Engorgement causing you immense pain? Could be a clogged ducts! Keep reading on for some clogged milk duct remedy!
The happiness, bliss, and all around excitement after having your baby is nothing less than perfect. But what happens once you get baby home and all of a sudden your boobs are the size of Pamela Anderson’s?? You could possibly have clogged ducts! But don’t worry there are clogged milk duct remedy.
You’re in pain everywhere from childbirth and you have a new baby to care for and then all of a sudden your boobs are massive and you’re on the verge of getting mastitis because your ducts are clogged and milk just won’t come out. What do you do??
I had this same exact problem with my second born. I was so engorged I would cry in pain.
I tried pumping before they got huge and nothing would come out. I tried massaging my breast and nipple area to get some milk to come out and nothing.
They just kept growing and growing with backed up milk.
This pain was worse than childbirth, in my opinion.
I tried everything to get some relief from the throbbing pain. My boobs were making my chest hurt from the skin being pulled down and they were tender to the touch; to the point I couldn’t wear a shirt!
I was walking around shirtless in excruciating pain. To give some perspective, before pregnancy I was a small C cup size and I could guess based on photos I have that I was easily a size DD cup after birth when I was in this engorgement pain.
I had friends and my mom recommend all sort of remedies for relief. I tried putting cabbage leaves on my breast to somehow draw out the swelling?
No clue. But I tried it. Nothing.
Essential Oils
I tried essential oils to help the swelling and to relax me. Nothing. I tried bending over into a bucket of hot water to bring down swelling and relax/unblock the ducts. Nothing.
I tried so many different things and none brought immediate relief. Pumping was too excruciating and I tried self expressing in the shower but that didn’t work either.
I just stood in the shower crying in pain because I couldn’t even touch them.
Massage
Finally my mom got a little tough love on me and told me I needed to just tough massage my breast and get things flowing.
She gave me a sip of wine to calm me down and told my husband to do it for me since I was too gentle on myself.
So she held the baby in another room and I laid on the bed and bit down on a towel. My husband grabbed some coconut oil so he didn’t pull my skin and he massaged my breast.
And ladies don’t worry about this turning your husband on, it won’t. You screaming and crying in pain will not excite him.
But I will say after the immediate pain and crying subsided, it actually began to work.
He was able to massage through my pain and gave the needed pressure to break up the clogged ducts that I couldn’t do myself.
My mom felt bad for my crying and gave me a bag of candy to take my mind off of the pain. So I had a TV show on and some chocolate to distract me.
I suggest if you are struggling with engorgement and are afraid you’re near the verge of getting mastitis if you don’t do anything, try the tough massage method.
Grab your husband, partner, baby daddy, or whoever to help you out mama! Get some candy or something yummy, put on a distracting show in the background and don’t forget the oil and get those ducts unclogged!
After my husband did that for about an hour or two, I was able to pump out some milk and after about 24 hours I was totally “deflated” and back to just normal milk producing breast size.
And if you are still too engorged or in too much pain, consult a doctor. I am not a physician, so please consult your doctor first. These are just my tips and other things I tried to help relieve the pain of engorgement.
Read more postpartum care tips here!
What other tips/tricks did you do to help with engorgement? Leave a comment below!
Leave a Reply