Have milk, but it won't drain

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote:

I have since done something rather radical: I pierced two shallow holes
in the right nipple using a sterile syringe needle (at the suggestion
of the original plastic surgeon in Australia - although I doubt he
thought I'd be doing it myself!) and guess what - after the first drops
of blood, clear liquid started coming out, and the absolutely superb
lactation consultant who guided me in this (Lucia Jenkins in Wakefield,
MA) recognised colostrum right away. Hallelujah! Baby latched on
immediately, and WOW she actually SWALLOWED after a few moments of
sucking!

*sputter* DAMN! woman, you are HARD CORE!

I'm so glad it worked, and hope it works out for the other breast, too.

*gives you a supportive hug and tries to stop her eyeballs from twitching*

Michelle
Flutist

Jess wrote:
"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message
ups.com...
I did contact him and he'd have been happy to do it but he's in Sydney,
Australia, and I'm in litigation-happy USA where I couldn't find anyone
willing to do this for me.

Can he recommend anyone, or is he coming back Stateside anytime soon?

Jess

She's the one that moved. Her PS isn't on vacation down under.

"Anne Rogers" wrote:
wow! amazing, glad your surgeon was able to suggest something, in the end
it is fairly similar to what you do if you get a plugged duct!

Sorry, Anne, I don't mean to pick on you.....

Several times, I've read the word "duct" in this thread that should have
been "pore." Milk ducts are down inside your breast. Having a plugged duct
is painful inside the breast, back away from the nipple. The "hole" in the
nipple that the milk comes out of is a milk pore. If a pore is blocked,
there may be a white spot on the nipple. This is also called a milk bleb.
It can sometimes be cleared with the use of a sterile needle.

I cringe when I imagine a new mother trying to figure out how to clear a
plugged duct with a needle at home.

Please let us know if these terms are used differently somewhere else in the
world. I'm in the U.S.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest, :-)
-Patty, mom of 1+2

"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote and I snipped:
I have since done something rather radical: I pierced two shallow holes
in the right nipple using a sterile syringe needle and guess what - after
the first drops
of blood, clear liquid started coming out, and the absolutely superb
lactation consultant who guided me in this recognised colostrum right
away. Hallelujah! Baby latched on
immediately, and WOW she actually SWALLOWED after a few moments of
sucking!

All I can say is WOW! Oh, and congrats. Here's to successful
breastfeeding!!!

-Patty, mom of 1+2

Several times, I've read the word "duct" in this thread that should have
been "pore." Milk ducts are down inside your breast. Having a plugged
duct is painful inside the breast, back away from the nipple. The "hole"
in the nipple that the milk comes out of is a milk pore. If a pore is
blocked, there may be a white spot on the nipple. This is also called a
milk bleb. It can sometimes be cleared with the use of a sterile needle.

I cringe when I imagine a new mother trying to figure out how to clear a
plugged duct with a needle at home.

Please let us know if these terms are used differently somewhere else in
the world. I'm in the U.S.

interesting, I've never seen the two referred to as different things, the
whole thing seems to have been referred to as "milk ducts". I've never heard
the word pore used and I've seen lactation consultants in the UK and talked
about this kind of thing.

Anne

Fantastic news - glad you're getting some milk out!

Suzanne

"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message
ups.com...
I apologize for sounding blunt in my previous post, but I was in tears
of frustration as I wrote it after having spent a day and night in
fruitless search of information and help, realising my time was running
out.

I have since done something rather radical: I pierced two shallow holes
in the right nipple using a sterile syringe needle (at the suggestion
of the original plastic surgeon in Australia - although I doubt he
thought I'd be doing it myself!) and guess what - after the first drops
of blood, clear liquid started coming out, and the absolutely superb
lactation consultant who guided me in this (Lucia Jenkins in Wakefield,
MA) recognised colostrum right away. Hallelujah! Baby latched on
immediately, and WOW she actually SWALLOWED after a few moments of
sucking!

Lucia cut to the chase right away, realising there were simply no pores
to work with here, as they were all buried below the scar tissue. She
saw that I was about to become engorged and any additional milk
stimulation could be disastrous unless drainage was achieved. She said
I could do one of three things: (a) go to the hospital and beg to have
holes pierced in there (against all standard procedures and protocols,
given that nobody's ever done this before), (b) should the hospital
refuse, just go to the nearest piercing parlour and request several
vertical piercings - since it's well known that pierced mums get milk
even out of the piercing holes, or (c) just do the thing myself!!!

I was desperate enough, and went for it there and then. We poked for
softer spots in the scar tissue, and identified a few good candidates.
I then took the syringe and gently scratched the first spot and sort of
pushed the needle into it. A few drops of blood came out and I
persisted with pushing the needle further. Can you imagine my joy when
the colostrum started coming out? I had a WET nipple for the very
first time!!!!

Establishing the second hole was more as an exercise to see if I could
repeat the success of the first. And since I could (YES!!) I decided I
would continue the process at home.

Lucia advised me to poke several holes, use a warm compress, then pump,
and continue pumping if I can get something to come out. But if
nothing is coming out, not to pump.

After the baby finished sucking on that first pierced nipple the breast
felt less firm already - a clear sign that she had managed to extract
more colostrum still.

Oh and Lucia said not to worry if the baby gets some of my blood in the
process - many mums have bleeding nipples from breastfeeding and it's
no harm to the child.

I cannot describe what a relief I felt today! It was such a powerful
feeling, being able to take my destiny in my own hands again, rather
than depend on an unwilling medical establishment to help me. It was
almost greater than the home birth I have just had less than a week
ago. I feel so empowered.

(Not that I'm recommending everyone follow my route, but just know if
you're in a similar situation that you shouldn't take no for an
answer!)

Thank you all for your patience with me and I hope this story inspires
or helps someone out there.

*sputter* DAMN! woman, you are HARD CORE!

I'm so glad it worked, and hope it works out for the other breast, too.

*gives you a supportive hug and tries to stop her eyeballs from twitching*

Michelle
Flutist

I had to laugh at your reaction, but it's actually by no means a done
deal for me at this point. In fact, the holes closed up very shortly
afterwards, and I had to poke them open again and endure a tiny bit of
bleeding before the colostrum came out again. I was able to open a
third colostrum hole in the same nipple (not all holes lead to a milk
pore!), and manual massage yielded about 5-10 ml of colostrum on the
surface of the nipple, which I then gently sucked up drop by drop using
the syringe. The baby will get that with her next feed. I am grateful
that she is still latching on, although not really able to feed yet.

I don't think I can pierce the other nipple, the scar tissue seems too
thick for the needle to go through without some major pain.

I am going to the emergency room tomorrow and if they refuse to help me
straight to a piercing parlour after that.

I don't know how many holes your pierced on each side, but if I
remember correctly there are about 8 milk ducts on each side, so
I think that is the final number you should be aiming at.

8 is a bare minimum, but they don't all seem to drain every time, not sure
quite how it works, but I know sometimes I pump and get only 1 or 2 shooting
out, other times well over 8 and couldn't count them.

Anne

Just to close the topic - I was seen yesterday by a duct cannulation
specialist who is director of research at the Breast Centre at Faulkner
Hospital here in Boston, and she failed to make a passage to the milk
ducts. She said the needle approach I tried was sure to produce closed
holes as the damage heals, so that wouldn't be a viable option. I am
basically unable to breastfeed.

I was misled by the original cosmetic surgeon, dr Michael Richards, in
Sydney when he told me at the time of the surgery that I would probably
be able to breastfeed, but if the scar tissue blocked it repiercing
with a needle would reopen the pores. He was honest enough on the
phone last week to say that he had never actually attempted to reopen
milk pores after nipple reduction surgery.

"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message
ups.com...
Just to close the topic - I was seen yesterday by a duct cannulation
specialist who is director of research at the Breast Centre at Faulkner
Hospital here in Boston, and she failed to make a passage to the milk
ducts. She said the needle approach I tried was sure to produce closed
holes as the damage heals, so that wouldn't be a viable option. I am
basically unable to breastfeed.

I was misled by the original cosmetic surgeon, dr Michael Richards, in
Sydney when he told me at the time of the surgery that I would probably
be able to breastfeed, but if the scar tissue blocked it repiercing
with a needle would reopen the pores. He was honest enough on the
phone last week to say that he had never actually attempted to reopen
milk pores after nipple reduction surgery.


I am sorry to hear of it. I just wanted to say that I so admire your
dedication and bravery in what you did to try and make bf work. I personally
couldn't do it myself.