New mum shares pictures of rare side effect: Armpits swollen with breast milk

Women have long been shamed into keeping quiet about topics such as breastfeeding due to it being seen as scandalous, but that narrative has since changed on TikTok with many opening up about their own experience.

For many, this new dialogue that exists on social media can prove to be lifesaving.

TikTok user Linda Jones shared her own story about her painful experience with breastfeeding that resulted in swollen armpits filled with breast milk.

The 39-year-old mother of six, gave birth to triplets earlier this month on January 10 at 34 weeks gestation after she was admitted to the hospital for high blood pressure. When her three babies were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the mother began pumping in an effort to provide her children with breast milk.

"After producing little to no colostrum on the first couple of days my boobs became encouraged and overflowed into my armpits," Jones says in a TikTok.

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She also showed viewers what her lumpy armpits, which she explained to be "rock hard" looks like six days postpartum.

Engorged! #exclusivepumping #pumping #postpartum #milk #engorged #colostrum #lactation #lactationhelp #breastfeed #momlife #tripletpregnancy #newborn

Engorged! #exclusivepumping #pumping #postpartum #milk #engorged #colostrum #lactation #lactationhelp #breastfeed #momlife #tripletpregnancy #newborn

"The first couple times I tried to pump I got some colostrum," Jones tells TODAY Parents, referring to the first form of breast milk produced by a lactating parent. "And then after that, nothing was happening. The lactation specialist told me, 'Oh, just keep pumping. It'll come in. It'll come in.' So I still kept pumping every 2-3 hours. But I was just pumping air — there was nothing happening."

This isn't the first time Jones has experienced this unfortunate side effect.

“This happened with my first three kids, and I just quit (breastfeeding),” she told the outlet. “But this has always happened to me. And I was determined to keep (breastfeeding) this time, because the triplets are in the NICU and I wanted to provide them with breast milk. So that’s when I called the lactation specialist and they came in and they kind of broke down engorgement for me.”

As for why she decided to post this content online, she explained: "I posted this because I thought this is very uncommon and that I was maybe one of the few people who have gone through this, because nobody really talks about it."

"I've seen no videos about it. If you look it up, there's not much there. I've talked to my doctors about it and some of them were clueless as to what's in my armpits. And so I just posted the video to kind of put awareness out there."

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