Blocked Ducts and Clogged Nipple Pores

Blocked Duct Care Plan

“Heat, Rest, Empty the Breast & Add Ibuprofen”

HEAT before nursing or pumping
COLD after nursing or pumping
Ibuprofen 600mg every 6 hours with food/snack, for 48 hours as an anti-inflammatory (though will also help with discomfort)
Frequent nursing or pumping with gentle breast massage and strokes toward nipple.
COMBING the breast: get in the shower, soap up the breast, and use a wide toothed comb (or the long flat handle of a toothbrush) to comb from the base of breast down toward nipple, from each quadrant of the breast.
DANGLE FEED (or pump) after shower/combing the breast. Lay baby on her back on floor, get over her, hands & knees with breast “dangling down” in free-fall, no bra, and nurse (or pump). Gravity helps draw any blockage down and out.

Clogged Nipple Pore too? If you ALSO see what looks like a tiny white or yellowish “dot” on the nipple immediately after nursing or pumping, that is likely a related “clogged nipple pore” or “milk blister”.
ADD the following to the treatment above:

Warm Soaks twice daily (shower counts) – warm/hot compress (wet washcloth or soft paper towel) or “dip”/lean nipple into a bowl of warm water for 2 minutes.
wear a cotton ball dipped in olive oil over your nipple for an hour (or longer is ok) after the warm soaks to help soften the local blockage. Then,
Apply a tiny dab of Hydrocortisone cream 3x/day to (only) the sensitive “clogged pore” dot.

Notes:
When a blockage clears, the breast still may feel bruised and tender for several days.

Do not “over-enthusiastically” massage/comb too hard – you don’t want to bruise already sensitive tissue.

Remember, a sore breast + fever and chills and flu-like symptoms = mastitis