Practical latch advice needed after mastisis/abscess week from hell

[Hinty]

Hi there...I have had the week from hell and wanted some help with practical tips on how to cope with this difficult latch situation.

Background: breastfed 2 1/2yr old ds for 18months with no serious problems. Now with 7 week dd thought we were doing well, she is generally a brilliant feeder but after a couple of lazy feeds in the night we ran into problems.

First noticed a blockage last Saturday which got progressively worse despite following all the advice I could find on here about clearing it. Sunday night got the flu symptoms so went to the docs on Monday who diagnosed mastisis and prescribed flucloxicilin (sp?).

Monday night I had the worse fever I have ever had including a swollen bright red, hot face. Back to docs and it's a severe reaction to the antibiotic. (This is only relevant so you can see just how hellish my week has been). Prescribed a different antibiotic erythromycin.

Breastfeeding cafe on weds for advice. Midwife said don't worry, it's not an abscess. You'd know if you had one, they come up on the skin and anyway they are really rare.

Back to docs on thurs for 6 week postnatal check. She was great - immediately suspected an abscess and got me an appointment at the breast clinic on Friday. They were also great, abscess aspirated and new (different) antibiotics prescribed for when my current ones run out. Going back there the Friday after Christmas for more treatment.

Which brings me to now. Still in massive pain and not sure my current antibiotics are really getting to the infection (although less pain in the last few hours!) Hoping the next ones (starting on Tuesday) will.

I'm still feeding through the pain and dd has been brilliant but definitely feeding more on the good one. The abscess is still big and hard and just above my nipple - I'm guessing it still take more draining and antibiotics to get smaller but it is so hard and close to my nipple that my dd just can't latch on like normal. What will help me? Nipple shield? Any positions I haven't thought of? Would a lactation consultant be able to help?

Any advice, words of encouragement or just sympathy would be welcome. I am finding it bloody difficult! We are away from home now being looked after by parents so can't go back to my docs or access any of my usual breastfeeding support.

Plus we were due to go away to a lovely cottage for Christmas and have had to cancel it. Double crap.

You poor thing! Amazing of you to persevere through the pain.

Do you have a pump or could get/hire one? I would actually just pump that breast until it's better and only feed her on the other side. I had a cracked nipple and did that for 5 days until better and she now latches on again like normal. I did see a lactation consultant who was fantastic so maybe consider that too?

Really good luck x

You're doing so well to carry on feeding through it!
I agree with the PP's advice about expressing if you can. Also can you go to your parent's local GP if you think you might need more medical attention? I think you can register as a temporary resident (might be called something different).
Hope you feel better soon!

Thanks both. Yes I have got an electric pump. I have always got mixed results with expressing and hardly get any out but I was also thinking that it might be an option to do that. Earlier though my boob was such a Weird shape that even the expresser was having difficulty latching on!

You poor poor thing. I had the same with my LO (now 5mo) at around the same age, see: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/1912739-Breast-Abscess-hell-Want-to-quit-bf-Help

Well done for feeding through it, it's the best thing you can do to keep the milk flowing. If you have an abscess you need a referral to have an ultrasound of your boob and probably needle aspiration to remove the nasty - has your GP referred you?? The abscess won't go away just with antibiotics, but they will help to pinpoint where it is, and obviously fight the infection. I'd get back to the GP tomorrow and talk referrals - i had to go 3 times before they would believe I had an abscess, by which time it was massive and I couldn't move my right arm, let alone hold my LO :(

Good luck, I hope it clears up for you. So angry when I hear of other mummies being fobbed off! They're not that rare it turns out! Well done, you're doing great.

Thanks beachmum - yes thankfully I have already had ultrasound and the abscess aspirated. It seems to be so hit and miss that you get to see the right doctor who will be knowledgeable and sympathetic. I was really lucky to be seen within a week of first noticing a lump and also getting in the system before Christmas.

If you're having trouble pumping, the best pump you can get is the Medela Symphony, it's hospital grade and a few places hire them out. You can also get different size funnel parts to go on your boobs for most machines which might help too.

Really good luck.

Oh good! In that case you are def on the right track. It takes a little while but does clear up with the aspirations and antibios. Did they culture the pus to find out if you're on the correct antibios? Just keep feeding/pumping and gritting those teeth . I have an Avent Comfort electric pump and it has become my best friend through all this :)

Thanks all. Yes they did send take a sample to be analysed so I guess we'll discuss a different antibiotic, if needed, next week. I have got a medela swing pump which is great but for some reason I have just never produced that much when expressing.

The pain has gone from severe to just quite bad over night so I have got a little bit of hope. In the last week the soul destroying thing was not seeing any progress for 7 days.

Hi op, hope things are continuing to improve. No experience of abscess here but lots of experience of expressing and of the medela swing and I would ansitely recommend if you can afford it to hire a hospital grade medela pump. You can get them direct from medela but they seem to be closed for Christmas but NCT do them too: NCT pump hire

Found this OP:

kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/breast-abscess/

If you call LLL helpline, a Leader could talk thru options for positioning at the breast, dif holds to try. Also run thru marmet hand expression technique which some mums find more useful than pumps. If you are looking for a visit from a lactation consultant look up LCGB and make sure you get someone who is a qualified IBCLC

Amazing job feeding thru and getting the right treatment. Do you have pain relief? Ibuprofen and paracetamol, if ok for you to take (ie not allergic) are both suitable for use when bf and can be staggered so paracetamol at noon then ibuprofen at 2pm back to paracetamol at 4pm and ibuprofen at 6pm

Thanks everyone, some great information here. Found the article on kellymom really interesting. Thanks Stargirl1701.

Although I am still in a lot of pain today it is nothing compared to the horror of yesterday so at least I feel that some progress is being made.

I actually tried a nipple shield and it did seem to really help since my nipple is pointing at such a crazy angle because of the pressure of the abscess.

chocolatehelps yes I am using ibruprofen and paracetamol alongside antibiotics and antihistamines so it's not ideal. One of the hardest things to come across is rest but it is most definitely playing a part in the healing process. Thank goodness for a supportive family.

Actial

Stupid phone....

Actually nipple shields turned out not to be the answer. I can't feed on the affected boob now because dd can't latch on and gets very frustrated and it's agony for me. Expressing it is but at the same time trying to increase supply on the good one because not sure on the outlook for continuing to feed on the bad one. Certainly don't want to risk this ever happening again.