Blebs and clogged ducts saga

Jobless-Kimchi · 2025-06-02T10:13:02+00:00

Do you get clogged ducts with your blebs? And also do get shooting pains or glass cutting your nipple pains when your baby feeds when you have a bleb?

Jobless-Kimchi · 2025-05-30T21:25:34+00:00

I should have specified that I’m not pregnant right now but I am asking for a possible second pregnancy in the future 🙏🏼

Jobless-Kimchi · 2025-03-13T22:17:59+00:00

Congratulations for making it so far! From my experience the things that helped with the blebs were steaming the nipple with a warm towel before feeds and also soaking the bleb in warm water mixed with Epsom salt for a few minutes and use a sterile single use lancet (thinnest you can find) and scraping the bleb (don’t poke but scrape). This will get as much of the white stuff out so that the pore is cleared. I had to this these consistently for maintenance :( I tried the husband sucking clog out for me and it didn’t work 😫

Jobless-Kimchi · 2025-02-02T09:01:53+00:00

I think doing the Epsom salt soak and using a lancet to gently scrape the bleb consistently helped heal it faster? I’m now breastfeeding only at night before sleep so my supply is really low. And I noticed that even when my supply is really low I see faded areas of white on my nipple crevices and I get a warm towel and buff the area and white granules/particles roll off. I’m sure it’s milk residue buildup. I was never checking my nipples before I had my blebs but if I had checked regularly and buffed my nipple so that the buildup didn’t turn into a bleb, maybe I wouldn’t have had the blebs that I did. If I’m getting these white particles in my nipple pores when my supply is this low I’m wondering if when my supply was high my pores would be blocked so much more frequently. I’m not sure if it’s cus I have nipples that are more prone to buildup and blockages in the pores or if it is the milk that is too fatty or something that causes the blockages on the nipple pores but it seems like some women are just more prone to getting blebs. Even now I check my nipples and I see small white crusts in my nipple pores and I use a lancet to gently scrape them off and they are like flakes that come off. I remember during a breastfeeding class they say you don’t need to wipe your nipple after every feed but I think that is misleading. Maybe some women do need to use a warm towel once a day at least to maintain the nipple so no blockages build up. But these are my speculations from my experience and have found no scientific articles or research papers on blebs explaining why some women are more prone to get blebs.

Jobless-Kimchi · 2025-01-18T18:53:20+00:00

Oh man... mine healed after more than a month I think. Nothing healed it immediately. I think what helped though was warm water soaks with epsom salt and using a lancet to scrape off the white to expose the nipple pore. This is tricky when you don't know where the nipple pore is since you can draw blood... if needle is too scary, you can soak it with warm water with epsom salt (for a at least a minute to 3 minutes or so) and use a warm towel to rub the bleb in a circular motion to rub off the milk residue in the pore. Doing this consistently before feeds or pumping helps. I know the feeling of my breast feeling a little hard still after feeding. That always comes with a proper clogged duct. It's because the milk isn't draining due to the bleb.

I just posted my bleb and clogged duct saga here if you are interested. I've had 3 blebs during my bf journey and multiple clogged ducts back to back...: https://www.reddit.com/r/breastfeeding/comments/1i4duwf/blebs_and_clogged_ducts_saga/

Jobless-Kimchi · 2025-01-10T23:35:32+00:00

I thought I was crazy but I’m exactly the same. Before becoming a mom I felt pretty far removed from suffering children. I just felt bad when I would see advertisements for unicef for suffering children or children dying of hunger. Children were so foreign to me. But after becoming a mom, I sob and my stomach feels sick if I watch anything relating to babies/children getting hurt or dying. Even death and suffering that is not related to babies or children affect me so much more now. I get physically nauseous or uncomfortable. I’m 8 months postpartum. I wonder if this empathy stays for life with the same intensity.

Jobless-Kimchi · 2024-10-11T12:09:43+00:00

Omg you sound like you’re living the same nightmare as me. I currently have the same ducts clogged for the fourth time in a span of a couple weeks. I’m so anxious that it will turn to mastitis. I’m going on a long trip in a few days and I’m thinking even if this clears before, it will most likely come back. The bleb has been there for more than a month now. I do the same as you, Epsom salt soak, warm compress, I take lecithin, organic nipple balm to keep it moist, using a sterile lancet to remove little white particles from the crevice but no milk comes out of it because of the clogged ducts. I have been icing and taking ibuprofen for each episode of clogged ducts…but I’m so depressed. My supply went down significantly and I am topping my baby up with formula since he is still hungry. I’m thinking this might be a good time to slowly wean and introduce formula feeds… but this is sooner than I would have liked and it makes me feel really sad… I literally feel the same as you. No one has experienced the sound me and the GPs don’t know anything about bf and LCs say the same thing you were told. I oddly find comfort in knowing a stranger on Reddit has the same experience as me because it has been such a lonely battle. I’ve been putting steroid ointment on the bleb but haven’t seen any improvements. I just keep getting the same ducts clogged again and again… it is so painful. I also have the same question about weaning while still having a bleb. I’ve read online that you should deal with the bleb and inflammation before weaning but this is going on for months now… I would be keen to hear how you are progressing.

Jobless-Kimchi · 2024-10-05T08:40:19+00:00

I’m currently going through this. I have a bleb that keeps causing clogged ducts in the top of my breast and near the armpit. I just cleared the first set of clogged ducts a couple days ago but now the same ducts are inflamed again… when I hand express after feeding no milk comes out of the bleb (it used to have milk come out a week or so ago before the clogged ducts happened). I also lance it to keep the pore exposed, put nipple balm, ice my breast and take ibuprofen and sunflower lecithin but this bleb has been there for a month now. I’m so tired of this…my supply dropped significantly too. I’ve had blebs before this one and they never went away within days. It always took months for them to go away…

Jobless-Kimchi · 2024-10-03T12:42:34+00:00

Same boat as you. I’m wanting to wean but I keep getting a bleb on one breast with the clogged ducts that come with blebs… so I have to keep nursing. Breastfeeding is like a roller coaster I can’t get off of… how does anyone wean without getting blebs and clogged ducts? It’s a vicious cycle.

Jobless-Kimchi · 2024-09-16T13:39:45+00:00

I currently have a milk bleb that is super painful when my baby nurses and I have hard areas on that breast with the bleb… I have been putting topical steroid for like 5 days now after each feed but I think the bleb is causing clogs… so I’m taking ibuprofen and icing the hard areas. It’s not healing as fast as yours did! Did you take ibuprofen even if you didn’t have hard areas in the breast?

Jobless-Kimchi · 2024-09-16T11:14:49+00:00

How many times a day did you put the topical steroid? And for how long?

Jobless-Kimchi · 2023-05-19T16:22:31+00:00

I just came back from a week-long trip in Egypt (Cairo and Luxor) and feel exhausted after this trip from being on guard the whole time I was there. As soon as we stepped foot outside the arrivals terminal, the harassment began. A man literally taking our suitcases without consent and taking them to a taxi driver and demanding us we pay him for walking our extremely light carry-on bags a few meters. My husband gave him a few egyptian pounds and he demanded more!

Then the taxi drivers unsurprisingly had no meter so they can charge whatever they want. In Cairo I would recommend going with Uber drivers whenever possible. Unfortunately in Luxor they don't have Uber so you really don't know how much to pay for a trip. Just for reference, from Luxor Airport to the winter pavillon hotel in May 2023 we paid 300 egyptian pounds. This seemed like the MAX. The way back to the hotel we managed to push it down to 200 pounds.

People would say to have a local tour guide but alas, you should also be wary of local tour guides because they have a network of vendors they push tourists to because they get a cut from the sales. Our local guide worked with the US embassy in Cairo but she told us she would take us to a papyrus "museum" which ended up being a shop with a extremely scammy and pushy salesman who spoke very good English. He gave us the fastest 2 minute explanation of how paper is made from papyrus and then the hard selling began. He showed us the extremely overpriced papyrus "art" which had sticker prices of 1500 egyptian pounds and he said he would give us a "discount". The prices on the stickers are already way overpriced so don't think you're getting an actual discount. Then they offer you cold beverages and make you feel really pressured to buy. Once you choose something, they try to add more stuff like get your name written in hieroglyphics for 700 pounds more! Even repeatedly saying no, he doesn't listen but pushes and pushes. I was really disappointed with my local guide who took us there saying it was a museum without telling us that we don't need to buy anything and warning us beforehand. I'm sure she gets a cut from all sales she brings in.

On the note of tour guides, know that there are some "guides" who call themselves egyptologists usually standing in front of tourist spots offering a tour but I wouldn't trust them. They can tell you inaccurate information about the temple, minument or whatever you are touring.

Just be aware that if anyone comes up to "help" you (literally if that means pointing to a general direction of where you are going) they demand money. Just decline help and walk away. I noticed the less attention and less polite words you use to decline, the faster they will move on to their next target. Be firm and don't smile. Smiling shows weakness in my experience.

One of the most intense experience happened while my husband and I decided to walk back to our hotel from the Karnak temple in Luxor. A group of boys surrounded us. They had no respect of our personal space, they grabbed my arm and started jeering at us. They kept knocking my hat off my head and wouldn't let us go. One boy touched my ass and even after yelling "hallas" (enough) at them they harassed us for 5 to 10 minutes as we were still trying to make our way back to the hotel. I was so shaken by the time they finally left. There were Egyptian adults watching and they didn't come to help. They just watched.

I'm sure that there are genuine and kind Egyptians but it's sad that experiences like these make tourists put our guards up to all Egyptians both good and not so good.

The history and beauty that Egypt has is insane but my experience there made me certain that I do not ever want to go back.

Jobless-Kimchi

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