11 days in, reassure me please!

[Salhal]

I'm EBF DS who is my second child I had been really happy with how BF was going as at this point with DD every feed was a battle but I thought DS has picked up feeding well. I now seem to have the most amount of milk and he messes around with my nipple until I let down before latching on and to top it off I now have mastitis and feel horrendous. So with each feed we both get covered in milk and then I have to coax him to latch on. My DD is 2.3 and is struggling to adjust to the new arrival and I am worn out with trying to keep her happy at the same time as constantly feeding DS. Please reassure me things will get better and my supply will calm down. FF is looking attractive, for the first time ever, today. I was feeling positive until I got bloody mastitis.

I have antibiotics for the mastitis by the way.

Hopefully the antibiotics will improve things quickly. Perhaps your MW can put you in touch with a local bf expert who will be able to help you in person?

Hi Salhal

I really feel for you. Mastitis is vile, and trying to entertain a toddler at the same time - yikes.

They do advise you to keep feeding through mastitis to stop boobs getting engorged. I had mastitis twice with DS1 but found it too painful to feed him direct - I had to express instead. It did clear up in a few days and we went on to BF successfully. But it is hard work, and expressing is time consuming with all the sterilising etc.

Just take it a day at a time and see how you go. Hopefully you will feel better soon when the antibiotics kick in. But dont feel bad if you decide to FF. You have a toddler to look after too and you just have to be pragmatic about what will work. I know how hard it is. Good luck!

Oh, just one more thing to add: if you do decide to express, be careful not to express too much otherwise you exacerbate the oversupply issue...

oh good luck - I had exactly the same with my DS2 and its miserable.

Odd thing that helped me - using the blunt end of the electric toothbrush on the lump to start to help work the milk through - sounds really strange but it really helped me ( we carried on, mixed feeding to 9 months !)

mastitis is the most horrible thing EVER. really hope you feel better soon. The main thing is to keep the milk moving, a pump can be good but a baby is even more efficent. A warm shower and gentle massage with the electric toothbrush helped me move the blockage. Also paracetamol and ibuprofen for the pain.

It sounds like your DS doesnt like the let down, so maybe if you feel it take him off and catch the milk in a muslin before relatching. Hes still really little so skin to skin and the laid back breastfeeding will encourage him to latch on as well as giving you a chance to rest. Do you know of a local group you can go to for some real life support?

Thanks for your responses, I feel better tonight. I will give the electric toothbrush thing a go and pop along to our local breastfeeding cafe next week: