The idea of “milk stasis” is one of the top myths in the field of lactation. Pumping or overfeeding to “prevent milk stasis” results in some of the most significant complications (including raging bacterial mastitis, abscess, and galactocele) patients experience.
Patients are told to “feed on schedule” or “don’t interrupt feeds” or “fully drain the breast” in order to “prevent milk stasis and mastitis.” But our human bodies and babies have evolved to do exactly the opposite. Infants and children are not robots. They can feed extremely inconsistently, even when they are young. Our breasts were made to accommodate this. They were meant to adapt when babies sleep longer stretches at night, when babies give up nursing during the day when they learning about the world at 3/4/5 months, and when toddlers go for days without nursing and then return to the breast full force with an earache.
In other areas of the body that are inflamed and swollen, we recognize that continuing to stimulate the organ just results in worsened symptoms. For example, patients with cholecystitis (gallbladder inflammation) are instructed not to eat so their system carrying bile can rest and decompress. The same goes for pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), intestinal blockages, and diverticulitis (inflammation in the large intestine).
It is impossible to develop an overwhelming bacterial infection simply by letting the alveolar (milk making cells) remain full. You can get lumps and swelling in your breast, redness, and pain — but this is just swollen cells and connective tissue fluid (“interstitial fluid”), not an infection. If you don’t massage or overstimulate the breast, the cells will start to dpwnregulate and reduce swelling and pain.
