a pump.
“With my second, they were much milder,” she says. “My breast only felt sore and maybe a little tender.”
What does the doctor say?
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
Medical Editor
When a milk duct is blocked, it can lead to inflammation around the duct or milk gland. Any time you have inflammation anywhere in your body, you can experience pain and swelling. These are two of the five classic signs of inflammation. The other signs are warmth, redness and “loss of function,” which is why you might also experience decreased milk flow when you have a blocked duct.
When milk ducts aren’t completely emptied, the breast milk just sits in the duct. Milk ducts aren’t made to stretch. When breast milk is stuck, the walls of the milk duct open up and let some breast milk leak into the tissue around the duct. This isn’t supposed to happen — so your immune system gets to work. And during that process, inflammation develops.
Since blocked milk ducts are painful, it’s hard to continue breastfeeding through the pain. But this creates a vicious cycle, where more breast milk sits in ducts, creating more inflammation.
Nothing to fear
While clogged ducts can be uncomfortable, they can be easily treated. Many times, you can handle a clogged duct at home. But your healthcare provider can also share tips and any necessary treatments.
“It sounds really scary to get a clogged duct,” says Kathleen, the doula in Virginia. “It is unpleasant but not horrible.”
And, she says, it's “nothing to fear."
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