If this is mastitis and its halfway through friday afternoon what to do next?

[Inspirachion]

Hard lump in breast and cant get any milk out with pump, only tiny drip by hand and baby not interested in helping out - not sure if hes not getting anything either.

have tried massaging and hot compress
no signs of slight watery pink fluid but only tiny amount

help - can i really fix this at home myself like ths or do I need antibiotics?

DS is 6 months and weaning so taking a bit less these days and I have been ill all week with dreadful cold (as has he also) and not much sleep so this might have contributed.

now signs of pink fulid - meant to say

thanks

rang gp -no appointments but they have taken my number and will call me back - hopefully

the more i think about it the more it hurts

Yes try and get antibiotics ASAP - they worked within hours for me.

You can take ibuprofen to help with the pain and swelling. see here

thanks for the leaflet runnervt .
I am following most of the advice
as still waiting for gp to call back cant go get some ibuprofen yet.
and had to smile at the advice to rest as it is the one piece of advice I have only ever had since having a baby the only time in my life that rest has been entirely impossible lol

Is there any redness on your breast - that's a sure sign of mastitis. If it's mastitis then that sucks. YOu need to rest, rest , rest (easier said than done).

Abx may be the way forward but I'd try to hold off in case they give you thrush. Might be worth getting the prescription just in case but waiting a day or two to see how it develops before taking the plunge. Hope you feel better!

ouch ouch ouch - wish gp would hurry up and call back - this is getting worse hour by hour

ring GP's back and cry. They should be able to get a prescription for you to pick up. Go on, before they close!

Antibiotics will only help if there's a bacterial infection - not all mastitis needs antibiotics. Maybe try hand expressing or keep pumping if LO won't feed. You might not get anything at first but you have to persist. Get cold on it except for before feeds or pumping - you need to reduce the inflammation

Hot bath or shower, massage lump towards nipple and ibuprofen. I got antibiotics but didn't use them after this routine. It wasn't too bad in my case though.

I know it sounds like baloney but the cabbage leaf in the bra does help too in the early stages if it hasnt taken hold - I've had it 3 times, twice ended up with antibiotics and once cabbage leaves (new one every few hours) and ibuprofen saw it off. Don't underestimate it, it makes you feel shockingly bad, don't plan much for next few days. I know it is hard to rest but you will need to.

thanks all
gps receptionist called back at 6 pm to say prescription written so dh has gone to get it.
by then I was starting to panic as pain getting quite bad.
however ds just fed for me and I think that has actually helped
he was hitting the breast which is unusual for him, painful for me.
no idea if thers a connection but i know there seemed to be drips from only about half the ducts earlier so perhaps he was frustrated by that.
oh dh back now will go see what the meds are

amoxicillin

not sure now what do as its not what the bfn leaflet recommends

arrgh

I had mastitis 3 times in the first three weeks of my son's life so believe me I know how much pain you are in and how ill you must be feeling. Get some paracetemol down you for any fever you might have. I was breast feeding, took the amoxicillin and my son was absolutely fine. I felt a million times better within 24 hours. I can't tell you what to do but my personal recommendation would be to take them. Hope you're doing OK and feeling much better soon x

I too had amoxicillin both times and also felt much better very quickly. No adverse effect on baby tho I got thrush. Lesser of 2 evils. I was amazed at how bad it makes you feel for something so innocuous, has it the same year I had swine flu and I think it was possibly worse! Hope you feel better soon

Eat some proper live yoghurt or take acidophilis while you're on the AB's last thing you need is thrush on top.

Keep feeding from the sore side and massage in the shower, I was advised to hold arm straight up above head and do long massage strokes from above the arm pit all the way down to the nipple. Over and over!

Hope you are feeling better soon x

Have you tried a hot water bottle with boiling hot water, so hot it will turn your skin blotchy, for as long as you can stand it? Worked for me - keeps heat on the spot much longer than hot compress. Oh and the other thing I found was expressing with a really basic hand pump - it had much stronger suction than the electric one and therefore helped to shift the blockage, I had lumps of what looked like clotted cream coming out and it hurt, but oh the relief afterwards!

Hi everyone and thanks for all your support - feel like a real wimp - the lump seemed so big (even in my generous boob was making in misshappen and was visible didn't even need to to touch to find it) I was panicing but DS seems to have shifted it.
He is combination fed normally (due to inanequate supply or so I thought) but yesterday I breastfed him so much he only took a fraction of the formula he normally takes.
I took half doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen and used the heat and cold and massage as advised and fed DS lying down on my side instead of sitting up.
I feel very bruised this morning but no sign of the lump and the redness has gone too.
Will continue the painkillers today but hoping that the worst is over. Will use the antibiotics if necessary but have hopefully managed without.
Thanks again to you all

Inspirachion great news you are on the mend and feeling better.

If you would like to achieve full breastfeeding you could just go for it from here on in after a great day yesterday.