How do you know if you have mastitis?

[NoTeaForMe]

Hi,

My left breast is very painful all the time and especially when feeding, though a nipple guard does help a bit. Today I have felt cold to the bones and now feel very hot. I have checked my temperature and it is 38.4 at the mo. Is this masitis? If not what? If so what can I do, my baby is only 2 weeks old so am in for a night of no sleep!

Help!

It sounds like it to me. I felt a bit fluey for a few days and then feverish one night. I made an appointment with a GP and she prescribed anti-bios. Luckily she'd had it before and empathised so gave me strong ones so that I wouldn't be back.

Also, Ibrufen really helps.

Make an appointment with a GP first thing tomorrow.

It's awful isn't it but does clear really quickly with anti-bios.

I didn't think you could take anything other than paracetomal when breastfeeding, unless prescribed by a dr that is?
Until I can get an appointment is there anything else I can do? Does the hot flannel and massaging help or not? It hurts just to touch my breast at the moment.

Is it less painful to express than to feed? Is it an idea to try that instead?

Thanks in advance

this website has useful info on treating mastitis (sounds to me like you have it)
I wouldn't wait for an appt, call out of hours GP. I think they will prescribe antibiotics and the sooner you start taking them the better. Do you have a DH/DP there to help and go and pick up the medicine?
You can take ibuprofen while bf, see this leaflet

Babies are more effective than pumps at draining the breast so feed if you possibly can.
Get as much rest as you can, ideally stay in bed and have soemone bring baby to you for feeds. Can someone look after you tomorrow?

I had mastitis when ds was 8 days old and am suffering from a miildish case of it now so can empathise!

keep feeding as much as you cna and get thee to the gp asap

its horrid and gets much worse before it gets better

you could try without help from the doc but you will feel like death and its hard to shift on your own

gp can prescribe ab's and it will clear quickly

but definitely keep feeding as much as possible

sounds like it to me ...here's my tips (I promise you want shot of it ASAP!!! )

• call out of hours docs, you need antib's fast
• feed/ express on that side as often as poss, even if other side due- offer the mastitis side first
• really hot flannel, leave on affected area for a bit - then REALLY hard massage (hurts! think sports massage!) pushing from the outside of the breast to the middle (this is the ONLY thing which sorted me!) do it as often as you can handle... you NEED to shift the blockage!
• you can (much to my surprise) even take stronger than ibuprofen! I was given doclofenec (voltarol) by my amazing super doc who sorted me! (after the two useless ones who didn't

after starting the massage / diclofenec I was feeling far more human within a couple of hours... this was after about 10 days of feeling like death, and two different types of antib's! The blockage needs to move and clear or you WON'T get better!

NoTeaForMe - lots of good advice here.

To add to my earlier post - after my bout of mastitis cleared up I felt it coming back a couple of weeks later. By making baby feed more on hardish breast, massaging in the shower and taking Nurofen I managed to stop it flaring up.

Once you've had mastitis you never want it again.

I completely agree with YAMA ... I spent weeks massaging that breast 'just in case' .... awful thing mastitis!

Yes, I agree with what's been said but don't panic! I've had 2 horrendous bouts of mastitis where I felt like death but with antibiotics I got better very quickly

Thankyou all so much for your advice. I went to the out of hours gp last night and was given antibiotics, so
now waiting for them to kick in!! My Mom is here at the
moment,so she had my baby through the night and
just brought her to me for feeds. Which meant I could get some sleep.

I can't feed off the infected side as my baby is a very strong sucker and clamps her jaw down on my nipple, as it is I was using nipple shields just to get by. Without using them for at least a few feeds a day I end up picking out bits of my nipple out of her mouth! No way can I handle this on top of the mastitis.

The dr said that although I am still producing milk well it isn't a high quality on the mastitis side, and although it won't do baby any harm to drink it she won't get that satisfied full feeling either, the dr recommended expressing off the mastitis side as often as possible, every hour, and then throwing the milk. Then feeding or expressing off the other side and she may need
a top up of formula. If I express off the 'good' side how much do I give her, how much does she need?

Feeling so ill and run down at the moment I just feel like going to bed and dealing with everything another day, but obviously I can't!

I'm not enjoying breastfeeding like I thought and hoped I would and it's starting to really upset me, bit then feeding with formula feels like I've failed her.

Anyone?

I've never heard that mastitis makes your milk low quality, that seems odd to me.

Can you not just feed off the good side and express from the mastitis side?

I'm sure it's not true that it makes your milk low quality although I have read that it can affect the taste slighty. My ds has carried on bf as normal through 3 bouts of mastitis. I certainly wouldn't chuck the milk you've expressed, there should be no need to give her formula.

Are you able to express easily? I can't get more than sbout half an oz off so no choice but to feed. Maybe you could express as much as poss off the bad side, then feed her on the good side, then switch her to the bad side when she's less hungry (so won't suck so aggressively) so she can drain the breast and get out anything the pump left behind.

Hope you feel better soon.

Could be good to see a breast feeding counsellor when you're feeling better to try and fix the painful feeding

I know breastfeeding seems miserable at the mo, but you're only 2 weeks in, it will get better. I needed to use nipple shields til ds was about 5 weeks old, now at 9 weeks things are so much better (though not 100% problem free). Seeing a bf counsellor helped me loads

Doctor was talking twaddle about the quality of the milk. Give her the expressed milk.

Hope the ABs kick in really quickly for you.

And do see a breastfeeding counsellor as soon as you can, if at all possible -- you need solutions to the nipple-chomping problem and possibly your DD may not be removing the milk as effectively as she should and that could be contributing to the mastitis developing (could be related to the nipple-chomping or be a separate issue).

It doesn't change the quality at all - stupid doc! it can however change the taste - my DS was very 'anti' that side... although to be fair the blockage moved to right behind the nipple so he may have not been getting anything much out at all...

one thing to be aware of is that if you just stop - the infection will get worse, possibly to abcess level which will mean hospital (I believe never got that far).... so if you don't feel able to feed on it, please keep expressing (I did this in the end)

Like previously suggested I would maybe offer the mastitis side between feeds rather than when hungry ?