Wanting to go EFF but dealing with mastitis and clogged ducts

[loveisintheairkathryn]

Writing this for my wife, a non-redditor.

Our first child/baby boy will be 7 weeks tomorrow. We've combo fed from nearly the beginning because of low supply and him being slow to put on weight. After continually dealing with clogged ducts and going on antibiotics for mastitis twice--and continued low supply--we finally decided to go EFF last Friday. But then her boobs starting acting up again and her OB put her on dicloxacillin for two weeks.

So...we want to dry up her supply, but she needs to drain her boobs to deal with the mastitis, right? So far she's been using cabbage leaves and No More Milk tea while still pumping/feeding every three hours, +/- 30 mins. She tried to spread out the pumping more to reduce the number of pump sessions per day, but that seemed to bring more pain and issues.

She has been talking to a lactation specialist, along with her OB and PCP through messages, but that might be part of the problem: too many cooks in the kitchen. And they all tend to speak in generalities (X can happen, you can try Y, everybody is different) so we rarely come out of those with a clear strategy. Seeing the PCP again tomorrow, so hopefully an actual conversation now that we're clear on what we want to do will help.

She's really feeling down right now. She talked yesterday about wanting her life and her body back (meaning not constantly dealing with boob pain so she can enjoy time with me and the baby), and it breaks my heart. Ready to be done, but the goals of dealing with mastitis and drying up supply seem to be in conflict.

So: we'll keep talking to our medical professionals, but just curious if you all have gone through something similar and what worked for you. Thanks so much.

 

[billmcenaney]

@loveisintheairkathryn I had clogged ducts a few times, currently 10 weeks pp. I massaged them and expressed at least once in 4 hours. Once it gets better she can try spacing the pumping sessions to 5 hours etc etc and slowly reduce the amount of pumps. I found once I got down to 3 pumps a day which was last Sunday, the milk went dramatically and I have a very low supply now. But everybody is different of course, good luck to her, she'll get there.

 

[spencer1997]

@loveisintheairkathryn I haven’t gone through this myself, but I’m gonna assume she may need to take care of the mastitis first and wait until that clears up first before drying out her supply.

Has she considered taking sunflower lecithin? It is supposed to help unclog ducts and prevent clogging in the future. I took it while I was drying up my supply to help prevent any issues.

Best of luck!

 

[richgardner]

@loveisintheairkathryn not going through what she is, but solidarity in trying to quit pumping. It’s tough. i think it’s going to take me over a month to reduce the amount of pumps and let my body adjust. I hope she gets a clear action plan! it’s tough with the “maybes”

 

[akersw]

@loveisintheairkathryn I can’t speak to clogged ducts, but I will say that the behind the counter Sudafed from the pharmacy is the best way to destroy your supply. It wiped out about 50-60% of my supply after 2 days, enough that I could stop taking it and my supply dropped off after that within the week.

 

[emmanuelkagie]

@loveisintheairkathryn I weaned over the course of 6 weeks. Slow and steady won the race for me - I had one clogged duct at the very end for about 2 days and that was it. It sounds like your wife is still removing the same amount of milk at the same frequency so she’s not going to have much success drying up as she’s still telling her body to produce just as much milk. And with your little one being 7 weeks old, her supply is most likely going to continue to increase as baby gets older and hungry. I admit I was lucky in winging it when I dropped pumps initially. I just stopped waking up overnight and dropped one of my mid day pumps as I was solo parenting and couldn’t find the time to do it. Towards the end when I was down to 4 pumps, though, I started dropping the next one by reducing the time I pumped. So instead of 20 minutes it was 18 for a few days, and so on. Perhaps your wife could start there - one pump per day should go down a minute each day until it’s dropped. Every body is different so maybe this won’t forestall clogs and mastitis but it could work.

 

[katrina2017]

@emmanuelkagie Forgetting to pump was also a “strategy” of mine lol

ETA agreed issues will continue as long as she pumps the same, her supply will not dry up.

 

[emmanuelkagie]

@katrina2017 Yeah I feel like I woke up one day and went from 8 to 5-6. Even at 4 a day I was still pumping the same amount. 3 a day was when it really started to decline. I went down to 1 pretty quickly after that and only did 1 a day for two days and decided I had enough lol. I ate some real butter and that meant it was over for me.

 

[mdtrob]

@loveisintheairkathryn @ OP how did things turn out? I’m in the exact same position. Tired of being chained to a pump and have mastitis.

Did you use Sudafed? How long till the mastitis cleared?

 

[faceoff]

@loveisintheairkathryn I think quiting cold turkey would be the best way. You'd be sore for a week but then it's all over.

 

[katrina2017]

@loveisintheairkathryn I’m not sure if these were clogged ducts, but I did get lumps that were painful and I massaged them out in the shower. I never had mastitis. I quit pumping at about 3 weeks pp.

Basically the longer she pumps the longer this is going to take. But you can do it gradually. I started dropping night time pump sessions, one every couple of nights, and went to bed with an ice pack and a bottle of ibuprofen. I started day sessions next by spacing them out more to every 4-5 hours and reducing the time I was pumping, eventually down to 2 minutes a side (15 min was my max). Once I was down to three short pump sessions a day I stopped. I think I took two weeks to drop pump sessions entirely from doing 8 a day. I also used cabbage leaves.

It is a painful process, no way around that really. I was advised by my midwife to pump and hand express for comfort only, just to relieve the pressure, but I took a more gradual approach because we wanted to still give breastmilk as we transitioned the baby to formula.

 

[katrina2017]

The important thing for me was ice packs (lansinoh makes round boob ones) and ibuprofen between each and every pump - and switching the ice packs out constantly!

I also bought cabbage cream and stuck it in the fridge and would put cold cabbage cream on every time I switched out ice packs.

It makes spacing pumps out more and cutting back on time spent pumping go A LOT faster with waaay fewer clogs.

 

[lowlyservantjon]

@loveisintheairkathryn I could've written this myself.

I'm 6wpp and I was dealing with the same thing - clogs in both breasts, I think as a result of my dumb wearable pumps, but did not progress to mastitis. After dealing with a low supply it was the final straw that made me decide to switch to formula and wean off pumping for good. I talked to a LC who recommended I reduce the number of minutes I pump while maintaining the same number of pumps per day, then cut a pump, then reduce number of minutes, then cut a pump again, all over the course of 1.5-2 weeks when in theory I should be dried up. She suggested ice packs and cabbage leaves to help with inflammation between pumps. Also oddly enough said that peppermint tea might help dry up the supply and, off the record, Sudafed.

It seems to be going okay so far with minimal discomfort. This was absolutely the right decision as my mental health is already so much better, I'm feeling more present with my son, and I'm really enjoying the additional time I'm spending with him. Best of luck!!

 

[evanr1]

@loveisintheairkathryn I’m going through the exact same thing. My baby is just over 8 weeks and I just finished another round of antibiotics. I reduced the number of pumps per day gradually while I was on the antibiotics thinking that would help avoid another bout of mastitis. For reference, I was pumping 8-10 times a day and I reduced it to 3-4 times by the time the meds were gone. Add an extra hour between pumps every 3-4 days. I used ice packs after each pump sesh and whenever I was in discomfort and wore a tight fitting sports bra to help with pain. Cabbage leaves, Cabo cream, peppermint tea. My supply is still coming in but it’s lessening and I’m much happier now with fewer pumps. Plus haven’t had another issue with clogged ducts (yet). I’m also taking sunflower lethicin 4 times a day. Not sure what the secret solution is with this but I’ve found a happy medium for now.

Edit: wanted to add that my OB warned I would probably have to go through another round of mastitis because drying up/battling mastitis IS in conflict. She suggested Sudafed (the kind behind the pharmacy counter) to help dry you out. I haven’t done that yet but I bought it just in case.

 

[melzy]

@loveisintheairkathryn So sorry you're going through this. I used this guide to plan my weaning from exclusively pumping beginning at 3w postpartum. In particular, there's a visual plan toward the bottom of this post that was really helpful for me in planning out the weaning. It was helpful for my mental health to see the plan and know that there was an end in sight. I recommend that she targets the overnight pumping sessions for dropping first -- it will help her mental health a lot to not have to pump in the night.

As I got closer to dropping pumps completely, I bought a cheap hand pump so that I could take the edge off when things hurt without getting fully hooked up to the pump, and that was really helpful, too.

Ibuprofen and tylenol on rotation for the pain, plus ice packs on her breasts can also help.

 

[mjflores]

@loveisintheairkathryn Have not gotten mastitis (yet) but plenty of clogs and it’s so painful. I’m also currently weaning. I’ve been told to spread out the pumping sessions gradually and /or pump when uncomfortable (easier said than done). I’m currently trying to pump every 6 hours. Also sunflower lecithin has definitely been helpful-though the pain is still there. I think the goal is to eventually get to every 8 hours, to 12 hours to done. I’m so sick of pumping it does a number on mental health. I’m semi convinced it’s a hate crime for folks with breast tissue (joking but kinda not really).

 

[elilybell]

@loveisintheairkathryn The best thing for my persistent clogged ducts by far was therapeutic ultrasound - nothing else worked on the really persistent lumpy areas. Started when I was in hospital then luckily I could go to free follow up sessions afterwards (took 3 times in total). For me pumping/gentle massage/ice wasn’t cutting it when I was really super engorged and clogged, but it’s been manageable with those things since.

 

[heegar]

@loveisintheairkathryn You’ve gotten a lot of great tips here, so I’ll just add that my PCP advised I express just enough to relieve the pressure to prevent mastitis. I couldn’t figure out hand expressing, so I ended up just going bra-free overnight and letting the milk leak onto one of those absorbent bed pads. I think that kept things moving enough to avoid any issues, but not so much that it signaled my body to make more.

Also I’ve heard Sudafed can help if your wife is able to take that.

 

[jimdubu]

@loveisintheairkathryn I didn’t have mastitis but for clogged ducts I’d take a shower when it was getting full and painful and hand express enough to be comfortable. Doesn’t need to all come out. If you drain it entirely it tells your body you need more, or that was my understanding. Hot shower helps a ton. Try to cut back on how frequently you need to shower. Solidarity though, it sucks but it will end and you will be able to just enjoy your baby and pain free titties

*this was all written directly to the pumping mother

 

[carlms]

@loveisintheairkathryn After my second bout of mastitis left me in the hospital for four days with severe sepsis, I worked with my lactation consultant and midwives to reduce my supply as quickly possible at 4 weeks postpartum. This included taking max dose of behind the counter Sudafed, applying cabbage leaves to my breasts, and only pumping for relief. I was also taking antibiotics at the time which gave me some sense of security in the event I developed mastitis again. Supply was almost completely gone after a week. I believe I started reducing the amount of Sudafed after 4 days. First day or so I pumped 3 times a day and tried to pump fewer amounts and/or less time per pump each day. I believe around day 4 I felt like I had to do a longer pump session to fully drain and after that I felt significant less engorgement / discomfort.

All of the above included frequent check ins with my lactation consultants and midwives and I encourage your wife to do the same before adopting any new methods especially if she is prone to clogged ducts / mastitis.