Clogged duct
Also called clogged ducts, clogged milk duct, blocked duct, blocked ducts, blocked milk duct, plugged duct, plugging, ductal narrowing
A clogged duct is a milk duct in the breast that has become blocked, so milk can't flow through it and a painful lump forms. Parents also call it a blocked duct or a plugged duct.
How it's said
...baby is currently 10 weeks old and I'm suffering from my 10th clogged duct.
Sometimes my milk is a little stringy which I've heard is clogged duct milk...
I frequently got blocked ducts but never got mastitis so it's not inevitable.
Who says it
In the UK, NHS pages call it a blocked milk duct.
Not to be confused with
- A clogged duct is one blocked milk duct with a sore lump. Mastitis is inflammation of the breast itself, and since 2022 breastfeeding doctors place a narrowed duct at the mild end of the same mastitis spectrum.
Where it came from
Clogged, blocked and plugged are three names for the same thing, and Cleveland Clinic lists them side by side for a milk duct that is obstructed.
In 2022 the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine revised its mastitis protocol and called plugging a colloquial term for microscopic inflammation and narrowing in the ducts. It named the condition ductal narrowing and put it first on a mastitis spectrum, and parenting writers reported that plugged ducts are now more accurately described that way.