If you're able to make it work for you, breastfeeding can be a beautiful and miraculous experience. But it can also be a highly awkward and surprisingly painful one, thanks to some "fun" little breastfeeding side effects people don't often talk about. Case in point? One mom on TikTok recently shared two lumps that had formed in her armpits and swelled to the size of baseballs. But to the surprise of many TikTokers, the swelling wasn't the result of some abnormal growth — it was actually a symptom of breast engorgement, which can apparently happen in places other than just your breasts.
Jones has been chronicling the story of her swollen glands for more than a week now
And (surprise, surprise) her TikToks have been going viral ever since.
@keepin.up.with.3joneses Engorged! #exclusivepumping #pumping #postpartum #milk #engorged #colostrum #lactation #lactationhelp #breastfeed #momlife #tripletpregnancy #newborn ♬ Stories 2 – Danilo Stankovic
In one video, which was shared on January 15, she bared her postpartum belly — still heavily bandaged from her C-section — and lifted her arms up to show just how swollen and tender they'd become underneath.
At the time, she was only six days postpartum
In fact, she'd recently delivered triplets at 34 weeks, and had made it her goal to produce and pump enough milk to feed them during their NICU stay. But after several days of trying to pump with little to no success, her body started to rebel in unexpected ways.
As she later shared, not being able to pump had left her breasts badly engorged. And, because the mammary glands extend into the underarms, her milk supply backup had become so great that it literally overflowed — spilling right into her armpits.
Before Jones knew it, her armpits had become unrecognizable
"As you can see, both armpits are super lumpy and rock hard," Jones explains in the clip, before asking if anyone else had ever experienced this.
Turns out, several TikTokers had.
"My mom called mine 'armpitties,'" one person commented on the post.
"This happened in one of my armpits after I gave birth to my son," another added. "All the staff wanted to see it cause it was so uncommon!"
Dozens of moms even chimed in with advice
"Pump until nothing comes out!" one mom urged her.
"Cold cabbage leaves," added another. "Trust me … I had three children, and all three of my midwives recommended it … really helped with soothing."
"A heating pad is going to be your best friend, along with your pump," someone else wrote. "Pump every two hours during the day and every three to four hours at night. When you pump do it for 20 mins."
@keepin.up.with.3joneses #tripletbirth #laboranddelivery #birthday #babynames #babyweight #ivf #ivfjorney #momlife #multiples #nicubaby #triplets #csection #34weeks #ivfsucces ♬ Mama’s Hand – Queen Naija
Another mom specifically recommended using the Haakaa breast pump, along with applying warm water and epsom salts to the area.
"[This] saved me from being engorged for three days and swollen armpits," she shared. "Nothing else worked."
Many of these moms also tried their best to assure her that as uncomfortable (and "weird") as this side effect may be, it won't last forever.
"They will go down as they regulate," one mom told Jones. "I’m three weeks post-C-section and no more pain or engorgement."
(In response, Jones thanked the woman and said her comment gave her "hope.")
Others, however, couldn't help but be shocked
"New fear unlocked," commented one user.
"They really don’t tell us about this stuff in school," added someone else. "They just tell us, 'Yeah, 9 months, pop it out, and you’re good.'"
"Thank you for this, I'm never getting pregnant," joked another person.
As for Jones, the whole thing was painful, but not entirely surprising
That's because the mother of six has actually been through it before.
"This happened with my first three kids, and I just quit [breastfeeding]," Jones told TODAY Parents earlier this week “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."
"The first couple times I tried to pump, I got some colostrum," added Jones. "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."
After two days of this, Jones said she was in so much pain that her armpits were "rock hard" and hurt to touch. So were her breasts, which had suddenly grown "huge."
Luckily, things started to get better with a little time
Thanks to a lactation consultant provided by her hospital, Jones was able to relieve some of the engorgement with a combination of hot and cold compresses and massage. She also took frequent hot showers and continued "pumping, pumping, pumping" until things started moving.
Slowly but surely, the swelling started going down, and by January 18, she was finally able to pump some colustrom for her babies.
@keepin.up.with.3joneses So proud of my MLs #colostrum #exclusivepumping #tripletsoftiktok #delivery #hospital #momsoftiktok #breastfeed #pumpingmom #nicu #nicustrong #milk ♬ Level Up – Ciara
At two weeks postpartum, Jones shared another update, saying that the hard lumps had now subsided, and are now more like "soft sacks," which she hopes will disappear soon.
@keepin.up.with.3joneses #engorged #update #pumping #exclusivepumping #postpartum #milk #lactation #breastfeeding #tripletmom #preemie #newborn #momlife #birthcontrol #armpit ♬ Sunny Day – Ted Fresco
In the meantime, TikTokers are continuing to thank her for being so open and honest about her experience.
"Every day TikTok teaches me more things about pregnancy I would’ve never known!" commented one user.
"Um … Why no one ever talks about this?" another person asked.
Jones seems to feel the same way
In fact, that's a huge part of why she chose to share her whole engorgement saga in the first place.
"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," she told TODAY. "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."
