What can I do about blocked milk ducts?

I got a plugged duct when I was BF my daughter. Ugh, that sucked. I was pumping instead of nursing directly off the breast. One I figured out it was a plugged dict I put her back on the breast and nursed as often and as long as I could. Cleared it up pretty fast.

While I was researching how to get rid of a plugged duct I came across things to do to prevent them. The ones I can remember are:

Don't use the same position for every nursing session.

Drain the breast completely at each session.

Don't allow yourself to become engorged.

These are the ones I can remember. I'll do some more research and come back with the links.

EDIT: Here are some helpful sites:

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBMarApr06p68.html

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.h...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T022100.asp

I've had this happen several times with my first, even after nursing for awhile. The things I did that really helped were to get LOTS of rest, use the heating pad ALL the time, as much as you can, take Tylenol and get plenty of fluids. Continue to nurse, too. Point the baby's chin in the direction of the clog, if that makes sense. Just keep nursing and eventually after a few days it will go away. Pumping will not effectively remove all the milk from the breast, but it might help after a feeding. You might not get much out, but you could try it when they're sleeping - right after the last feeding and when they go to bed, for instance. Pumping stinks, but it might help.

I never had much luck with the football hold. If you offer your breast - holding it out to her - you shouldn't smother her. It might look like it, but really her nostrils are flared and designed so that this isn't going to happen. She's not going to keep nursing if she can't breathe, so she'd pull off the breast anyways.

www.kellymom.com has some good info, too.

Do you always nurse in the same position? If so, try varying the hold (football, cross-cradle, etc.) so that baby drains the ducts equally.

This would happen to me quite a bit. It usually happened when I would get engorged. Heat, massage, changing positions & pumping just help me. BUT getting on all fours and having my son nurse under me worked wonders. He relieved me every time!

I think hot compresses, like a VERY hot washcloth, will both ease the pain and sort of "melt" the blockage.

It's worth a try, anyway.

Good luck!... ☺