need some help with mastitis

[hettie]

Story so far- ds (9 wks) was vaccinated on Wednesday and after an afternoon of hell, passed out and slept from 7 pm till 5am (unheard of!). I woke up to incredibly engorged and sore breasts, and although he fed off one had to express off the other. Anyway, all seemed ok after that- normalish feeding patterns. Then Thursday 5am when I fed him my breasts were really sore. I went back to bed but woke up feeling fluish and running a temperature. All Friday felt like hell- flu symptoms, sore boob and red inflamed area on the underside of the offending boob. I can feel that its blocked and have been expressing and feeding like mad, but it doesn?t seem to be unblocking, it still doesn?t go totally soft (in that area) even when no more milk can appear to come out. Although it is better than when it started. Am stocking on ibuprofen and trying to ride it out, but does anyone have any advice as to how to unblock it (tried a bit of massage btw). Or do I just stick with what I?m doing. If so how long might it last and when should I decide that I can?t do any more and see my GP (although not sure what they could do as I?m fairly sure its not bacterial)

sorry can't help, but bumping for you!

to be honest i'd get to the gp and get some tablets, I had it twice when feeding, both times the dr was fab.

have you tried massaging it down when expressing? (I found I ahd to be quite firm and it actually ached after but did the job)

I have had it too - I went to the GP and she was fab as well. Someone suggested to me that breast feeding in different positions (eg lying down) can help clear a blocked duct. It helped me a bit. Hope you feel better soon.

hettie, I had this too. Also try a hot bath and massage while you're in there.

Mine lasted a few days, but only one day with the flu symptoms. If they continue past today I'd go to the doc if I were you...

Hope it's better v. soon.

When I got it I was told by my doctor to feed through it. Baby gets a dodgey bot though. Its really horrible, lots of hot showers and I've been told cabbage helps sooth it.

thanks for the advice- sounds like GP is the way forward (bugger re bank holiday though!)
Did you get prescribed antibiotics or something else?
In the mean time will try feeding lying down (actualy at this point will try anything!) It's doubly crap, becasue last wkend both ds and I had gastro type bug, so poor dh has had crabby baby sick mum 2 wkends on trot!

mine was bacterial I guess so maybe advice doesn't apply but I phoned up nhs direct and they made me an appointment straight away with my out of hours surgery - it was dead easy, even though, of course, it was a sat night. I felt loads better by the morning so it was well worth starting as soon as pos. I know everyone else advises all the cabbage leave stuff etc but the antibiotics were fab

I had Mastitis $times with my 1st dd and so far i have had it once with my dd2, it is not fun

Feed on all fours with the babies chin pointing to the effected area, Gravity will help unblock it.

Apply warm packs to help your milk flow..

Express from the effected side whilst feeding from the other side.

Hang in there, you may find that your supply reduces on that side. Mine definately did but i think i am just prone to it on that side and it has been permenantly damaged.

4times

Hows things Hettie?

hi there,
Much better thanks, went to out of hours doc last night and got 2 types of antibiotic. seems to be helping as little bit less sore- doc reckons till tue/wed till I really see a difference though. Oddly the antibiotics seem to be making me a little woozy/queasy. I've never had this before but then I guess it's a very strong dose.
Anyway I'm very glad for the advice as it clearly wasn?t going away despite everything I was doing. BTW did you see any effects in your dd of the antibiotics?

runny poo!

I too felt quesy on one set of antibiotics but told doc the next time and they gave me a diff one which was better.

that'll be queasy then - sp!!

glad you got to see the gp easily. tbh I didn't see any effect on dd at all and I was on 3 different types of antibiotics for 2 different types of infection and in total it was 3 weeks of treatment (so pretty crap really). neither of us got thrush either, which is worth watching out for btw. hope you see an improvement soon

oh god- yeah hadn't thought of that. The anntibiotics are so strong am sure they are killing all the good bacteria too- not sure if I could cope with a dose of thrush on top. So far parenthood has been a bit of rollercoaster- ds was born early, whisked off too NICU, had emergency surgery to correct a twisted bowel, then suspected hole in heart (turned out to be benign heart murmour). Got home at 2 weeks, 2 weeks later he stopped breathing back to hospital- more tests etc. No known cause (just keep an eye on him!) back home 2 weeks later both of us get some gastro bug for 48 hours, and now the mastitis......
Oh and my boiler has just packed up!
Somone tell me this will pass

It will pass! I found the best thing for getting the lump to go down was to have a hot bath, lean forward and firmly massage your boob under the water. This has the added fascination of watching gunky stuff come out into the water like toothpaste (er maybe that's just me!)

Also just to warn you that I had antibiotics and they upset DS's tummy so if your LO is crotchety then that could be why.

I was glad I went to the GP tho cos she told me that if it turns into an abcess then you can end up with a deformed boob.

Hope you are feeling better, it's such a bugger.