Engorgement, clogged ducts & mastitis are words all breastfeeding moms are familiar with.
They can be scary & overwhelming, particularly at the beginning of your breastfeeding journey, but can pop up throughout the duration of time that you are breastfeeding - mainly when significant changes are happening in your life, including night weaning & complete weaning.
To further complicate things, there has been a fundamental shift in the way that science and leading lactation organizations and experts understand these conditions - this has resulted in the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine completely overhauling their Mastitis Proctol. This means that the approach both lactating people & those who support them take when addressing engorgement, clogged ducts & mastitis has changed, or needs to change.
This is relevant to those who are early in their breastfeeding experience, of course, but it’s ALSO relevant to those who have been breastfeeding for a year or more. You are more likely to be supporting friends & family members when they are encountering these things, and you are more likely to be using methods you were told to use when you face them yourself - but those methods are likely based on an outdated understanding of what engorgement, clogged ducts & mastitis are and could be creating MORE issues than they are solving.
In this episode I break down:
-> The big change
-> Each condition in the Mastitis Spectrum of Conditions
-> Support for general treatment & prevention
-> The role stress plays (and what to do about it)
DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be medical advice.
Resources & Citations:
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Mastitis Protocol.
Quoted study:
Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2006, July). Psychological stress and the human immune system: A meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychological bulletin.
Study on EFT Tapping efficacy
"Burn Out" Book by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
Strains to look for in a probitic: Lactobacillus fermentum and
Ligilactobacillus salivarius

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide
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