mastitis - can I get away without antibiotics?

[elliott]

Well after 6 months bf ds2 without any problems of blocked ducts or engorgement, I have developed mastitis (great timing, ds2 started nursery this week and I'm supposed to be hitting the ground running at work)
It took me a while to cotton on to what was happening - felt like s* all day yesterday but only in the evening suddenly twigged that my boob was also a bit sore -doh! I kind of thought that mastitis would be so painful and obvious there'd be no missing it really. Anyway I have toddled off to the GP this morning and got my antibiotics, but just wondering whether I can give it a little longer to see if it resolves without them. Feeling a bit better in myself today, but boob still quite sore. Doing my best to encourage feeding (which isn't especially painful) within the limits of ds2's nursery visits - though I don't really want to up feeding too much as I'm going to be dropping a feed once he's properly at nursery next week.
So do you think I should start the antibiotics now (worried primarily about risk of thrush, which I have had before though not in relation to bf, and also ds2 developing diarrhoea and being excluded from nursery) or can I give it another 12 hours or so to see if improvement continues? Don't want to risk things getting worse or an abscess developing obviously.
Thanks for any advice!

Ummm I would say take them now. Don't mess with mastitis I've had four lots with dd2, having never had problems with the other two, and IME it doesn't get better on its own. Antibiotics didn't cause probs with the baby for us. If the GP has prescribed them, it's because they think you need them.

Hope you feel better soon!

Hi elliot, I managed without antibiotics when I got mastitis. I found compresses and gentle massage to be really soothing , keeping the milk flowing through that area is important to help flush it out too. My sister suffered several nasty bouts of it while breastfeeding and found Echinacea brilliant in boosting her immune system and resolving it. If you are feeling brighter in yourself already, I think I'd try to avoid taking the anti-biotics, particularly if you are prone to thrush . If you do decide to take them, you could try taking 'acidophilus' to boost your 'healthy bacteria' or using and eating live yoghurt as this contains it too. HTH and that you feel much better soon!

Hi Elliot, I think it depends on how severe it is. With ds1 I didn't take antibiotics and got through it with massage / compresses and ibuprofen. With ds2 I've had it twice, first time I did as I'd done for ds1 and thought it was Ok, but second time it came back and hit me with a vengeance, was in bed for a couple of days etc. and I was begging for antibiotics!
If you are having to work as well, it may be better to take the antibiotics to make sure that you clear it.
Do keep feeding on the affected side though, as painful as it is at first.
Hope it clears up soon, and that work is going well!

Thanks for the views. This being a new experience its hard for me to know how mild/severe it is, but given that I didn't even realise I had it at first, I suspect it may be less severe. It's also really not painful feeding, so that's not a problem. My books suggest that mastitis can be infected or non infected, only the former needs antibiotics but its difficult to tell the difference, hence antibiotics are normally automatically prescribed.
I'm sure it was caused by wearing a bra that was too small (stupidly carried on wearing it all day yesterday till the penny dropped).
I've stayed home today and I think I'll see how I feel tonight. Ds2 is in nursery 4 hours today so I'm just going to see if I can express any.

was just about to post a reply but levenna has said everything i was going to say!!
Echinacea will help clear infection, acidoplilus will also help boost immune system and prevent thrush(and will help baby's digestive system)

and massage the breast(working towards the nipple) everytime you feed.

Had Mastitis 8 times (once a month) when i started bfeeding DS2. Had antibioticts every time - only thing that got rid of it - the longer i left it the worse it got! Agree with Frogs DONT MESS WITH MASTITIS

I cleared mastitus without anti-Bs, just massaged and fed a lot. Took about 5 days, I guess. I would have got anti-Bs if I started feeling very rough, though.

On the b/f course I am doing we were told to advise mums to self treat mastitus for 48 hours then if you are still ill take the antibiotics.

Self treating means lots of rest (take baby to bed with you), massaging afected areas,warm flannels, expressing, feeding baby lots from the affected side trying to alter the feeding position according to where the lump(s) are so the baby's chin is where the affected part is and taking ibuprofen unless you are asthmatic.

Full sympathy elliott, I've had it 3 times with my dd (she's 5 1/2 months now). Only took anti-b's once when it was truly terrible (temperature went up to 105.8 and I felt dreadful). I agree with the other excellent advice posted below - massaging, huge doses of vitamin C (my Doula recommended taking 1000mg four times a day), showering, hot (as hot as you can bear) flannels before feeding, but mainly just feed as often as you can. I seem to have developed it each time I drop a feed, so as we're about to drop down to 3 a day I'm on the lookout for the warning signs (sore nipple, 'flu like symptoms, any redness in the breast, extra tired).
Wishing you lots of luck and a swift recovery

Thanks everyone. Well I still haven't taken the antibiotics and it seems to be continuing to improve - still got a lumpy sore bit in my boob but feel ok in myself. JosieP, how do you manage to drop feeds if you need to feed more when you get the mastitis?
I have to say I haven't really been feeding more frequently (bit tricky as ds2 has been in nursery several hours a day!) but have just been concentrating on getting him to feed on that side in appropriate positions. Tried expressing with no success so I'll just have to hope that it gets better with what I can do....

with my last lot of mastitis I had a high temp and felt fluey - but managed to knock it on the head with frequent feeding, massage and lots of rest. I spoke to an emergency doc (who left ab's at chemist for me) and I said I'd take them if I still had temp or the red streaks had grown the next day - they didn't, and my temp came back down to normal. the other times I had it I think I only once had true mastitis (high temp etc) - the others were blocked ducts without the infection. hth

I had it with high temperature and feeling really bad, and I needed to get better so i took the antibiotics, and dd was absolutely fine

I have had frequent blocked duct problems since ds2 (21wks) was born - 13 times now I think, having had no bother with ds1 and dd. You'll know if it's infected by the flu type symptoms and how awful you feel. If this were the case, I'd take the drugs! Otherwise, just keep on feeding - try changing your ds's feeding position to get the best drainage. Use hot flannels and massage and get that milk flowing and things should settle down again soon. Out of 13 blockages, I've only had infected mastitis once and I'd do anything I can not to get it again! Good luck.

I know - it sounds like I'm contradicting myself when I say to feed more when you get it (even if you're trying to drop a feed)...
What I meant was: each time I've dropped a feed quickly (ie. not over about 2 weeks) I've got an infection and the only way to treat it with me is to feed as much as possible - so when the infection has cleared up (about 3 days normally) I then drop the feed very slowly - if dd is not breastfeeding I'll pump it at the same time each day just reducing it by 1 minute on each breast until I'm only pumping for 1 minute each side.....it's very time consuming but the plus points are no more masitis and lots of milk for the freezer (and so far I've only been dropping night time feeds so it's been extra fat gold top for the freezer - hurrah!). Do you have a breast pump? If not I do recommend the Avent hand pump - I've found it quite good since I returned my electric one.
Does that make sense? I also just remembered some other advice my Doula gave me which is to run a comb with quite close teeth from the outside of the breast towards the nipple - this might help unclog and blockage and get you flowing again. Do this whilst in the shower with the water on your chest - seems to make it more effective.
Again, good luck - I do feel for you. Aero -that's awful, 13 times - yuk!

Well, seems pretty much back to normal now. I'm sure it wasn't infected, nor was it a blocked duct -think I just had a bit of blockage caused by the too-small bra, so it resolved quite quickly once that was removed!
JosieP, well at least you have abundant milk supply! Frankly my boobs don't seem to notice however many feeds I miss - I could probably stop tomorrow without any problems I seem to have completely lost the ability to express anything at all too....