TIKTOK TIKTOK, Could I bow down in the presence of your wisdom and ask you something please?

[TrinityRhino]

I have mastitis
I am taking anti boitics and I am starting to feel a little better

When I went to the doctor I was told that I should express and discard from the sore boob
I should not let gecko feed from that boob as the mik has bugs in it and she will get ill.

I thought this sounded wrong and didn't heed it

Other advice I was given on a thread I started about this before I went to the doctor was to feed as normal from the sore boob to help ease the blockage (as baby feeding will be more effective than expressing) and that the mastitus or anti biotics would not harm gecko

this seemed right to me and I have been doing that
only now I'm paranoid and worried I have done wrong
Please could you tell me what I should be doing and what I can do if I have possibly harmed my baby

thankyou everyone
feel much better now

didn't get the queen of breastfeeding on my thread though

hmm I dont have a pump
I learnt to hand express
Have been trying to do it 'on' the lump as it were

Lots of good info already here - you don't need moi !

Your doctor is in serious need of some training.

is a useful, referenced leaflet that you can print off and share with the doc, and I would encourage you to be brave and do so...it is very wrong that other mothers' health could be put at risk with this unsafe advice not to feed

Have added that pdf and the dangle feeding link to blog - thank you, ladies!

will a bag of sniley faces do for ice??

dont tell anyone we eat them

smiley even

Have been reading this thread with interest as I too have mastitis - have had it raging since Saturday too, though possibly brewing for quite as bit longer.

Dr told me this morning not to BF DS from the affected side as not good for him and only to express, which I am now going to do for the first time today. After reading this thread I'll be back on normal alternate feeds tomorrow. Feeding on the affected side is tender but do-able.

Is everyone absolutely certain that nothing will be transmitted to him by feeding him on that side...??!

Like the OP my gut feeling was that it was OK but you know how it is when a DR advises something...

I have a massive lump the size of an orange in one side of my right breast - v painful.
HOW on earth do I start to shift it - or will the Anitbiotics reduce the size...? Am feeling quite desparing tonight - can't life arm higher than shoulder level without getting quite some pain. Scary thoughts of breast abcesses keep filling my head .

Hope you recover soon, TrinityRhino - this is the pits, isn't it?!

so sorry to hear that you have the same
it really does suck

thanks tiktok

Stupid doctor. Definitely confront him with tiktok's leaflet when you feel better. Hope you are better really soon. Can you send DP out for ibuprofen? Hope you feel better soon as well misspolly.

As well as the things already suggested:

I found it helped to get in a hot bath and hand express in there. The heat helped the milk flow.
I would start it off, have DD passed in when the water cool enough, then pass her out and top up with more hot water and hand express again. Then get out and feed DD quickly again while breast still relatively soft and more comfortable.

Also found that starting the feed on the less bad side till let down, then swapping over helped with the initial going on to the breast pain.

Hope you get well soon.

misspolly - go back to the gp

It's horrible. I also found it helped to sit in a hot bath and sort of comb the breast forward with my fingers to express and help sort out the lump.

hunker, I feed my toddler upside down all the time! Although, fortunately, she is growing out of the nursing acrobatics now!

You've got some good advice on here. Feed, feed, feed. Treat it like you would any infection too, paracetamol if you're temperature is getting high etc.

TrinityRhino - just wondering how you are doing? How's the boob?! Mine is (I think/hope) a teensy bit better today, but still sore, red and I still have my big lump. Have resumed feeding on that side, which remarkably has not been dramatically painful (relative to the whole situation!). How about you?

Popsycal - why should I go back to the GP?? What should I be saying to her? What did I say that made your response so direct?! Not annoyed or being arsey, just a bit worried...

feeling alot better today thanks

exhausted so going to bed now

misspolly - you said you had a lump tthe size of an orange
that seems rather big to me...
hope everyone is feeling better

the training wrt breastfeeding for doctors at medical school is...zilch. Perhaps there is more for those training as GPs? I don't know (but will ask around GP friends out of curiosity)...
all a bit rubbish, frankly.

Thanks for popping back popsycal! Things a bit calmer here now. Boob still pink, but not red or angry any more. The pain is now minimal and feeding is not posing a problem. The hardness in that side has gone, though I am finding it difficult to know whether there is still some lumpiness remaining - sometimes feels the same as the other (healthy) side, sometimes I think I can feel more of a firm area. The hard/lumpy area was indeed very big and I would say that only today has all the tissue there got much softer.

I have antibiotics to take until Monday, but may well go back if I'm not certain the hardness has all cleared. Thanks for your concern.

Also, those of you who have had this before, how likely is it that this mastitis will recur? Has anyone had their mastitis develop into an abcess - what are the signs?? Not wanting to be a pessimist, just realistic.

TrinityRhino, how goes it today? Hope you are well.