Blockage day 3 - should I take antibiotics?

[SparkleHorse82]

My 11 month old decided to sleep through the night for the first time on Thursday and I woke up on Friday with a terrible painful caked breast. Not surprising as we've also been reducing day feeds as I return to work in four weeks. I worked really hard to clear it all day Friday but she's teething too so her latch is adjusting and although I got the breast soft it was still very sore.
I went to the Dr yesterday and she gave me antibiotics and said I could wait the rest of the day to see how I was doing before I took them. I waited it out overnight as things were much better yesterday afternoon.
This morning (Sunday) I thought it would be totally resolved as we fed a lot in the night too, but although much better than 24 hours ago the breast is still pretty tender. There's no obvious lump but it hurts when going up and down stairs, and when I hold my baby up.
I feel fine in myself, no temp, no flu symptoms.

So my questions are:

Can I just keep working on it today, or should I be safe and take the course of antibiotics? I hate taking antibiotics as they upset my baby's bowels through my milk, and my stomach too.

And also, is it really possible that my boobs will adjust when I go back to work without going through all this again? I was hoping to just feed morning and evening and through the night, but now worry i'm going to have to pump at lunchtime. I know by law they have to let me, but I have a job where there really isn't the time, especially as i'll be leaving at 4pm for nursery pick up. I'm so stressed about it - really don't want to go back!

[Fridaygap]

Your boob is getting better not worse, so that suggests you can leave off the antibiotics, as you don't have any other signs of mastitis. I have experienced that exact thing after a big gap between feeds and it does feel a bit sore afterwards. I don't think it means there's necessarily an infection.

I don't think this means you'll need to pump at lunch at all. Night time is when you make a lot of milk. It's much easier to drop daytime feeds and your body will definitely be able to adjust.

[SparkleHorse82]

Thank you Friday. I didn't take the antibiotics and by the end of day 4 I was back to normal with no pain. I'm so relieved. Not looking forward to the transition back to work though. I am going to try and cut one day feed and replace with a snack before I go so it's not as big a shock to my body.