Galactocele

Today, I would like to share my story about my Galactoceles. I have two in my left breast. One is the size of a ping-pong ball located above my Ariola. One is the size of a golf ball located below my Ariola. I am currently nursing my three month old Zander. Zander is my third baby boy. I nursed all of them.

With my first baby boy I developed one 

Galactocele in my right breast. It was small and didn't hurt very bad. I was encouraged to stop nursing so it could be taken care of. After he was done nursing I had it surgically removed. With my second son I developed one on the bottom of my left breast. While nursing him, I noticed that the right breast didn't produce as much milk since the milk duct was surgically removed. 

This time my cyst hurt and was red off and on for over a year. Once again I was encouraged to quit nursing to lessen my pain. When he was done nursing I decided not to get it removed or drained but just keep it to see what would happen. It's slowly shrunk and then eventually went away in about 3 to 5 years after I stop nursing.

Now that I'm nursing for my third time I feel like an expert on the subject. Yeah they hurt and yeah they're annoying but I enjoy breast-feeding and am fully committed to it. 

Right before the birth of my third boy I noticed a lump above my Ariola. Then about two weeks after he was born the one on the bottom of my Ariola reappeared. 

I have found that with my three episodes of nursing and dealing with the cyst that invasive actions don't seem to help anything. 

Galactocele seem to be all about the game of time. Stress seems to feed them so don't worry about it. Eating healthy and staying positive has been the most successful in shrinking them in my personal experience. Drinking lots of water and nursing on the infected side is also beneficial. 

I have met many women who have had it drained with no success. It seems that once it's drained it feels right back up as soon as you let down again. In all three of my cases my babies have never cared about nursing on the infected side. I always thought that it bothered me way more than a bother them. So this time around I am trying to keep my stress levels down and my optimism levels up. 

UPDATE: we have been successfully nursing for a year!!

The doctors want me to quit so I can get surgery but I said "hell no!". 

I plan to continue nursing until Z weans himself.