What Is a Lactation Massager?

While looking for breastfeeding gear, you’ll have seen lactation massagers along with breast pumps, nipple cream, and nursing pillows. What are they? And do you want one?

A lactation massager is a handheld machine that’s supposed to assist ladies overcome sure breastfeeding challenges, like engorged breasts or clogged milk ducts.

Should you get one to assist induce lactation? That’s as much as you. Breastfeeding specialists say that the machine doesn’t do something which you can’t already do by your self.

“I do not recommend lactation massagers as essential breastfeeding equipment,” says Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, MD, a pediatrician in Sonoma County, CA, and medical guide to the parenting weblog Mom Loves Best. “No clinical studies show that they are more effective than therapeutic breast massage by hand.”

How Lactation Massagers Work

Lactation massagers are made of sentimental silicone and match within the palm of the hand. They have two rounded ends — one broad, one slim — plus settings to make them vibrate or present heat.

Some ladies who’ve clogged milk ducts press the slim finish of a lactation massager towards the sore space of the breast, shifting it towards the nipple to attempt to unclog it. Others therapeutic massage the breast from chest towards nipple with the broader finish of the massager to assist relieve engorged breasts.

But placing an excessive amount of strain on the breasts with this machine could also be dangerous. “There is no evidence that these devices have clinical benefit to breastfeeding mothers, and in fact, massagers can cause trauma to the breasts” if not used gently, says Karen Federici, MD, a household doctor and licensed lactation guide in Sycamore, IL, who focuses on breastfeeding medication.

Care for Clogged Ducts

Gentle strain from a lactation massager could assist relieve a clogged milk duct, however breastfeeding mothers have been unclogging milk ducts with out these units for hundreds of years.

“There are definitely other strategies to free clogged milk ducts,” says Leigh Anne O’Connor, a New York City-based licensed lactation guide. “Often it is simply nursing the baby more. Sometimes it is about [aiming] the baby’s chin toward the clog. Alternating warm and cold compresses can work the clogs out. Pumping can release the clogs, too.”

Vibrations could assist, however you don’t must run out to purchase a lactation massager for those who don’t have one.

“We used to recommend a vibrating toothbrush or an actual vibrator for hard-to-release plugged ducts,” O’Connor says. “I still recommend these, as many people already have one of these and when you need to release plugged ducts, it is an urgent situation that requires immediate attention. Waiting to buy or have something delivered can be problematic.”

You could not like the texture of vibrations towards your breast.

“Vibration, even if gentle, may actually increase discomfort in the area,” Federici says. “Imagine if you had a bruise or a mild sprain. Applying vibration would neither feel good nor decrease inflammation. Ice would be helpful, as would ibuprofen. The same is true for breast tissue.”

Relief for Engorged Breasts

New mothers could have engorgement, or swelling, within the breasts. This could make their breasts ache and really feel exhausting to the contact, making it trickier for his or her infants to latch on to breastfeed.

When the breast tissue is swollen, ice packs could relieve engorgement, or heat could also be soothing. A lactation massager’s heat setting could assist, however heat compresses must also work.

“Low heat can be applied for comfort,” Federici says. “For relief of engorgement, ice packs are recommended, as most of the enlargement is actually due to swelling of the surrounding tissue, rather than copious amounts of milk.”

Benefits of Lactation Massage

Some makers of lactation massagers declare that they may help with the milk let-down reflex. But nursing your child ought to work higher.

“Milk supply is established via frequent breastfeeding,” Poinsett says. “Hand massage during feeding can help with let-down and milk flow.”

Breast therapeutic massage might also assist relieve clogged ducts or engorgement. Your fingers work higher than a lactation massager.

Here’s how you can do breast therapeutic massage to induce lactation.

“Effective breast massage techniques include circular motion on the breast with gentle pressure, starting at the base of the breast out to the nipple,” Poinsett says. “Also massage the breast in a linear fashion, from the chest to the tip of the nipple. Finally, compressing the breast by holding the breast in the ‘C’ position — little finger touching the chest, thumb and index finger holding the breast — can help improve breast milk removal.”

Your breasts could also be engorged as a result of they comprise an excessive amount of lymphatic fluid, which causes irritation. Lymphatic therapeutic massage could take away the fluid to assist your milk circulate extra freely.

“This is a very gentle-touch massage applied on the chest above the breast, moving up towards the collarbone and also applied near the underarm, up and away from the breast, using only a light pressure, like you would use to gently rub your baby’s back,” Federici says. “I suppose the massager could be used for light lymphatic massage up and away from the painful area, although hands are more effective.”

Sources

SOURCES:

Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, MD, board-certified pediatrician; medical guide to Mom Loves Best weblog, Sonoma County, CA.

Karen Federici, MD, IBCLC, FABM, board-certified household doctor specializing in breastfeeding medication; fellow, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine; licensed lactation guide, Sycamore, IL.

Leigh Anne O’Connor, IBCLC, licensed lactation guide, New York City.

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