Products We Love: La Vie Lactation Massager

Breastfeeding often means doing things you likely never imagined. For some that might mean whipping a boob out in public places to placate your wailing infant, or consuming unusual amounts of milk-producing foods, or even spending hours—countless hours—attached to a pump.

For me, breastfeeding meant all of these things—plus everything that Dr. Google prescribed to treat recurring plugged ducts, which occur when your breast milk flow is obstructed. For those fortunate enough to not know what this feels like, imagine a hot, throbbing, hard lump (sometimes the size of a golf ball) lodged somewhere in your breast. It hurts to lean on, sleep on and, perhaps most inconveniently, it hurts to nurse on. If untreated, it can lead to mastitis, an infection of the breast tissue that is accompanied by extreme pain and often a fever. Both conditions can lead to a reduced milk supply which is, of course, not an ideal outcome for a nursing mother.

Unfortunately, this mother was me. No matter what I did, no matter how much I nursed or how many remedies I found deep down in the depths of mommy message boards, nothing worked to relieve my poor boobs. I tried everything. Hot showers. Hand massage. Hand expressing. A wide toothed comb to literally comb it out (yes, that hurts as much as it sounds). Hot epsom salt soaks. Nursing upside down. Ice packs. Heat packs. Herbal packs. You name it, I tried it.

One day while I sat pumping at work, a friend texted me about the La Vie Lactation Massager. It took all of 30 seconds for me to buy not one, but two (one for home and one for work), and no time for me to feel excited about the prospect of having a solution to this nagging problem.

If this thing could help me, even a little bit, I was all in. And help me it did! The massager is thoughtfully designed with three uniquely shaped edges – a narrow point to work out stubborn plugs, a wide side to soften the breast for a faster letdown and a scoop edge to encourage movement of the milk. It’s waterproof, which means you can use it in the shower – this is ideal because hot steam is best for working on plugged ducts. It’s rechargeable, which means you don’t need to keep batteries on hand and, most importantly, it works. It really, truly works. Sure, it might have prompted a few funny looks from coworkers the times is fell out of my pumping bag, but any amount of embarrassment was worth it if that meant my boobs could live in peace.

BUY IT: Amazon, $40