Mastitis

[nicki]

Hi everyone,

Last Sunday we called the doctor out as I was feeling like poo & had the severe shakes, Dave nearly had a heart attack when he saw me! and my right boob was swollen & red. The doc reckoned it was just a uti & gave me some antiobiotics, I on the other hand thought it may be mastitis, my midwife agreed the following morning & I got some more antibiotics (the same type as for the uti) & have been taking them ever since.
After a couple of days I felt loads better & even ventured out the house but this afternoon I started to get the same symptons as before & it's slowly getting worse but this time its on my other boob.
I would have thought that as i'm taking antibiotics already it would've stopped it developing. My boob is so painful & i'm feeling rotten again (can't take much more of this!! )
Has anyone had the same thing? What do I do? I could quite easily cry (again!)
Please help

Nicki.xx

 

[Kim]

Awww Nicki, I can only sympathise as I have never had either, but I hope you feel better soon.

Sorry I'm not any help but I'm sending you a get well hug ((( )))

 

[Dee1985]

aw bless you hun, last thing u need with a lil baby to look after,

iv never had mastitis and never heard of it

hope u feel better soon..

 

[beanie]

Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding?

 

[Yvonne]

after Jack i had really hard and sore boobs, to the point i couldn't put my arms down by my sides and bra's hurt etc!!

But after my milk settled down cos i wasn't breastfeeding they went ok, but i had a uterine infection so i was in pain and shivers and feeling cold and fluey at the same time, i can really sympathise with you.

Hope your better soon I can't remember what i did, i think i just let it ride.

 

[Dee1985]

after Jack i had really hard and sore boobs, to the point i couldn't put my arms down by my sides and bra's hurt etc!!

But after my milk settled down cos i wasn't breastfeeding they went ok,

god the pain is unbarable...

i was in agony for 3days couldnt even hold my to children

 

[nicki]

Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding?

Hiya,

I was breastfeeding but because my nipples were so sore, cracked & bleeding I ended up expressing, the problem I have since found out is i'm not producing enough milk to satisfy Jamie so he was latched on for ages & frequently.
I started to express & top him up with formula (expressing hurts a bit too). My nips have got alot better but intend on carrying on with what i'm doing for the time being anyway. I also gave J oral thrush from b/f so want to avoid it happening again, the poor love

Nicki.xx

 

[*saulino*]

Hi

ijust posted the other day and yesterday i went to the docs and i have mastitis as well.
I feel for you hun, ive had a fever for days the chills like mad nothing worse then having a fever but feeling cold and wearing sweaters .
my whole body is sore, bad headache ect
I dont
really have any advice except try and rest which i know first hand is hard to do.
Do you find its worse at night thats what its like for me right now. ionly have it on my left side and pray it dont happen on the other.
I hope we get better soon, its aweful
Katrinaxxx

 

[beanie]

Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding?

Hiya,

I was breastfeeding but because my nipples were so sore, cracked & bleeding I ended up expressing, the problem I have since found out is i'm not producing enough milk to satisfy Jamie so he was latched on for ages & frequently.
I started to express & top him up with formula (expressing hurts a bit too). My nips have got alot better but intend on carrying on with what i'm doing for the time being anyway. I also gave J oral thrush from b/f so want to avoid it happening again, the poor love

Nicki.xx

Sorry am being nosey but how do you know you are not producing enough (if you don't want to answer me then thats ok). Its just that in the early weeks babies suckle frequently and for a long time as they are telling your body how much milk it needs to make and also they are comforted by suckling so seem to be on the breast all the time. This will ease up as your milk settles and they get better at extracting milk. Expressing is not as effective at getting milk out so your suplly may decrease and if you are giving formula top ups I would either feed or express both before and after so your body is still being told to make more milk. Have you tried nipple shields as this may help you to breastfeed until your nipples heal. Also I would keep an eye on the thrush as some antibiotics can cause it to return, this happened with me but we quickly got clear of it.

With mastitis the best thing to use is heat. Hot baths and showers are great but my absolute is a hot water bottle to the affected area, especially before you feed/express. Feeding/expressing off the affected side will help, it prevents engorgement which can make the pain worse.Use an anti-inflammatory drug (ie ibuprofen but check dosage with pharmacist) Gently massage affected area towards nipple to encourage milk flow. If you are getting mastitis regularly check that nothing is digging into your breast, i.e. the pump or your bra as this can cause blocked ducts. Also try and avaoid too much animal fat, cut down caffeine. Eat yoghurt to encourage good bacteria (which will help with the thrush too). Make sure you are both being treated for thrush as you can pass it on to eachother.

Sorry for going on. If yopu have any other questions just ask as there are quite a few breastfeeding mums who can advise. Hope you are feeling a lot better soon xxx

 

[Lucy]

Hi Nicki

You poor thing suffering from Mastitis, although I didn't get it full blown my MW thought I had early stages of it (my symptoms were a very red left boob and face, felt shivery and very cold and head continuous headache). Like Beanie says warm compresses are the best thing for the inflamed and painful areas, it's really comforting. When we had thrush we were prescribed Daktarin gel for Olivia's mouth and it worked a treat - the previous treatment of Napcisan (that's not the right spelling!) was too watery and wouldn't stay in her mouth.

Nipple shields and lansinoh cream came to my rescue and healed my cracked and bleeding nipples when Olivia was really wee, she was also feeding continuously day and night. As she's got older she's much better at latching on so it's not painful at all

I was just reading a thread about jobs and saw you are an AH - are you going back after maternity leave? I was one once a few years back with Virgin Atlantic and giggled at your experiences, there were some classics !!

Hope you're enjoying being a new mum, looking at your pics you're looking fab on it!

Take care

Lucy