CURE FOR MASTITIS THAT WORKS

[Hellsbells2805]

I just felt I needed to share this with you. I have recently started with mastitis and had read about the use of cabbage leaves to relieve it. I was rather dubious about this, but was in so much pain yesterday that I decided there was nothing to lose in trying it. So I went and bought an normal white cabbage, put it in the fridge and after a couple of hours placed the cool leaves inside my bra. I can honestly say that the relief was immediate and within a couple more hours there was hardly any pain. 24 hours later I am still using the cabbage leaves, but I can honestly say I now have 0 pain. Try it! Good luck and keep up the good work.

Hi I would be a bit dubious about this. Having had Mastitis and having used cabbage leaves too, I would say that if you get Mastitis or the signs of it then you should take yourself to the GP as soon as you can and get antibiotics.

Mastitis can become very painful, very quickly and can make you very ill. I know two women who were hospitalised with it - extreme I know.

I could be wrong, and I'm sure one of the better informed will be along any minute -

But I thought there were two kinds of mastitis. One is a general inflammation and soreness, which is associated with engorged breasts and blocked ducts - the other is infectious mastitis, with all of the above plus a significant fever. And it's the latter that antibiotics are generally prescribed for as it's more serious.

I'm sure cabbage leaves are helpful with both, and there's lots we can do to relieve symptoms - but bout no. 2 of infectious mastitis has just knocked me sideways, and I've started the antibiotics and ibuprofen today after seeing the GP.

What I'd like to know is how to AVOID mastitis in the 1st place...so frustrating!

Indeed, barkfox. Leaving infectious mastitis without antibiotics can result in the development of an abscess and it all getting pretty unpleasant - I had a neighbour who ended up with one, I don't know all the details but she had to have a section of her breast removed to get rid of it completely.

Blocked ducts and discomfort without infection is not truly mastitis, but will respond very nicely to cold cabbage leaves and other supportive measures.

Sorry to steal your thread Hellsbells but was about to post on behalf of my sis on this topic, She has infectious mastitis and started the antibiotics tonight with paracetamol so the queries are
Can she give dd the expressed milk, Dr were arguing re yes or no.
Her dd is fed EBM but all expressed so may this have occurred because she is not expressing enough?
I will get cabbage in the morning to see will it help and I am staying to do the night feeds [she can express and go back to sleep] but what else can I do besides help her get more sleep, clean her house and make food, She is getting v depressed and fed up so any advice would be gratefully recieved
TIA and sorry again Hellsbells2805

Cabbage leaves made no difference at all when i had mastitis, 2 courses of antibiotics did.

I think exclusive expressing and using nipple shields can encourage mastitis, because the ducts arent being drained effectively.

There is a lot of stuff on Kellymom, and Dr Jack Newman websites with advice, including 'breast brushing/combing' and the most effective way to massage the breasts.

I found the only time I had any relief was when I had very hot compresses on my boobs.

Hope your sister feels better soon - you sound wonderful!

Thanks Hazeyjane, she is using a hot compress but has to express as baby is tongue tied so bottle seems to be the way to go but she may have to re think that,

Canyou, from what I know, her milk will be fine to give to the baby. The baby's stomach acids will kill off the infection.

Can she get the baby's tongue tie cut? That often makes a huge difference, and the operation is pretty minor. (it's a tiny bit of skin, they snip it, job done. Generally no blood.)

canyou, it's totally fine for a baby to drink BM when mother has mastitis, so feeding expressed milk as usual is fine.

It makes mastitis worse if breasts get too full and engorged, so stopping expressing would give her problems.

As Hazeyjane says, some other more 'therapeutic' expressing would probably be helpful. I found gentle massage of the sore bits towards the nipple in a hot shower helped a lot, and means you can drain the whole breast a bit better.

Btw, Ibuprofen is fine to take with mastitis, and is actually recommended as it helps bring inflammation down better than paracetamol.

Good luck to your sis, you are being v helpful!

I had mastitus and was prescribed antibiotics and paracetemol and told to feed, feed, feed to clear the blocked duct. I would query the use of ibuprofen though. As I understand it, it will get into the milk, and is not recommended for children or babies. People are allergic to it and it can cause bleeding in the lining of the stomach. It says on the packaging that it's not to be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women - but check with your GP or HV to be sure.

Hi - ibuprofen is fine to take with mastitis and when breastfeeding.

Here is a link to the breastfeedingnetwork's PDF on mastitis - www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BFN_Mastitis.pdf

They point out that paracetamol is fine too, but has no anti-inflammatory effect, so ibuprofen is actually better in that respect.
(paracetamol will also get into your breastmilk, but is not harmful - same with ibuprofen).

kellymom says the same thing - www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.html

(scroll down to 'MEDICATION').

Obviously if anyone is allergic to ibuprofen, then they shouldn't take it anyway, bf or not....

my thread here

outlines how i got through it without antibiotics...i did catch it relatively early although was in extreme pain and had a temp and shivers.

the key was deep tissue massage. pretty painful but worked.

Thks for all the info, I am passing it all onto her, she will not bf so is still expressing only. I am not sure what is being done re baba and tongue tied, but regardless she will not be feeding from breast ,le leche [sp?] were to militant for her and she cannot travel to the hosp bf clinic and HV is young and has no dc so not in the best position to provide practical advice so you guys are great, practical and unfortunately have been there.
Sophable she left it for a few days so is very sick and a very bad patient.
Thanks again everyone

I have been using the Breast nurse product

www.oscardehn.com/showdetails.asp?name=breast+nurse%99

since my first was born six years ago. It's a gel pack that you can use warm or cold (both work fantastically for mastitis, bloacked ducts etc.)

I just slip it into my bra and its so much more discrete than cabbage leaves.

I swear by it and would recommend it to all nursing mothers. Best of luck.

Another option is to take phytolacca everyday while bf - available from homeopaths. Seems to be working for me (I was desperate after 3 bouts of infectious mastitis). All information about it (also called poke-root) points to it being excellent for any inflamation in the breast. Can also be used to treat mastitis, although I went straight for the antibiotics and painkillers ech time!