If you ever struggled through breastfeeding, this story may put your troubles in perspective.

A 29-year-old new mom from Austria was recently diagnosed with ectopic breast tissue of the vulva, meaning she had developed mammary glands in her external genitals.

When the time came to feed her newborn — she found it wasn’t only her breasts that needed milking.

Doctors at the Kepler University Hospital in Austria saw the woman five days after labor with her second child, when she reported pain and inflammation between her legs. She had had two sets of stitches in her vulva due to tearing during birth, so doctors initially suspected an infection there.

“At the time of transfer, that patient reported that, on postpartum day four, she developed discharge of a milky white fluid bilaterally on the vulva,” the report, appearing in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, explains.

“She noticed a rising swelling on both sides, right and left, reaching from the labia majora to the labia minora and extending as far as the perineal area close to the anus within 4 days after delivery.”

But when the woman told her doctors she’d had similar symptoms after her first pregnancy, they decided to take an ultrasound which confirmed she had breast tissue in the vulva area — no nipple, but a duct that was excreting milk.

It turns out her stitches had caused a painful back-up of milk called galactostatis.

Doctors removed the stitches and gave her antibiotics to treat the swelling. Her pain and milk discharge slowed over the following couple weeks, and she was able to eventually breastfeed as normal.

Ectopic breast tissue can occur anywhere along the embryonic milk line, also know as the mammary ridge. This mammary gland pathway throughout our body traces a line where mammals’ nipples and breasts form, but in rare cases ectopic breast tissue can occur. However, many won’t discover the condition unless they develop problems, such as swelling during pregnancy or even ectopic breast cancer.

The OB/GYNs at Kepler University recommend their patient consider an eventual removal of the breast tissue.

“Owing to the potential for malignancy developing in ectopic breast tissue, it seems prudent to recommend excision of this tissue, even though there are no guidelines for management of extramammary breast tissue,” they say.

“Diagnosis is important to differentiate from other vulvar masses, such as vulvar carcinoma, and to guide correct management.”