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PBL Foundations


  • Your breasts are powered by an ancient genetic code which knows how to regulate inflammation
  • What causes your breast to become inflamed when you're lactating?
  • How your milk changes to protect you once you develop inflammation of the breast
  • Why your letdowns help prevent or heal inflammation when you're lactating
  • If your breast lump doesn't go away within a week, please see your doctor
  • Why lymphatic drainage and therapeutic breast massage don't help with breast inflammation

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  • PBL Foundations
  • S11: Lumps, engorgement, or pain in lactating breasts
  • CH 2: Breast inflammation essentials

If your breast lump doesn't go away within a week, please see your doctor

Dr Pamela Douglas23rd of Jun 202428th of Dec 2025

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Most breast lumps are harmless. But any lump in your lactating breasts which persists for more than a week needs to be taken very seriously.

This is because breast cancer can spread much more quickly in a woman who is lactating. If you notice a new lump that doesn’t disappear after a week, please see your GP, who will take a history, examine you, and investigate as necessary, to make sure that everything is ok.

The imaging assessment is typically done with ultrasound and mammogram. It is fine to have a mammogram if you are lactating.

Acknowledgements

The breastfeeding art on this page is purchased from, and used with the consent of, Camilla Kleist at www.kleist-art.me

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Next up in Breast inflammation essentials

Why lymphatic drainage and therapeutic breast massage don't help with breast inflammation

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Massage can be a powerfully healing form of bodywork

Massage has been an important part of my own life and self-care for decades. I am grateful for the skill and sensitivity of the many massage therapists who've cared for me.

It can seem rather ungenerous, then, to be saying to you that there's no reason to think that lymphatic drainage or therapeutic massage of your lactating breast will help prevent or resolve breast inflammation, including mastitis and engorgement.

There is no reliable evidence to support the use of lymphatic drainage and therapeutic breast massage when you have breast inflammation

The breastfeeding support professionals who recommend lymphatic drainage or therapeutic breast massage typically point to one particular

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Possums acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands upon which The Possums Programs have been created, the Yuggera and Turrbal Peoples. We acknowledge that First Nations have breastfed, slept with, and lovingly raised their children on Australian lands for at least 65,000 years, to become the oldest continuous living culture on Earth. Possums stands with the Uluru Statement from the Heart.