Plugged Ducts & Mastitis: A Holistic Approach to Care

September 17, 2023 

While parents are finally being told not to perform deep tissue massage and that most cases of plugged ducts and mastitis are the result of an inflammatory process, treatment options have not expanded beyond "don't pump, take NSAIDs, use ice", leaving NSAIDs and antibiotics as the most frequent interventions, risking a litany of known side-effects.

When IBCLCs are relegated to such limited information, parents who wish to avoid the risk of unnecessary antibiotic exposure are left to seek information on social media. To their benefit, they often end up knowing more than their practitioners do and frequently have better outcomes. To their detriment and ours, this information vortex has resulted in a "social media as health care resource" environment that makes everyone an expert and creates a wild west where it's difficult to distinguish from good and bad…