Rainbow Colored Breastmilk [TMI - duh]

General Questions
#1

I have calls in to both my general doc (can’t get me in til Tuesday) and my OB (waiting for a call back to schedule an appointment) but I’m kinda freaking out here and really need some advice…

With that said here goes…

DoperBaby was born back in August 2007. I nursed her until December 2008. It’s been a full year since she weaned and I can still produce milk. Feeling a bit engorged about a week ago, I tried on a whim to hand-express a bit. Out it came. Only it wasn’t exactly what I expected. Some ducts produced normal white milk. Other ducts produced a whole rainbow of colors. Among them were orange (blood-tinged?), yellow-green, and, just last night a new one - bright teal.

I nursed DoperBaby for over a year and I know that milk can have weird (but pale)colors to it. But these colors were vibrant. The orange was a paler shade of :o and the teal was pretty much exactly like :D.

Any ideas on what could cause this? The big C is lingering in my mind and frankly scares the crap out of me. The only other major symptom of sorts that stands out is breast soreness.

I have scoured the web for info but can’t seem to find much of anything that would match my symptoms.

#2

I think you need to go see a doctor.

#3

I have seen breast milk in a variety of colors (golden, rusty, greenish, bluish, but not teal, exactly) and it was all normal.

I’m more surprised that you felt ‘engorged’ after a year of not nursing. I assume you were not pumping, as well. Many women can produce a small amount of milk for quite some time after stopping breastfeeding or breastpumping. Do you lave localized (as opposed to generalized) redness, swelling, or pain such as in the case of mastitis? Any fever?

I think you are just seeing normal color variations but that the colors are concentrated since the breasts in question have not been in use for a while. I think if you resumed pumping, you would see these colors fade if and when milk production resumes.

#4

Like most TMI threads here, this intrigued me to google stuff. I tried googling “rainbow break milk”, and the first link was right back to this thread, so you now own the #1 spot for those 3 words, congrats on that.

Searching colored breast milk brought up this link, which will hopefully comfort you a little. Link
*
Breastmilk can be thin and watery looking, and may have a blue or yellow tint to it. It can even take on a hint of green, orange or other color if mother has been eating lots of green foods, or other colored foods, especially those with dye, such as green gatoraide. The color of the milk is usually not anything to be concerned about however it’s always good to check with a breastfeeding professional to be sure. *

While they don’t mention teal, I’d imagine some ratio of yellow to green ration might blend to make a teal’ish color.

#5

To add emphasis:

:rolleyes:

#6

They said gay marriage would have consequences…

#7

That was priceless.

#8

you haven’t been eating crayons again, have you?
:eek:

#9

Picturing Aquafresh toothpaste coming out of Carmen Electra’s engorged breast isn’t as appealing as you might think.

#10

Plus

Plus

= :eek::D:eek::D:eek::smiley: Seriously, I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. Thanks!

Thanks for your advice, GameHat. I feel so much better now. :rolleyes:

Mr Buttons and Ca3799: Thanks for the kind words and research. While pumping I did sometimes notice the color changes you mentioned. When it happened back then the color change applied to all of the milk not just one or two ducts. And it was so pale it wasn’t even noticeable unless I really looked for it and held it up to the light. This combined with the pain and freaky denseness (see below) is what has me a bit more worried.

UPDATE

By Thursday evening the tenderness was really getting to me so I decided to do some feeling around - even got hubby in on the action! We both decided that RainbowBoob felt decidedly different than NonRainbowBoob. Denser in spots. A new level of :eek: was thus reached and resulted in another call to my gyn Friday morning. A nurse called back and scheduled me for an appointment on Monday. She said cysts could sometimes cause these sort of symptoms and are normally nothing to worry about. :slight_smile: More updates to come on Monday.

#11

Thanks for the update, and hope today’s appointment goes (went?) well.

#12

Today’s appointment was sort of surreal. The doc did a breast exam. She went from one side to the other, back and forth a bunch of times. She confirmed my suspicions about RainbowBoob (henceforth RB) being denser and more fibrous than NonRainbowBoob (NRB). She confirmed that this in itself was a bit odd. Lactating more than a year after weaning – again a bit odd. Rainbow colored milk – really odd. Do I also get headaches? Yeah. Are they gaining in frequency and intensity? Check and check.

At this point in the exam I was more than a bit freaked out. How did we go from my boobs to headaches??

It could just be that my milk ducts are reluctant to stop producing milk and need a bit of extra help to knock it off already. Fine, I can deal with that. Or I might have a benign brain pituitary tumor called a prolactinoma. Eegads!! Even this could be a minor nuisance treated with meds which is my hope. Or it could make me infertile. :frowning:

I’ve got an ultrasound scheduled for Wednesday to check on RB. When I called to schedule the ultrasound tech sounded quite alarmed when I explained what was going on and wants to get me in asap. This was coming from an ultrasound tech at a breast cancer center. Again - :eek:

Doc says a mammogram won’t help since it’s too dense. Though I’m quite happy my boobs will be spared the indignity of getting squished, the image of RB spurting rainbow-colored milk is quite amusing. I can’t get that horrible “Taste the Rainbow” jingle out of my head". :slight_smile:

Once RB has recovered from being prodded for the ultrasound it’s off to get my prolactin levels checked next Monday via a blood test.

So wish me luck (and calmness), fellow Dopers. It’s going to be a hell of a long week at my house.

#13

Holy crap! I’m sorry to hear of the scary potential issues. Hope all is well and it’s not the bad stuff. Take care, and keep us posted.

#14

Good thoughts for you.

Prolactinomas, as you have mentioned can be treated with meds, as you mentioned. The same meds can also treat the infertility (which is a side effect of high prolactin levels), so don’t panic just yet.

#15

Thanks for the update, and I’m sending my wishes that this all works out for the best, whatever that may be.

#16

Waiting for updates, and good thoughts headed out.

#17

Hoping all goes well for you. Best wishes and I will stay tuned for an update.

#18

Anything yet?

#19

Updates coming. I’m typing out a longish post between classes.

#20

Hope the bottom line is that all well…