Pitties: Milk Ducts and Lumps in Armpits, a Rare Phenomenon

A series of TikTok videos of mom, Linda Jones, has gone viral after documenting her experience with a very rare side effect of childbirth -- engorgement of armpits with breastmilk. According to Jones, her armpits were swollen with breastmilk six days after giving birth to triplets.

Jones, 39, gave birth to triplets at 34 weeks via C-Section on the second week of January after experiencing high blood pressure. The triplets were sent to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Wanting to provide breastmilk to her children, Jones decided to pump milk from her breast.

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No milk being pumped out 

According to her interview with Today, she was able to get colostrum during her first few attempts at pumping milk for the triplets. Unfortunately, all her pumping sessions after that were for naught. Nothing was happening, and no milk was being pumped out. As per recommendation by a lactation specialist, she continued breast pumping to let down her milk.

She felt fullness in her breasts, yet she could not pump milk out. Her case is a form of side effect to breastfeeding called engorgement. Most of the time, moms experience engorgement of the breasts when milk production is high. Engorgement of breasts may be normal when the mom starts producing a lot of milk. However, engorgement of armpits due to overproduction of milk is quite rare and can be a very painful experience.

Jones explained that her breasts were huge and rock hard several days after birth. She was in so much pain, and there was fullness in her breasts, and yet, she could not pump milk for her triplets. After a few days, she knew something was wrong when she noticed that her breasts and her armpits were engorged.

Pitties

Engorgement is not unusual for women pre or postpartum. However, according to experts, there are breast tissues also in the armpits, and this is why, although rare, there are occurrences of enlarged armpits like that of Jones'. With this odd phenomenon making rounds on and off social media, this occurrence has been referred to as "pitties." 

Breast tissues near or at the armpits engorged by breastmilk are now referred to as pitties. Since mammary tissues are found near the breasts that even extend to one's underarm, these can be engorged as they are connected to the tissues that produce milk.

When medical and health workers conduct breast examinations, they include underarms since breast tissues extend there. According to the nurse and lactation consultant, Dominique Weiss, what Jones has are lobules that are milk-producing clusters. It just so happened that many of these were distributed within her armpit region. However, Weiss points out that not all lactating parents may have lobules or engorgement in their underarms.

To reduce swelling, lactation and maternal health experts suggest minimizing touching the area, and applying a cold compress on the breasts and armpits may help reduce stimulation and swelling. Consulting a professional is also very much advised.

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