Boob misery

[Elliellie]

Ok, so a few days ago I was posting about my boob problems. After having bad mastitis that didn't respond to antibiotics I developed an abscess, lovely! I had a local anaesthetic on Tues to get it drained & was told I'd have to return in a week to see how it was. However, the next day it was loads worse & I ended up in a&e where they admitted me & put me on an antibiotic drip & then operated on it the next day. The abscess was 7x5cm & my boob looked horrific, just looking at it put me in shock! I had to leave Isaac with my mum whilst in hospital which was sad & he had to have formula for the first time. Came home yesterday, they have left an open wound & packed it with rolls of gauze so the nurse is coming everyday to repack it which is horrendous. I've just hit a real low now & feel totally miserable. I had a c section & so had to recover from that & was finally getting the hang of things & enjoying life as a mummy & going out & doing stuff, now I feel I'm back to square one. I'm in lots of pain, I cant express milk or feed from it as its my nipple & the dressing is over it so my boob is horribly engorged with milk streaming out of the dressing as its coming out of the hole! My clothes keep getting soaked as its just pouring down my side even with pads on. The nurse can't tell me what time she will come everyday & she will be coming for weeks so I won't be able to go out & just have to wait. I booked into baby massage classes which I can't do & my husband is going to have to do the Waterbabies with him as it starts next week & I was so excited about these. I can't even cuddle or lift Isaac properly. Im also really upset as I've EBF Isaac for 3 months & it has gone so well, I was just totally expecting to be able to continue with that & now I'm still trying to feed from one breast but it's not producing enough for him so I have to keep topping up with formula, I think being in hospital affected my supply. It's so sad as I feel I've tried so hard to do everything right & devoted so much to the feeding despite everyone telling me to put him on formula I've persevered with his frequent feeds! Doesn't seem fair & can't quite believe its all gone wrong. I want to increase my milk in that boob while stopping it in the other, is that possible?! Any tips welcome!
I'm sorry to be so moany, im just feeling a bit sorry for myself today & needed to get it off my chest

 

[Mrs. KM]

I don't know how to help, but you deserve huge hugs!

 

[Elliellie]

Thank you! Now the bloody cat has just vomited all over my pillow!!

 

[jojo_2012]

Oh love! There was absolutely nothing you could have done to stop that abscess, you've been through a sh** time and now you have to focus on enjoying mummy time and recovering.

I used to work in a breast cancer clinic, the breast care nurses people who had had part of their breast damaged/removed were told if they couldn't feed from one side they could use only 1 boob and the other one would produce less over time. I'm not sure how good all this would be for your wound healing. In fact the breast care specialist nurses are brilliant I don't know if you're in touch with them or not you might want to ask your consultant to refer you, alternatively ring your hospital's switchboard and ask for someones number. Just because they mainly deal with cancer doesn't mean they're not good for advice!

As for this waiting in for the district nurse business can't your practice nurse to it at a pre-arranged time? Can you not go in the pool with baby and hubby together but only waist deep?

 

[Elliellie]

Thank you for advice, I might see if I can talk to a breast nurse, I was asking everyone at the hospital what I should do about the milk & feeding & no one knew! Wish medical people were a bit more informed when it comes to breastfeeding advice. Had conflicting advice all along.
I'll have to see how I am for swimming, at the moment the dressing is huge & bulky & leaking all over the place so would be a bit minging & I'd be self conscious. Also I'd be worried about getting it splashed & wet. Anyway, we'll see, at least I'm in the recovery bit now i guess after 2 weeks of pain & horribleness. Just hope it happens quickly.

 

[BevG]

id deffo keep feeding from the good side, take fenugreek, never skip the chance to have him latch on your good boob and top up when you need to. your good boob should make more to take up the slack and the poorly one should make less after its settled down. dont feel bad tho hun your doing the most important thing and taking care of yourself. i do combi feeding and any breast milk is better than none at all be it 1 day 1 feed or 1 yr so even if you top up and just feed what you can from the 1 boob its fine. if you hadnt got it sorted and the abcess had burst you could have got septeceamia and died so its much better to get the treatment and him to have a bit of formula rather than him lose his mummy. well done for not giving up completely on the bf despite all this trouble xx

 

[pinkyprincess]

I read this earlier but couldn't comment but I came back. Firstly I think you are AMAZING for feeding through it. You set an amazing example to people and you should be so proud. Like Bev says if you need to top up, do it. As long as you offer boob first to keep your supply where's the problem! When it's healed a bit try him on it and you never know it may build back up. Stay positive lovely!

 

[Elliellie]

Hey, thanks so much ladies, your comments are lovely & have really cheered me up I've had a lovely day chillin with my little boy & OH has looked after me so feeling a bit more positive now. The nurse today was really nice too & repacked it & put a massive pad in the dressing so its leaking less & it doesn't feel quite so painful. I did glance down as she was doing it this time & saw a big deep hole in my boob, eww!
I kinda feel like my milk supply is dwindling in my good boob, Isaac's draining it really quickly & then getting frustrated. I'm topping up with a bottle but so hard to know how much to give! Guess I'll get used to it. Just hoping I can build my supply in that boob, feeding from it loads but it seems to be getting less. Maybe I'll try fenugreek, I'm assuming you can get capsules? I only want to increase it in one boob though! The poorly boob is still rock hard & engorged but there isn't much I can do about that, just hoping it won't lead to more problems. Anyway, for now things are feeling a bit better!

 

[Sarah13]

Oh you poor thing, you have been through so much and to still be trying is amazing! What a brilliant example you are.
Not much i can add as i was going to suggest fenugreek too, health food shops sell it in capsules. lecithin may help too as it thins the milk to there is less chance of further blockages.
Im sure your good boob will take over, I've heard about women successfully feeding from one boob and the other should start to dry up soon too. All you can do is keep feeding as much as possible as you are doing. Well done xx

 

[Sarah13]

Had a quick look on Kelly mom for you and found this article about a mother who suffered the same as you so might be worth a read http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/breast-abscess/
The advice is to express or feed on the sore boob too not sure how possible that is though! Sounds like it is quite rare too x

 

[TORino]

Oh Hun! That's a lot to deal with right there you poor thing

I hope you can recover quickly and reinstate your supply, I'm sure it's possible to do xxxx

 

[l_maclean]

I've read your thread a couple of times, and just didn't know what to say.

you are doing brilliantly having been through something so difficult.

I dunno if it will help, or if its possible, but when I was really engorged at the start I asked mw if expressing to relieve it would help or keep the supply way up, she said a quick had express just to relieve it was ok, but to do it AR the same time as a feed so my body didn't think it was an extra feed.

Xxx

 

[wifeywifey]

You are one amazing woman, you have coped so well when many would have quit. Sorry no advice but your lo is so lucky to have such an amazing mummy.

Sent from my E15i using Tapatalk

 

[hellywelly]

Oh poor you! My grandma suffered with breast abcesses with all three of her children and said it was far more painful than childbirth, so you must have been in agony. Well done for doing so well. Can't offer advice on the bf front I'm afraid as we had a nightmare wiyh feeding and E is ff now, but I would say don't beat yourself up about formula top ups. I did and it just meant I got upset for no reason as LO didn't give a damn where dinner came from and has thrived!! Hopefully in time you will be able to go back to EBF when you have healed, but if not 3 months of EBF is fab anyway!! Lots of hugs and get well soon. xxx

 

[CarlyD]

I don't know if it's an option but a couple of years ago when I was with my ex he had an abscess removed from his back days before a uni field trip and we managed to persuade the doctor/nurse to show us how to do it and supply us with all the packing materials and I just went with him to repack the wound daily. Maybe if there's someone who can help you with it daily you can talk to your nurse and ask if that's an option, to do it yourself, so at least you could make plans with your days etc and not have to wait on a nurse every day for weeks xxx

 

[Nurse 26]

you poor thing you have done amazing so far, i hope it heals fast for you. xx

 

[Elliellie]

Thank you so much for the lovely comments, they have really cheered me up!
Lmaclean, im dying to express but the dressing is over the nipple & so I can't really. I asked the nurse today if we could leave just the nipple out & she didn't seem keen. She doesn't seem very pro breastfeeding though or very knowledgable. She told me to let them both dry up & said I wouldn't be able to feed from one only, that's not what I've read & what others have posted. She then told me I'd make it worse if I expressed some, I don't think thats true if I only do it occasionally & really if I was able to express the milk I'd be happy for it not to dry up then we could maybe go back to feeding from it when it's a bit better! She gave the nipple a little squeeze when she changed the dressing & milk came out easily but then said she wouldn't do anymore as it would increase my supply! To me it seems wrong to leave it so engorged as I know I'm at risk of mastitis again. I've got a different nurse tomorrow so I'll see what she thinks.
Carly, if I wasn't so squeamish that would be a good idea! I know I couldn't do it & OH wouldn't be comfortable with it so I think I'll have to stick with the nurse! She did say that when im a bit better I can start going to the health centre to have it done so will be able to do it in my own time.
I really think that one of the most annoying things has been the conflicting breastfeeding advice & the ignorance surrounding it within the nhs. Something needs to be done!
Anyway, thanks again for saying nice things & helping me feel better!

 

[KirstyHH]

Hello,

I've just been through a very similar experience. I developed mastitis straight after my milk came in, but because I'd been told by the MW at the 5 day appointment that they don't necessarily give antibiotics for masitits I didn't go to the doctors for a week. The antibiotics didn't work, but in the meantime I'd seen another MW, a nursery nurse and a health visitor and none of them had suggested it might be an abscess or that I should go back to the doctor. In the end I was desperate as I couldn't feed from that side or get much milk with expressing. I ended up at my local urgent care centre but the doctor there was useless and just sent me home with more antibiotics and told me I had to get some milk out.

I still couldn't get much milk no matter how hard I tried, so my husband phoned NHS direct that evening and they said I should go back to the urgent care centre. Thankfully I saw a different doctor at 2am who diagnosed an abscess straight away and phoned the surgeons at the hospital. I went straight to hospital, but they decided to try IV anti-biotics and to aspirate the abscess first. They couldn't get much fluid at all, so they just said they hoped the anti-biotics would work, but 2 days later the abscess burst and I was told the following day I would need an operation. I was kept waiting all day without food or water (even though I am still BF on the right side) to be told the operation wouldn't happen that day and I would have to wait for the following day. The op went OK, but when they pulled the packing out the following day it felt like someone had pulled barbed wire out of my breast (I don't think I've ever screamed so loud before). They sent me home the next day and I also have to wait for the DN to come everyday to re-pack the wound. Since then a midwife, nursery nurse, health visitor and DN all keep giving me conflicting advice. The surgeon said I should express for 2 weeks then start feeding, but the wound is very close to my nipple so everyone else has advised against it.

The op was 2 weeks ago now and on my discharge summary it said I should have an appointment at the breast care clinic 2 weeks later, but I had still not heard anything last Friday so I phoned to be told I wouldn't get an appointment for another 3 weeks! My husband phoned and kicked up a fuss and I got an appointment yesterday. I thought at last I should be able to get advice from the experts but when I got there the consultant came in like a whirlwind and was just angry because my breast was hard and the nipple flat, and he told me I should be having warm baths daily and the dressing shouldn't cover my breast. He also said there is another abscess forming but hopefully it can be aspirated but he's not ruling out another operation. I had to go back again today for the breast care nurse to dress it so the DNs can do the same. He also told me he would have advised me to keep feeding, but I think that the nipple is too flat now to even try. He still couldn't tell me if I would ever be able to feed from that side or if I will be left with an indent from the abscess.

The last 4 weeks have been the worst of my life when they should be the happiest. A breast abscess is defo more painful than labour. I feel really fed up as all I want to do is look after my little girl and start thinking about getting out of the house and meeting up with people but I have to wait in everyday for the DNs. My breasts are also now very obviously different in size so it is going to be difficult for me to find things to wear which don't make it obvious. Everytime I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel things seem to get worse again. The consultant said it's going to take a long time to heal, and I'm really scared not knowing how my breast is going to end up as I feel like a complete freak at the moment. I'm also concerned how this will effect my relationship with my husband in the long term and my self esteem. I'm extremely frustrated about the lack of knowledge and conflicting advice given on breast abscesses from healthcare professionals, but have seen similar posts on the internet from 2009 so they are obviously not learning from their mistakes!

 

[pinkyprincess]

Wow what a story!! I spent it all holding my breath to see what would happen next! Hope you are coping ok?

 

[BellaRiven]

You are one strong lady to keep going as you have and you have my utmost respect

I can't offer any advice, but most areas have a breastfeeding counsellor or alternatively you could try calling the NCT Breastfeeding helpline , i've put their blurby bit and their number below

Breastfeeding Line
0300 330 0771
Call to talk to a qualified breastfeeding counsellor about feeding your baby. Most mums want to breastfeed and we are experts in helping you carry out your wish. We are also here if you decide to use a little, some, mostly or all formula and would like support in doing so. We can help when the time comes to start your baby on solids or if you want to switch between breastfeeding and formula.

xxxxx