i'm having milk bleb : (

picture googled from mother-2-mother.com

alhamdulillah, to date at 18 months, Imtiaz is still breastfeeding, without any supplementation of formula milk..even though during the day,he is no more interested to drink my expressed breast milk (EBM) via bottle, cup, etc, he drinks only plain water, juices or occasionally UHT flavoured milk...but when i'm around, i am his readily available milk producer for him...

once a while, i noticed i will have to deal with nipple pain or blocked duct myself, even Imtiaz is considered as big enough to cause such problem to me...during the hari raya break, i had another episode of nipple pain, being the usual area, the right nipple...i thought it was due to improper latching or due to pulling by my aggressive little dinosaur...the pain was sharp, at every feeding, even after i corrected the position...

this morning, upon waking up, i noticed a tiny, white spot on the nipple...i'm having a milk bleb or milk blister...

A milk blister, or blocked nipple pore, is also called a bleb or nipple blister, or simply "milk under the skin." It occurs when a tiny bit of skin overgrows a milk duct opening and milk backs up behind it. A milk blister usually shows up as a painful white, clear or yellow dot on the nipple or areola, and the pain tends to be focused at that spot and just behind it. If you compress the breast so that milk is forced down the ducts, the blister will typically bulge outward. Milk blisters can be persistent and very painful during feeding, and may remain for several days or weeks and then spontaneously heal when the skin peels away from the affected area.. (from kellymom.com)

so, what i did just now, i applied moist heat to the area (i immersed my nipple in a bowl of warm water), then i apply some olive oil on a cotton ball and gently rub the area to soften the blocked pore...then i massage my nipple in the warm water and the milk started to ooze out of the bleb...alhamdulillah, milk is able to eject through that pore...and now i feel a bit better, with less pain...

the recommended treatment will be, applying the moist heat prior to feeding, then nurse the baby often or pump with hospital-grade pump, and followed by antibiotic cream if needed...alternatively if all the methods above do not work, ask your healthcare provider to use a sterile needle to open the bleb...pain relief can be used to relieve discomfort...

remember, to seek immediate treatment if any of the following occurs: fever, inflammation, swelling, any kind of discharge, abscess, etc...