As a certified nurse-midwife with a private practice in Brooklyn, I see people for gynecology, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care. That means I receive panicked texts from clients about mastitis, a breast infection some people get when they are lactating.
No one really knows why it occurs, but the theory is that it’s caused by a buildup of milk in the breast ducts, which leads to inflammation of the breast tissue and sometimes requires antibiotic treatment. Imagine your breasts are filled with tiny balloons shaped like clusters of grapes; these are called breast ducts. These ducts get filled with milk, then when you nurse or pump, the ducts mostly empty. A few hours later, they get full again and the cycle keeps going. Sometimes some of those milk ducts stay full and the flow of milk stops. This can cause the breast tissue to get inflamed, causing a hot, painful red spot on the breast, accompanied by flulike symptoms such as fever, body aches, and chills. It’s truly unpleasant.
Interestingly, even if you do develop a fever and flulike symptoms, if you’re proactive and flush out the clogged duct, the infection can go away as quickly as it came on, with no medication needed. You can imagine why I get lots of panicked texts about this.
My usual response is: “Drink lots of water, take probiotics, pump or nurse every two hours, get into the shower, run hot water and brush your breasts with a hard-tooth comb starting from the armpit toward your nipple, and call me if your temp goes over 100.4.” Essentially, I’m telling them to try to break down the clogged duct and flush it out. Also not pleasant, but it usually does the trick.
The other day, I was doing a routine postpartum visit with a client who recently had concerns about mastitis. She did all the tricks I suggested but mentioned that she had also been using a “breast massager” she thought had really helped. I was intrigued. A new product that helps with mastitis? Fantastic. She pulled it out to show me, and I laughed. “That’s a vibrator!”
Naturally, there’s an entire market selling vibrators packaged as breast massagers to postpartum parents. But, it occurred to me, why not take it a step further and use a suction vibrator? I was introduced to this type about a year ago when a client of mine gifted me an Aer model by Dame (as a midwife, I get lots of fun gifts). This device not only vibrates but has a little hole that pushes air back and forth, creating a very gentle pulsing suction. It’s made for those seeking clitoral stimulation.
As a breast massager, though, the Aer (or any suction vibrator, for that matter) is the perfect tool to add to the repertoire for clearing clogged milk ducts and preventing mastitis. It’s waterproof, easy to hold, vibrates to help break up the clog, has soft edges, and creates a perfect suction that gently pulls the breast tissue to loosen up those hard-to-reach ducts.
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