Lactostasis

Lactostasis- Milk is stagnant in one or more areas of the breast.

Reasons lactostasis

The emergence lactostasis typically caused by two factors: increased production milk and a violation of its outflow fromsome region or cancer in general or due to clogging narrow ducts.

Factors predisposing to the development of lactostasis are:

• mismatch between the active functioning of the glandular tissue to produce milk, and the diameter of the lumen of the milk moves (it happens more often after the first birth);
• flat nipple, the presence of cracks on the nipple, making it difficult feeding feeding;
• not to breastfeed and switch to bottle-feeding;
• stress and excessive physical activity that lead to spasms of ducts of the mammary glands;
• injuries and chest injuries;
• poor attachment to the breast, in which a baby sucks ineffective, insufficient devastates chest;
• squeezing breasts tight clothing or fingers of the mother during feeding, sleeping on your stomach;
• complicated outflow milk from the bottom of a large sagging breasts with her;
• hypothermia or stay in the draft.

What’s going on?

Increased milk production, usually occurs in the early days when establishing lactation. At first birth, the milk arrives at the third, and sometimes — on the fourth day, repeated — about a day earlier. The kid sucks at this time is still very small, and the breast during feeding is not emptied completely. In repeated childbirth (or, more precisely, when re breastfeeding) the development of stagnation due, perhaps, only with that. In the case of the first birth, besides, it is often difficult and the outflow of milk as «undeveloped» the ducts of the mammary glands in nulliparous women are more narrow and tortuous.

Inadequate breast emptying leads to increase of pressure in the lumen of its ducts inside the lobules. This causes swelling and inflammation of the tissue corresponding to the area which, in turn, leads to pain. In addition, the increase in pressure in parts of the secretory gland slows further lactation. Milk, leaving a long iron, undergoes a process of reabsorption, acquiring at the same pyrogenic properties, which results in increased body temperature — the development of the so-called «milk fever.»

Evidence lactostasis:

• thickening of the breast and pain — especially when touching and feeling;
• on the skin of the patient chest appears drawing veins;
• tension and soreness cancer sites can be saved and after emptying (feeding);

• body temperature is usually normal or low grade (37-380C).

Prevention and treatment of lactostasis

Fighting lactostasis necessary not only because this condition causes discomfort in women, but also because it predisposes to the development of mastitis (inflammation of the mammary gland tissue).

• To prevent lactostasis and deal with it in the first place should not prevent a sharp increase in the number of milk. It is therefore very important in the first week after birth to limit fluid intake (including entrees and fruits) to800-1000 ml per day. Make it most likely will not be easy, because at that time you want to drink more than usual.
• Another means of preventing the frequent lactostasis latch the baby to the breast. It is believed that in every feeding need to give the baby only one breast, but there is another point of view, according to which in turn should feed from both breasts, and the last feeding of the attachment to the chest, which was given to the first child. But one thing is certain: it is necessary to feed the baby at the first request and allow him to be at the breast as much as he wants. If galactostasia significant, crumbs can be hard to take and suck chest. In this case, you should decant a small portion of milk that relieve tension peripapillary area and allow your daze easily capture the nipple.
• Also useful to periodically massage the breasts. The massage is performed in a circular motion from the periphery to the center of the gland. Special attention should be given to more dense and painful areas.
• If you are concerned about one breast larger than the other, we can offer it to your baby often. If the crumb is still unable to cope with the coming of milk after feeding and stored in a sealed chest painful areas will have to express the excess. Independent manual pumping is often extremely painful, so ask the midwife «rastsedit» you. Skilled experts can thus do not cause pain. It is also possible to use hardware decantation. On the effectiveness of it is not inferior to the manual, but it is important to massage the problem areas well gland.
• Well help hot compress on the chest — with Vishnevsky ointment, liquid paraffin oil and camphor, alcohol. They should be applied after the full pumping. Gauze moistened with oil or alcohol (70% alcohol is diluted with water 1:1, 96% — 1:2) and applied to the skin breast, covering the entire surface. The next layer is a compress made from polyethylene or cellophane, and will not allow the liquid to dry out. The resulting bandage to secure the bandage or good diaper. Compress should be on the breast is about six to eight hours.
• Very effective massage may be the ultrasonic breast. In addition, to improve the outflow of milk you can assign an injection of the drug oxytocin. It is injected intramuscularly20-30 minutes before feeding and causes a reduction in the ducts of the breast.

Journal of Mom and baby number 4, 2004