Is this mastitus again?

[Baileysismyfriend]

I have been breastfeeding my son from birth and he is now 6 weeks old. Two weeks ago I had very tender breasts, shooting pains and a hard lump which was red and was diagnosed with mastitus, I was given a 7 day course of flucloxacillin and I started to feel better within a day or two.

A couple of days after the anti biotics finished the shooting pains came back and my breasts are tender again. I spoke to my HV and she prescribed me a course of co amoxiclav for a week as she thought the mastitus had returned, I have been taking this for three days but still have the shooting pains and tenderness?

I don't have any hard lumps or redness so Im confused as to whether I actually have mastitus again or if its something else. My son does not have thrush and the HV didnt seem to think it could be that.

Could it be that I will just always have tender breasts while Im feeding?

[Baileysismyfriend]

Thank you for the reply, I think your'e right some HCP seem very quick to give out medication without really looking into what it could be. The HV that gave me the latest lot of anti biotics wasn't even sure it was mastitus but just gave them to me to be on the safe side

The tenderness is on both breasts does that mean it's less likely to be mastitus? I do tend to hold my breast at the start of feeding and holding the baby to me does make it worse as they just feel more bruised so Ill try and hold him in different positions.

I tend to feed from both sides for the same length of time so have started to wonder if I am not emptying my breasts fully so am going to try and just feed from one at each time and see if that helps - as long as he is still satisfied that is.

[Baileysismyfriend]

Just realised I have spelt it wrong all the way through - mastitis

[Baileysismyfriend]

Thank you so much for the advice the leaflets are really useful and I'm going to check out my local breastfeeding group. Hopefully I will be pain free soon