Soreness in breast after weaning

[MochaMom]

Hi everyone,

I recently (within the past week) completely weaned my 18 month old son. I gradually began weaning him over the past 4 months until we were down to one nursing session first thing in the morning. I haven't nursed in about 7 days and I noticed a couple of days ago that my left breast was very tender. Today it was even more so. It didn't feel engorged but one side of it was very tender. As I was feeling around on it to find out what was causing the pain, I began leaking milk out of that one breast. I was able to express some milk (I didn't even know there was any left!) thinking maybe it was in fact engorged but even after doing that it's still very tender in just one spot. My other breast feels completely fine. Is this normal after weaning? Could this be an infected or swollen milk duct? My breast doesn't appear swollen or engorged at all. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[KerryS]

It sounds to me like a plugged duct. Normally the recommendation is to nurse from that side frequently to drain the breast, but since you've weaned, I would recommend massaging the sore area regularly in a circular motion, ice packs to the area throughout the day, and regular ibuprofen.

[MochaMom]

Thanks so much Kerry. I used ice packs last night and massaged the area as well. I'll continue doing that today.

[kutty]

Breast-feeding is feeding a baby milk from the mother's breasts. You can feed your baby right at your breast. You can also pump your breasts and put the milk in a bottle to feed your baby. But pumping does not help keep up your milk supply as much. Doctors advise breast-feeding for 1 year or longer. But your baby benefits from any amount of breast-feeding you can do.

Breast milk is the perfect food for your baby.1 Breast milk is the only food your baby needs until about 4 to 6 months of age. You do not need to give your baby food, water, or juice. After that, you will gradually breast-feed less often as your baby starts to eat other foods. But keep breast-feeding for as long as you and your child want to. Your baby continues to get health benefits from breast milk past the first year.

Breast-feeding lowers your child's risk for many types of infections and allergies. Breast milk may also help protect your child from some health problems, such as eczema, obesity, asthma, diabetes, and possibly high blood pressure.2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To compare, baby formula does not help protect a baby from infections and other health problems.

You may recover from pregnancy, labor, and delivery sooner when you breast-feed. You may also lower your risk for breast cancer and for diabetes later on in life.


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