Very extended bf-er... Could I have mastitis?

[Aranea]

I am still bf-ing dd2 (2.6), just once a day, first thing in the morning. Last night one of my breasts began to feel bruised, and I noticed it was slightly red in the morning. I am feeling achey and slightly unwell, but don't have a fever. Does anyone know if it could be mastitis? And whether I should just wait & see what happens or get to the GP?

It sounds like it could be.

It is up to you whether you want to see the GP, but IMO only really nesccessary if you have a fever and are feeling very unwell.

You can try some of these self help measures, for 24 hrs to see if it improves then visit GP if your not feeling any better.

Thank you, that's really helpful. Off to get some ibuprofen now.

How are you feeling Aranea?

Thank you for asking! My temp went up to 38 yesterday, so I thought I'd be at the doc's this morning, but it's gone back down now. My poor breast is still a bit red and sore, but I'm hopeful that it will get better as I feel fine today aside from the tender boob.

I'm just a bit surprised that it should strike at this ridiculously late stage of breastfeeding.

I hope it's a one off. Perhaps you should see if you can figure out what caused it.

for example:

Has your dd changed her latch? Could be she's not draining that part of the breast properly any more?

Is your bra too tight? Or do you have a bag/sling that presses on that side?

Do you sleep on that side?

etc.

I got horrible nearly-made-me-ill mastitis once because I hadn't adjusted the chest strap on the sling properly and had carried ds2 in it for 2.5hrs. I didn't figure this out until I put it on again a couple of days later and it was pressing right into the tender bit.

I hope you had got it sorted. I find that my breast feels a bit like it's bruised for a couple of days after something like this.

Yes, exactly, it feels like it's bruised. Maybe I just slept on it then? Anyway, I felt really unwell yesterday and had to go to bed at 8.00, but today I feel fine, so fingers crossed it's sorting itself out.

Glad you are feeling a bit better Aranea :) hopefully you have avoided it turning into anything too nasty