Blocked ducts AGAIN. Anyone about with good knowledge of blocked ducts / mastitis / treatment?

[BroccoliSpears]

Why why why am I getting so many blocked ducts this time? I fed dd for 15 months and gt maybe one or two mild ones the whole time. I can't seem to go a fortnight without being laid up in bed with them this time.

I've got one both sides AGAIN. Ds is not having a hungry day (typical) so am struggling to drain one boob, let alone both. I don't have a pump, and having never used one I am nervous of making things worse with one - I borrowed my friend's once and it was not a good experience.)

It has turned in to mastitis most times before (real mastitis with fever, sweating, shivering, vomiting, passing out, blurred vision, screaming headache and no strength to lift ds out of his cot) but has always gone away within 24 hours so I've never taken antibiotics for it. My friend who is a GP was horrified and said that I should take antibiotics at the first sign of a blocked duct, and said she had seen too many women not get treatment and get so bad they were forced to abandon bfing all together.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what the balanced view is.

I'm feeling crappy and I want my boobs to stop hurting.

Are you doing massage and hot flannels?

i had mastitis a lot too
NEVER took antibiotics either i was too afraid (and im glad i didnt) gp gave me some but i refused
i did make sure i took paracetamol every 6hrs though to keep my temp down and the symptoms

i used to have not showers and hand express in the shower - i am convinced that helped a lot

i had hungry babies though which does help

hope you feel better soon

i think i got mastitis a lot cos i wasnt very good at getting into a comfortable position to feed - i kind of bent over to baby instead of bringing baby to the breast - so what happened was some ducts werent being emptied - so they got infected. the hand expressing (even just half a cupful) to make sure those ducts got emptied helped

also finding a comfy position - which for me in the end was lying down! - helped too

Massage, yes.
Hot flannels, yes.
Expressing in the shower, yes.
Feeding ds as much as poss - he's usually a gannet but today he's sleepy .

Good to hear from someone else who avoided antibiotics. It'm not rabidly anti - I just only want to take them if I need to and I don't feel the gp is necessarily the best person to advise.

Poor ds is like a tassel in a strip bar whizzing round and round as I try every position to try and clear it!

i sympathise i really do

Sympathy appreciated, thank you.

How are you today? Any improvement?

Definite improvement!

Got all headachey and nausious and shivery yesterday afternoon and was convinced it was turning in to full blown mastitis. Got as much rest as poss (err, not much with a 2 year old and a baby ) and drank LOADS of water and fed poor ds until he squeaked and it seems to be calming down. Still sore red boobs, but hopefully on the mend.

Thank you!

I too have yet another blocked duct today, have had mastitis with ds1 and ds2 a few times and I so don't want it again. Ds3 is 10 weeks old, yesterday he was very hungry, then last night he didn't feed from that breast all night - I suppose that's what 's caused it,but it is sooo sore isn't it?

Hoping to see some more advice forthcoming from some other people.

Poor you Deb. I am coming to the conclusion that fluid intake is pretty crucial. I often seem to get blocked ducts when I've been a bit rubbish at remembering to drink lots of water. Also drank loads and LOADS of water yesterday and it didn't turn into mastitis this time.

Thanks Broccoli - Monday I know I didn't drink enough, yesterday he fed loads through the day so maybe that's the root of the problem - I am currently downing pints of water.

maybe your bra is the wrong size?

I'm beginning to wonder. I don't want that to be true because I shelled out £50 on two nursing bras from a proper place that doesn't measure but just does it by looking and they were so great and I was so impressed and the bras make my boobs look good and...

I get fortnightly blocked ducts and mastitis develops every so often. It coincides with ovulation and af so I presume there is some hormonal link. I have found that hand expressing actually makes mine worse and blocks it further. I agree that dehydration also makes it worse and oddly, hot weather or getting too hot.

I sympathise.

Bravado bras here are fantastic for covering a wide range of sizes. They are supposed to be designed not to put any pressure on your ducts.

And they are sooooooooooooo comfy.

I'm now going to google to see where my ducts are, because I know where the new bras are more fitted than I am used to (around the band, not the cups or straps) and I didn't think that could interfere with ducts but now I'm wondering.

It's normally the sides of the cups that can cause a problem if they are too tight.

How are you this morn?

Find anything interesting on your google search?