Bleeding While Breastfeeding: What’s Normal and What’s Not?

While breastfeeding your baby, you may face some complications. It can be breast engorgement, when your breasts overfill with milk, or latching problems, in which your baby is unable to attach to the breast. These problems can be troublesome, but they are not as concerning as seeing blood traces in your breast milk. It’s obvious that as a mother, you will freak out and assume that it’s a grave medical issue. But the truth is that it’s not always a real headache.

It’s prevalent in first-time lactating mothers. You probably don’t have to stop breastfeeding without medical advice, but being aware of the causes of blood in breast milk is also important for your and your baby’s health.

1. Cracked Nipples

The most common cause of bleeding during breastfeeding is cracked nipples. In an ideal world, infants latch easily, and everything happens normally in nursing. But unfortunately, it is not as simple as you think. If your toddler doesn’t latch in the right way, it can harm your breasts and cause cracking and pain. It further leads to bleeding.

Breastfeeding should not be uncomfortable. If you do have chafed nipples, try to change your baby’s latching position to make breastfeeding easy. If this is not helpful, another way is to schedule an appointment with a lactation consultant. These specialists can show you how to breast-feed properly and even help you fix common breastfeeding problems. Your nipples will start healing naturally once you’ve sorted out latching problems. Below are some invaluable tips:

• Breast-feed from the other breast if one is sore or tender.
• Take a painkiller such as acetaminophen only after discussing it with your physician.
• Put mild pressure with a cool or warm compress on your nipples after a feeding session.
• Don’t feed your baby too late (it can make your baby nurse more aggressively)
• Place a breast shell inside your nursing bra to protect your soft nipples.
• After every feeding, apply purified lanolin to the nipples.

2. Vascular Engorgement

It can be a sign of vascular engorgement, also known as rusty pipe syndrome. Soon after giving birth, blood flow increases in the breasts, which sometimes can cause blood in the milk. Your first milk, or colostrum, may be visibly a bit rusty, orange, or pink in color. However, there is no particular treatment for vascular engorgement, as in most cases the bleeding vanishes in a couple of days.

3. Ruptured Capillaries

You may have seen multiple small veins under the skin of your breasts. In some instances, these blood vessels burst due to an internal injury or trauma. That’s why it is recommended to express breast milk gently and only squeeze your breast, not the nipples. If milk flow from your right breast stops, then stop expressing it and move to the left one. Also, don’t squeeze the breast too hard; it can break your blood vessels, and blood can come out with breast milk.

When you are using a breast pump to pump milk, follow all the instructions from the breast pump manual and use it properly to avoid any damage to your breasts. With electric pumps, you can also adjust the speed and suction. Settle on a fixed speed and suction that’s comfortable and doesn’t harm your breast.

4. Benign Intraductal Papilloma

This one is not normal. Bleeding is triggered by small, benign tumors that develop on the lining of your milk ducts. Its growth can bleed out and release blood in your breast milk. There is one way to diagnose it. Just touch your breasts; if you feel a small bulge behind or near your nipple, then you have a tumor. Diagnosis of a lump can be unsettling news, but having a single intraductal papilloma does not increase the risk of breast cancer. If you have more than one papilloma, your chances of having cancer rise.

5. Mastitis

Mastitis is another abnormal breast infection that can appear during breastfeeding. It has several symptoms, like swelling, redness, breast pain, fever, and chills. Some females have a sort of discharge from nipples with Mastitis, and spots of blood appear in their breast milk. It is caused by a clogged milk duct, which results in the accumulation of milk. The sight of relief is that it is treatable. Drink plenty of water during the day and night to stay hydrated, and take a painkiller after the consultation with the doctor to lower pain and fever.

Furthermore, it is totally safe to nurse your baby during the process of healing. In the meantime, wear loose-fitting apparel like soft and stretchable maternity bras, flowy dresses, etc., to avoid irritation on your breasts and nipples.

What to Remember

Seeing blood in breast milk while breastfeeding can be alarming sometimes, but most of the time, it’s normal and treatable. Cracked nipples or rusty pipe syndrome heal on their own. However, conditions like ruptured capillaries, benign intraductal papillomas, and Mastitis need medical supervision. Always listen to your body, trust your instincts, and don’t hesitate to ask for help. Lovemere understands these harsh realities of motherhood and supports you through pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding with essentials of supreme quality. So for expert tips, community support, and the need for apparel, visit Lovemere.