Hellobee Boards

Replying here to partially chime in, but also to see what others say!

I got some awful plugged ducts the other week, and I'm determined to not have it happen again, so I got the sunflower lecithin granules-I had read somewhere that the sunflower was preferable to the soy. I've been putting a tablespoon in my oatmeal each morning, but I'm not sure if that's the right amount since all the resources online I've seen give the dosage for capsules? Kellymom has some info:

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/lecithin/

I used the soy lecithin until my LO got diagnosed with MSPI, then I stopped using it.

I had a TON of clogged ducts and clogged nipple pores the first 5-6 months. The only thing that eventually helped for me was when I started pumping less, because before that I had kind of an oversupply problem (up until that point, I was pumping 6-7 times a day and producing 45+ oz a day--I was an EPer).

When I cut down to 4 pumps a day and started only producing 32 oz or so, I never got clogged ducts again. It was so weird.

OH, another thing I remembered---what I thought were clogged ducts were usually actually an invisible (to the eye) clogged nipple pore. I think this issue is more common if you pump, because if you ONLY bf, the baby's saliva dissolves a lot of the leftover dried milk.

I also started really scrubbing my nips well with a towel after showers (and sometimes even picking any white residue off) and that helped a lot, too.

Since the clogged pores were invisible to the eye, I only figured it out after multiple (I probably went through 2 dozen instances of what I thought were clogged ducts) attempts at the hot showers, massages, etc with no relief--and then I read somewhere (Kelly's mom?) about soaking a cotton ball in olive oil and sticking it on the nipple for about an hours before pumping--that would sometimes open up a pore and when I would pump, milk would come shooting out and I would have immediate relief). After I experienced that a few times, I would just sterilize a needle and kind of lightly scrape around till I found the clogged pore. Once when I did that, milk shot out probably 5 ft, across the room.

The things we do for our kids.

@Anagram: OMG I wish I had known all of this while I was EP'ing! Probably would have given me so much more relief!

@Anagram: Soul sisters I tell ya! First the baby sleep and now clogged ducts sympathies. lol I remembered trying all those techniques and nothing helped. It was so effing painful! Not even breastfeeding relieved the pain or removed the clogged duct! I could feel him sucking and the pulling of the duct/milk but no release. Took me almost 6 months to realize what was going on. Oof!

@Anagram: OMG!! Yes!! I've even left work because I was in such excruciating pain. It was always on the side of my boob so I couldn't put my arm down! Since I'm at a computer all day with my arm touching my boob while typing... yea... no. Owwwww!!!!

@MrsLonghorn: only when I had a plug. It didn't work *every* time, but usually it did. Sometimes I had to apply fresh cotton balls for a 2nd or 3rd round before it loosened up.