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Shooting pains in breasts after pumping
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Anonymous
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I have a 6-week-old. I am both nursing and pumping (though mostly pumping because my DD is a very inefficient nurser). Recently, within about a 1/2 hour after pumping I have shooting pains in either one or both of my breasts. They subside after about 10 minutes but are quite painful when it is happening. My breasts are also quite painful while I am pumping but that is more of an external pain from being pulled by the pump (I assume). This has been going on since my DD was born but the shooting pains seem to be getting worse and the nipple soreness has not gotten better, which I expected it to once my breasts adjusted to nursing/pumping. Has anyone experienced this before? Any idea what it is or what to do about it? Thanks!
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Anonymous
| Shooting pain and nipple pain are often cause by "clogged nipple pores". You can get info on kelly mom to see if it might apply. It's pretty under-diagnosed - most people only know about clogged ducts or mastitis. |
Anonymous
| Yes, that is classic thrush...you have it in the milk ducts. You and baby need to be treated together. You really need a two week course of diflucan. Ductal thrush is VERY HARD to get rid of completely and if you undertreat it'll come back in a month or so. |
Anonymous
I disagree....A clogged pore wouldn't cause shooting pain 10 minutes after pumping. |
Anonymous
| I thought I had thrush, with similar symptoms, but turned out to be nipple vasospasms. It was SO painful but went away after a while. however while I had it I found it helped to put a heating pad on my breasts after nursing. |
Anonymous
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I had this pain with both of my kids (most recently with my now 3 1/2 month old). It wasn't thrush or anything else that my doctor or lactation consultant could label. It hurt like crazy, but I just sucked it up, and it eventually went away...for me, by around 2 months. Seems like a distant memory now, but oh, was it painful. I would often tell my husband that it felt like I was repeatedly getting stabbed in the chest and that is was worse than labor.
Hope it ends for you soon! Good luck! |
Anonymous
me too. i remember doubling over abot 20 minutes after nursing. it did go away! |
Anonymous
| I had this too and thought it was thrush, but both baby and I were given a clean bill of health. It's mostly gone away on its own, though occasionally I still feel it. It almost feels to me like the milk is refilling the ducts or something - no idea if that even makes sense though! |
Anonymous
| I've had both clogged nipple pores/blocked milk ducts and this post-pumping shooting pain. They're very different. I never had an explanation for the breast pain, but my lactation consultant didn't think it was anything to worry about. |
Anonymous
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It could actually be a second let-down. Have you tried nursing/or pumping when you experience it?
You could also try manually expressing. As for pain while pumping - try a larger cone size. Also, adjust the suction and pump rate. You can rev it up in the beginning, but then slow it down a little once you get going. |
Anonymous
Well, probably because she wasn't the one in pain. Pain shouldn't have to accompany nursing and usualy indicates a problem. With the exception of vasospasm there is usually treatment or steps to resolve nursing pain. Your LC doesn't sound very good if that's what she told you....jeeze. In my opinion most cases of breast pain without an apparent cause (either clogged poor or ducts, mastitis) is usually a result of underlying yeast (thrush) in the ducts. More rarely vasospasm. Breast pain without a known cause certainly warrants a course of diflucan to rid the breasts of any yeast. |
Anonymous
How were you given a clean bill of health? There are no tests to diagnose ductal yeast. You can't see it. It's a diagnosis based on symptoms...most specifically pain and more specifically pain AFTER NURSING when the breast is "empty". The only way to rule out ductal yeast as a cause of breat pain is to do a course of diflucan. If after the treatment it hasn't improved you can rule it out. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Repost
Good luck trying to get most Gyns to agree. I had the same shooting pain after nursing as OP, also with no apparent cause, and I too thought it might be thrush. Went to my gyn and she refused to prescribe Diflucan, saying there was no visual evidence of thrush either on me or on DD. Went to someone else in the practice, same answer. The pain has eventually decreased on its own, but definitely no thanks to the doctors. |
Anonymous
Yep, that's the real bitch of it. Most gyns are completely clueless when it comes to anything breastfeeding related except for mastitis and they're too arrogant to learn anything from a patient who has done research. In a perfect world you would have an enlighted pediatrician with a lactation consultant on staff. If the LC suspected thrush the pediatrician would treat the nursing mom/baby. It's a travesty that nursing moms are told to live with pain or wean because of physician ignorance. I've heard that the breastfeeding ctr on K street supplies a Breastfeeding friendly physician directory (pediatricians & ob's) so that may be a resource if you are having trouble. I personally have my kids go to Capitol Medical Group and they've treated me/baby together with great success (not all of the doctor's so if you suspect thrush you should ask the LC who you should see). If all else fails and you are living with breastpain go see a breast specialist. I recommend Dr. Feldman at Georgetown....she is up to date on treatment protocols for ductal yeast...I'm not sure about the others. |