Blood found in pumped milk - Please Help!

My wife has been breastfeeding our first son for 4 1/2 months so far.
She started working about 2 months ago and has been pumping out breast
milk since then. A week ago, she noticed some blood in the pumped
milk, which makes about 3 ounces of milk displaying a pink color. This
happened again two days ago.

Since the tenth week, after breast feeding with the right breast, my
wife would experience extended periods of pain (about 2 hours each
time). This does not happen when she is pumping.

We will go to see a dr tomorrow. We are very worried. Anyone has this
experience before? Please email to . Thanks in advance
for your help.

-fg-

"Victor" wrote in message
om...
My wife has been breastfeeding our first son for 4 1/2 months so far.
She started working about 2 months ago and has been pumping out breast
milk since then. A week ago, she noticed some blood in the pumped
milk, which makes about 3 ounces of milk displaying a pink color. This
happened again two days ago.

Since the tenth week, after breast feeding with the right breast, my
wife would experience extended periods of pain (about 2 hours each
time). This does not happen when she is pumping.

We will go to see a dr tomorrow. We are very worried. Anyone has this
experience before? Please email to . Thanks in advance
for your help.

Could be a plugged duct or the beginning of mastitis (breast infection).
Does she have a fever or chills? Feel sick in general? These are signs of
mastitis. Are her nipples cracked at all? The blood could be from cracks.
Even tiny ones she might not see well.

If it's a plugged duct, have her stand under a hot shower massaging the
breast that is giving her trouble. She may even be able to feel a "knot" in
it. She should nurse more frequently on this side to help the milk flow and
free up the duct. I never had full blown plugged ducts, but when I thought
I felt one starting I would sit in a hot bath and just lean into the tub and
soak my breasts letting gravity do it's work while massaging. This always
seemed to help.

Are you visiting her OBGYN or GP? Are they very knowledgeable about
breastfeeding? There should be no reason to stop bf'ding since it's
probably something easily fixable with a little time and patience. Also, if
she has mastitis then they will probably prescribe an antibiotic. You can
continue to nurse while on many, many antibiotics. If you have any questions
about meds prescribed, ask here and someone can do a Hale's look up for you.

HTH and good luck to you.
--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply

JennP,

Thanks for your prompt reply. The information you provided is very helpful.
We do see a white dot on her nipple. Also, her nipple aches when pressed. We
hope that this is only a cracked nipple not something more serious.

We have an appointment with her OB/GYN tomorrow. We didn't take this
seriously until Friday evening, when she first talked to her OB about this.
The doctor told her that there could be so many possible causes for this,
and some of them are quite scary.

We hope someone with this experience can tell us what happened and how the
doctors treated this problem.

Thanks.

-Victor-

"JennP" wrote in message
news:2we_b.378095$xy6.2012250@attbi_s02...

"Victor" wrote in message
om...
My wife has been breastfeeding our first son for 4 1/2 months so far.
She started working about 2 months ago and has been pumping out breast
milk since then. A week ago, she noticed some blood in the pumped
milk, which makes about 3 ounces of milk displaying a pink color. This
happened again two days ago.

Since the tenth week, after breast feeding with the right breast, my
wife would experience extended periods of pain (about 2 hours each
time). This does not happen when she is pumping.

We will go to see a dr tomorrow. We are very worried. Anyone has this
experience before? Please email to . Thanks in advance
for your help.

Could be a plugged duct or the beginning of mastitis (breast infection).
Does she have a fever or chills? Feel sick in general? These are signs of
mastitis. Are her nipples cracked at all? The blood could be from cracks.
Even tiny ones she might not see well.

If it's a plugged duct, have her stand under a hot shower massaging the
breast that is giving her trouble. She may even be able to feel a "knot"
in
it. She should nurse more frequently on this side to help the milk flow
and
free up the duct. I never had full blown plugged ducts, but when I
thought
I felt one starting I would sit in a hot bath and just lean into the tub
and
soak my breasts letting gravity do it's work while massaging. This always
seemed to help.

Are you visiting her OBGYN or GP? Are they very knowledgeable about
breastfeeding? There should be no reason to stop bf'ding since it's
probably something easily fixable with a little time and patience. Also,
if
she has mastitis then they will probably prescribe an antibiotic. You can
continue to nurse while on many, many antibiotics. If you have any
questions
about meds prescribed, ask here and someone can do a Hale's look up for
you.

HTH and good luck to you.
--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply

"Victor Ming" wrote in message
et...
JennP,

Thanks for your prompt reply. The information you provided is very
helpful.
We do see a white dot on her nipple. Also, her nipple aches when pressed.
We
hope that this is only a cracked nipple not something more serious.

Sounds more and more like a plugged duct.

We have an appointment with her OB/GYN tomorrow. We didn't take this
seriously until Friday evening, when she first talked to her OB about
this.
The doctor told her that there could be so many possible causes for this,
and some of them are quite scary.

Sheesh. The OB shouldn't have scared her like that.

We hope someone with this experience can tell us what happened and how the
doctors treated this problem.

Please report back here with the update and I'm sure someone here can offer
experienced advice.
--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply

Please please don't worry about this, the chances are it's absolutely
nothing, just a tiny capilliary that burst. This might have let an
infection in somehow. A couple of months ago I had a plugged duct, I burst
the milk blister on top and at the next pump I got some blood. A few days
later I had an infection, I was unlucky that it took 3 course of
antibiotics to clear. Good Luck.

Anne Rogers wrote in message ...
Please please don't worry about this, the chances are it's absolutely
nothing, just a tiny capilliary that burst. This might have let an
infection in somehow. A couple of months ago I had a plugged duct, I burst
the milk blister on top and at the next pump I got some blood. A few days
later I had an infection, I was unlucky that it took 3 course of
antibiotics to clear. Good Luck.

Hi Anne,

We hope it is as you suggested -- nothing to be worried about. We went
to her OB yesterday and he said that it is likely to be normal but he
isn't sure. So he suggested a mammogram and an ultrasound. We spoke to
a few labs which does these and they all have a policy not to conduct
mammograms on moms who are or have been breastfeeding in the previous
6 months...

My wife is still worried. We do not know what to do at this point.
Should we try a different doctor?

-Victor-

"Victor" wrote in message
m...

We hope it is as you suggested -- nothing to be worried about. We went
to her OB yesterday and he said that it is likely to be normal but he
isn't sure. So he suggested a mammogram and an ultrasound. We spoke to
a few labs which does these and they all have a policy not to conduct
mammograms on moms who are or have been breastfeeding in the previous
6 months...

My wife is still worried. We do not know what to do at this point.
Should we try a different doctor?

I think maybe you should. I think you should call an IBCLC (international
board certified lactation consultant) lactation consultant before going to
another doctor. A mammogram? An ultrasound might be a good idea since I
*think* the plugged duct could be detected, but a mammogram? That seems
excessive. Have her look up online remedies for plugged ducts and follow
those suggestions.

Surely someone other than Anne and I have some information to offer here.
Anyone else?
--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply

"Victor" wrote in message
m...
Anne Rogers wrote in message
...
Please please don't worry about this, the chances are it's absolutely
nothing, just a tiny capilliary that burst. This might have let an
infection in somehow. A couple of months ago I had a plugged duct, I
burst
the milk blister on top and at the next pump I got some blood. A few
days
later I had an infection, I was unlucky that it took 3 course of
antibiotics to clear. Good Luck.

Hi Anne,

We hope it is as you suggested -- nothing to be worried about. We went
to her OB yesterday and he said that it is likely to be normal but he
isn't sure. So he suggested a mammogram and an ultrasound. We spoke to
a few labs which does these and they all have a policy not to conduct
mammograms on moms who are or have been breastfeeding in the previous
6 months...

My wife is still worried. We do not know what to do at this point.
Should we try a different doctor?

My gut feeling is that if you want to learn about lactating breasts, you go
to a specialists in lactating breasts. This is NOT your OB, and it is NOT
your GP. This is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
(IBCLC) who consults with a doctor.

It's true, there are bad things that can cause blood while pumping. But *my*
first suspicion would be 'using too much suction, damaged something'. Or
'crack in nipple'. A mammogram is just not going to work on a lactating
breast. The amount of squashing done to it would probably do internal
damage to the milk-producing tissue. Besides being shriekingly painful.

--angela

(Victor) wrote in message . com...
My wife has been breastfeeding our first son for 4 1/2 months so far.
She started working about 2 months ago and has been pumping out breast
milk since then. A week ago, she noticed some blood in the pumped
milk, which makes about 3 ounces of milk displaying a pink color. This
happened again two days ago.

Since the tenth week, after breast feeding with the right breast, my
wife would experience extended periods of pain (about 2 hours each
time). This does not happen when she is pumping.

could it be thrush? are her nipples red and itchy? what is the pain
like?


We will go to see a dr tomorrow. We are very worried.

I saw an earlier post about mammagrams and most refusing to do a
mammagram on a lactating breast- this is because it takes skill and
experience to read those mammagrams. if you search, you'll find one.
if it's a gross anomoly, it will likely show up even to a person
inexperienced in dealing with lactating tissue.

it is very possible that all of us have had blood in our milk at
various times and never know. Pumping milk gets us to see all sorts
of things we get worried about- blood, unusual colors, fat content,
etc. Most of the time it really doesn't matter if the baby ingests
it- the milk is still a perfect food for the baby. Therefore, don't
hesitate to feed that milk to teh baby.

of course, you should be seen but you might wish to call an IBCLC onto
your team right now. She'll help diagnose the pain and determine if
the pump is a good fit, and if the baby is properly latched.


=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html
Mom to Ursula (9!), Sage (6.5), Benno (3!!) Nature's way is
straight and unerring, foursquare and calm, great and tolerant.
Everything is accomplished without the necessity of fabricated
purpose. Man's way is equally self-evident. His internal
principles are correct; his external acts are righteous; his results
are certain. ~ I Ching (B.C. 1150?) Chinese Book of Changes
http://listserv.uts.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/parent-l
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Just-Moms/ :-)

We hope it is as you suggested -- nothing to be worried about. We went
to her OB yesterday and he said that it is likely to be normal but he
isn't sure. So he suggested a mammogram and an ultrasound. We spoke to
a few labs which does these and they all have a policy not to conduct
mammograms on moms who are or have been breastfeeding in the previous
6 months...

My wife is still worried. We do not know what to do at this point.
Should we try a different doctor?

A mammogram wouldn't show anything in a lactating woman.

An ultrasound could be helpful as it would show up an abscess, I had an
ultrasound on christmas day, it showed up a hard lump, not an abscess as
had been expected. I'm not sure what it would show if nothing can be felt
though.