Am distraught...

[KirstyDaisyBBandFifi]

I thought I had a blocked duct ... seems as though it is mastitis... I have high temperature and severe pain in right breast..... I don't know if this spells the end as I am longterm expressing - DD had tongue tie and was unable to feed..... I have been expressing ten times a day.... Feel like poo.... My first daughter had really bad reaction to the anti biotics I had to have so I gave up with her....I am gutted beyond all belief... Anyone have any methods to chill myself or deal with this please let me know.....

Oh you poor thing :( No idea about mastitis and expressing, and I'm guessing you dont feel up to it much as well! Can you get to OOH docs?

yep... have appointment for this evening.... not really sure what to do next... i desperately don't want to give up....

Expressing should be fine, in fact the advice with mastitis is to keep draining the breast as often as possible, so frequent expressing should be good.

Are you on any antibiotics and painkillers?

No expressng will be fine but I imagine it will be difficult to keep up :( How old is your DD?
Glad you have an appointment.

It doesn't have to be the end if you don't want it to be Kirsty, if you want to keep on its possible. I had mastitis when DD was around 10 months, when I started back to work and I went on to feed her till she was older.

Have you read the information on Kellymom on mastitis? It tells you about the medication you need so it might be useful to read before you go to the GP.

It might also be helpful to speak to a BFC about how you are feeling before you go to the GP too, try the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212.

I will be on anti-biotics by this evening..... am gutted as it caused colic in DD1 so don't know how long to continue if I have to pump and dump and how long they stay in your system... I will look on breastfeeding network site to see what's best for her....

they should be able to provide ABs that are breastfeeding friendly. Not guaranteed they'll have the same effect on this DD. How old is she?

Agree with Stealth they should be able to provide ABs that are bfing friendly and its not automatic that it will cause her colic so don't worry about pumping and dumping yet .

and if she's over 4m, all my doom and gloom about the effect on your supply is probably rubbish as well! Even if she's under you should still be able to keep it up, you have my respect for doing this, expressing is really hard work.

"you have my respect for doing this, expressing is really hard work." me too, I'm not sure I could have managed it.

I had mastitis twice and fed dd to 3.4. She self weaned.

You have done marvellously and I can't promise anything but this isn't necessarily the end. I really hope it isn't for you.

Let us know how you get on at the docs .

Anti-biotics aren't the first line of treatment for mastitis anyway unless it is infective but you can't tell if it mastitis caused by milk/fluid forcing it's way into non-milk making tissue (non-infective and just the bodies way of dealing with 'foreign matter') or it's bacterial in origin unless you test the milk at a lab. Also, taking anti-biotics without getting the milk flowing and out of the breast isn't going to resolve the mastitis unfortunately.

Have you tried all of Kellymom.com's self help/self treatment for mastitis yet? You may find getting the milk flowing and the blockage resolved limits the effects of the mastitis without the need to take the anti-biotics - I'd get them anyway in case you take a turn for the worse at 2am but you don't have to take them straight away if the self help stuff is working. A 10 day course is usually advised due to the risk of incomplete treatment with a 5 day course (assuming it is bacterial/infective) and re-occuring mastitis.

Hope you start to feel some relief soon.

I've had mastitis 11 times now in 9 months. On the 11th time now, and it's 'low grade' but grumbling on, so it' looking like I'll need antibiotics again. I've had antibiotics 7 times before and got rid of it myself 3 times, although each of those 3 times it did come back pretty fast, so I think I really needed antiobitoics every time.

I usually get co-amoxyclav as I am allergic to Flucloxicillin, which is usually the antibiotic of choice for mastitis unless you're penicillin allergic. (I am not alergic to other penicillins) The co-amoxyclav doesn't affect DD at all, but I did try clarythromycin once and that did affect DD a bit, but not horribly. So, if the antibiotics do affect your baby then you can ask for something different.

It certainly doesn't have to spell the end of BF for you if you don't want it to. I am very unlucky to have got mastitis so many times, (it does seem to be less frequent now thank goodness) but my GP has never once suggested or mentioned stopping BF.

midori - have you had a scan or milk testing done to see why you keep getting mastitis? It may be there is a 'kink' in a duct or the bacteria responsible is resistant to co-amoxyclav (perhaps most get killed off but a few survive to breed again). Or equally it could be something going on with your DD (tongue tie, side preference, etc). Hope I am not speaking out of turn!

THanks for all of the lovely messages... and suggestions... I am expressing every two hours which is reducing pain a lot.. my temperature is really high and have been prescribed clarythomicin as I am allergic to penicillin.... Am told that she should respond too badly to it - not sure what to do next... I know I am desperate to keep going - my hubbie is being really supportive but we argued and he thinks I should stop as I seem to be exhausting/killing myslef to prove I can BF - whatever the cost...

Even if you do decide to stop expressing, now isn't the time to actually stop as you need to keep the milk flowing to help clear the mastitis. If the mastitis is not treated you could develop an abscess (not a guarantee of getting an abscess by any means) but by not expressing you could end up with mastitis in the other side as well and be ill-er for longer.

If you want to stop expressing then doing it slowly is your best bet (either by slowly dropping the amounts you express, slowly dropping the time you spend expressing or dropping whole sessions [i.e. 8 to 7 sessions and shifting the times so they are equidistant from each other not leaving a big gap]) but if you want to continue, then why not?

Now you know the signs of mastitis you can be aware of any niggles early on and work to resolve them, just because you are expressing doesn't mean you have any less right to keep providing BM to baby than if you were feeding directly.

Is there anything that you can do/DH can do to make expressing easier for you? E.g. having more than one set of breast shields so you don't have to panic if you have forgotten to sterilise/wash them (you don't need to sterilise more than once a day if baby isn't prem/ill btw just wash in hot soapy water or stick in a ziploc bag in the fridge), getting/making a hands free pump kit, getting a better pump (e.g. double electric to cut down on expressing times), tinker with expressing times and technique - would hand expressing post pumping help yield or perhaps expressing just after baby has a bath with you?

I've had 4DC and mastitis many many times and have never had antibiotics. I use Belladonna homeopathic remedy as soon as I feel the symptoms ( works best if you catch it early) and its gone in a few days. Try to express as much as you can from the infected side, it'll help clear it. Good luck!

Also, I understand your determination to continue, I had a miserable time BFing DC3 and DC4 but kept on at it until it came right - had 3-4 months of bleeding nipples with both of them, but we got it right in the end! Keep strong! :)

Thanks Truthsweet. I have been seen at the breast clinic several times and scanned several times too. No obvious cause there. However, I do have (large) breast implants and the general consensus seems that the implant on that side may be pressing on a milk duct or similar and causing it.

DD does have a side preference, or rather, I do, but I have gradually reduced the supply in the left (affected) side and that has reduced the frequency of the mastitis a lot. I think it happened this time as DD wouldn't take solids at all for a week when teething (her poos went right back to yellow BF ones) and so my supply increased a lot again. It seems the greater my supply on that side, the more I get mastitis, regardless of how careful I am about feeding her etc.

I'm seeing a surgeon tomorrow about getting the left implant out, which he will do whilst I am BF if I dry that side up and continue feeding from the other side only, although I guess I can relactate again afterwards. I also have PIP implants and the left one is leaking, so that could be contributing.

It's a bit complicated really.

Sorry OP.

midori - sounds like you have found the root cause of the mastitis (if not the exact reason for the mastitis). I hope having the implant being removed will help, as I am sure you know, it's perfectly possibly to feed one sided especially with an older baby/toddler so you may prefer to not relactate on the left side (it may be advisable to check with a breast specialist about relactating post implant removal too).

I have heard of implants causing 'pressure involution' (involution being the process of milk making cells becoming dormant) due to engorgement - the breast tissue has nowhere to expand to causing the milk making cells to switch off due to the high pressure being exerted on them by the implant (unstoppable force, immovable object, something having to give) - can also happen with extreme engorgement too in women without implants. So it's 'interesting' (academically speaking not at a personal level as it must be very painful) to hear of a woman who is still making milk even with an implant exerting pressure on a duct - I guess you have a very robust supply!

I hope you are able to lower supply in the effected side quickly - has the surgeon given you a time limit that they will operate on (e.g. 3m after no more milk production or whatever)?

I will message you so as not to hijack even more.

Sorry Kirsty for massive hi-jack I really hope you are feeling on the mend now. Do let us know how you are doing.

Kirsty I'm allergic to penicillin too and I've had the same antibiotics that you are now on whilst bfing a both DC and they seemed ok on it. How are you getting on now?

kirsty I'm allergic to penicillin too and when I had a recurring bout of blocked ducts (or mastitis the dr thought but I was never sure I felt ill enough for that), I was given erythromycin. Dd didn't show any ill effects - possibly slightly less frequent dirty nappies but I think that was due to age/development more than the ABs.

Hi everyone - thanks for all of the messages - wow I can't believe how much support you can get. I must thank truthsweet as I have been sterilising the shield and pump bits every time I use them (10 -12 times a day including through the night! I am taking the antibiotics because my temp was so high and DR was obsessed with showing me pictures of abcess in the breast..... too spooked to risk it. Blockage is still there but decreasing slowly..... I am so very tired but at the moment I am still as determined to keep going... DH has been better today - although I think out of guilt because we had a row - (which I caused as I was ill and grumpy but didn't realise it at the time!) I have a double pump as was getting 70 - 80 ml every time I expressed until this. As my supply has reduced in blocked side.... That amount meant I had enough milk to feed DD3 completely on my milk... Currently I am having to add a bit if formula... I hope it will all work out. I will keep you all posted

Thanks again

K