Mastitis/Sepsis - Breast rejection and supply drop

[KMC92]

Hiya!

So my week started with mastitis that quickly decided to become sepsis. I'm still working to clear the blockages but on the plus side the sepsis is under control after a few days in hospital.

Whilst I was in hospital, my husband had our son at home and pace fed him with a bottle on expressed breast milk.

It's been a week since this all began and the supply on the bad boob has dropped (as expected) but it has also dropped on the unaffected boob! Volume has significantly decreased and let downs have slowed. On top of that my son has started refusing the good breast, I think this is likely due to the volume/let down issues.

For reference I pump every three hours to maintain supply ahead of a surgery he has in 2 weeks. I'm on Flucloxacillin and Co-amoxiclav.

My questions:

• Why would the supply on my good boob drop? Stress or the medication?
• Is there any hope at 21 weeks pp to get supply back on both breasts?
• Any tips for breast refusal? I used to be able to rock him whilst feeding to overcome it but that isn't working now.

So stressful! I'm worried this is the end of my breastfeeding journey 🥺

I am so sorry OP this just sounds horrible. I have had mastitis and found that it took a couple of weeks for supply to even back out to normal after a bout but that supply certainly returned to normal and I’ve been able to continue feeding my baby. Also check that you have a long enough course of antibiotics. I kept being prescribed a week although the recommendation is 10-14 days and found the week long courses didn’t quite blitz it.
I really hope you feel better soon. Mastitis troubles are very miserable. Good luck. You’re doing great.

Ugh I really feel you, I’m trying to fight a mastitis infection today too. It’s spiralled quickly, never had it so fast before! How did you know it had turned to sepsis, does it feel different?

With DC1, I had to exclusively pump for a while and I found the relactation uk group on Facebook had loads of great advice when I could finally feed him properly. I relactated (from low supply not from zero supply) at 6 months and it took 6 weeks ish but by 7 and a half months pp I had a full supply so it is doable. Pumping every 3 hours with electric pump, doing power pumping (look it up), eating loads of salmon, apricots and flapjack and drinking tons of water was what helped the most. I went on to feed him for 2 years. Its a lot more doable if you follow relactation advice when you have any supply at all than starting with nothing.

Good luck!

Ah what a shame, OP. I'm just coming out of mastitis that turned into a gigantic breast abscess, although thankfully my supply was unaffected. Not nice at all though.

Don't lose hope: if you keep stimulating milk production then it will increase again and you probably just need to find your rhythm again both of you after the disruption. Keep on keeping on

You poor thing, sounds really tough. If you're on Instagram, have. Look at FeedEatSpeak - loads of brilliant info about supply issues and often does Q&A so you might be able to get some personalised advice

Also, this might not be for you but you can buy small quantities of Domperidone via online pharmacies for travel sickness or similar. It's a galactalogue, and I used it with DD1 after a nasty illness where my supply dropped to kickstart things again. You might not want any medication and it's definitely a do your own research thing, but thought I would mention it.

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/domperidone/

@Gingernutmint thanks for responding. That's really reassuring to hear! It has only been just over a week since it all began so I may be being a little impatient. It just really worried me to see supply drop so much! Thanks for the heads up on timings, I'm on the 10 dayers!

@PeekabooAtTheZoo that's what happened to me. When I had it before ir cleared up really quick with antibiotics. This time I got it on the Sunday, started taking antibiotics but got a really bad fever overnight and was very weak, unable to keep my temperature down. Felt very dizzy and lightheaded and just generally awful!

Thank you so much for all the tips, that's amazing you were able to get supply up and keep going! I will take a look at the FB group! How did you get your little one back onto the breast? Was he fussy? My son is very unsettled since a week of a lot of bottles! Struggling to keep him on to feed.

@Hugasauras that sounds awful!! I hope you're feeling better. Glad you could keep supply!

Thanks for the support, we've already had such a complicated breastfeeding journey I think it just tipped me over into panic mode!

How quickly did you find the domperidone worked? Did it have any side effects?

@goblinkinggoblinking thank you! I will take a look at that now. So helpful when they do Q&As.

Within about 48 hours? No side effects at all. I took for maybe two weeks max and then stopped and we were back to normal.

Sorry totally missed coming back to this thread. Waiting on doctor now for hopefully antibiotics as mine cleared yesterday then suddenly came back worse than ever this morning.
I just kept offering him the breast first before feeding with bottles, also there’s something you can do where you have a bath in low light then get out and feed in bed with loads of skin to skin, the low light, water and skin to skin triggers his rooting reflex.

@Hugasauras I managed to get the doctor to prescribe me it, thank you for the tip! How much/how often did you take it?

@Hugasauras did you pump alongside taking it?

I think the recommended amount was 3 x 10mg a day, so 3 tablets a day? I pumped before bed because DD was sleeping longer by that time. Good your GP prescribed, many won't!

@PeekabooAtTheZoo how are you feeling now? I hope the antibiotics helped!

How long did it take to get off the bottles? Hopefully I can get the same results!I think my supply going down hasn't helped, it takes longer for let downs and the let downs seem slower/lower in volume too.

@Hugasauras The Domperidone has been a game changer! I'm only one day in and I have already seen an improvement in volume and flow. Thank you for the recommendation!

How long did you take it for and how did you come off it? Did your supply drop when you came off it?

Great you only pumped once! I was reading that people were needing to pump 8 times a day and it wasn't sure how to fit that many in!

I think that's only for exclusive pumpers - no way you can do 8 times a day on top of actually feeding! Great that it's having an effect!

I think I was on it for maybe two weeks? Then came off over a couple of days. My supply remained fine; as long as milk is being removed then it should continue, so just make sure either baby is feeding effectively/well or you are pumping to replace any missed feeds. Hopefully he'll be happier to feed with increased supply too.