Lingering breast pain following mastitis

[Kped]

Has anyone had lingering breast pain from mastitis?

my baby is 8 weeks old and I’ve had 3 bouts of mastitis. I originally followed GP advice to massage and pump but that has only caused over supply and further mastitis.

I am now following the newer guidance of ice packs, no vigorous massage and ibuprofen. I am on day 6 of antibiotics and most symptoms have gone but I have lingering pain in both breasts, they feel sort of bruised. Is it normal for the pain to take a while to clear. I still have a week of AB’s left.

I am still doing one pump on the night during her long stretch of sleep because they become engorged and I’m scared of getting mastitis again!

any experience or advice welcome

That sounds very uncomfortable. I'd call one of the BFing Support Helplines, sounds like you need a BFC

Have they given you any different antibiotics to try? It sounds like the original infection hasn't been cleared. I had several bouts of mastitis and if the antibiotics were right they would be effective within 48 hours. If they keep using the same ineffective antibiotic it will keep coming back.

After my second infection I was referred to the breast clinic, has your doctor not suggested this? Turns out I am prone to mastitis because I have scar tissue on one boob and the milk can get stuck around it so I had to pay special attention to making sure those ducts were not getting blocked.

Another thing to rule out of you have recurrent Mastitis is Tongue Tie. Does LO have any of the symptoms in the link?

And I hope you're feeling a bit better today @Kped

So I mentioned the breast clinic to my GP and she said it wasn’t necessary, however I think I will push for it as I have had previous (benign) breast lumps so perhaps that is causing issues.

Baby did have a tongue tie that was released at 2 weeks old, latch is good most of the time but she does struggle sometimes particularly on the left breast.

I wasn’t on the correct ABs the previous times and now on erythromycin (I’m allergic to penicillin). I feel better in terms of flu like symptoms it’s just the lingering pain. Pain was absent over night last night so that is positive but I now have stomach pains and nausea - hoping this is AB side effects.

The pain seems to build throughout the day so I’m unsure if lifting my toddler etc is exacerbating it.

Really hoping it will be all gone by the time I finish the 14 day course.

I hope it's the ABs too. I've been on that particular one a few times as I'm also allergic to Penicillin. I find never getting hungry helps so try eating something every couple of hours

I know this is an old thread but I am experiencing the same thing. On day 5 of ABs for mastitis and although flu symptoms have gone, I still have a lump and sharp pains in left breast. Did you ever figure out what that was?