trying to support someone bf, she is about to pack up after get mastitus 4 times in 4 months, because she thinks the anti bs are doing the baby more harm then good

[lovelysongbirdie]

she thinks the benefits of bf are outweighed by the negative effect of her taking anti bs and passing on antibs to the baby vi athe bm

she thinks if she keeps on taking anti bs and bfshe is doing more harm than good

so 1st ly is this true?
nd secondly how do i help support her or tell her the facts

Hiya I don't know about the antibiotics in the bm, but I would still be inclined to persevere myself. I would tell her to get several things checked if she wanted my opinion. The fit of her bra. Non underwired bras can cause problems in larger ladies who really need the support of an underwire when feeding. I would also get a BFN Breastfeeding advisor check an entire feed and see if the babies latch /position could be improved to drain the breast better.

Also massage of any tricky to drain ducts during a feed.

On the link below check out the community comments below the main page.

www.babycenter.com/404_is-it-okay-to-wear-underwire-nursing-bras_8828.bc

Everyone who wears a bra should look at the one below!!

www.figleaves.com/uk/fitting_room.asp?cat=161&txt=5804

Link for bfn I only suggest them because they have been so much help to me!

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/

Hope some of this helps.

KKQ XX

Breastfeeding network also =have a useful factsheet at the site, giving info about bf and antibiotics - there is absolutely no need to give up bf, as the minute presence of abs in her milk makes no diff to the baby's health (as long as the doc has given her abs that are compatible with bf).

agree with tiktok

i had mastitis 3 times in 10 weeks with dd1, had antibiotics twice (flucloxacillin) and carried on feeding (for 2 years!)

thanks for the help, any ideas how i can say this gently to her as she thinks the anti bs are stripping his guts and hes doing smelly farts.
and that the benefits of bf are bing outweighed by the anti bs and getting the anti bs in bm will make him vunerable to infections.

she's doing so well, i want to help her with thefacts not not be over beaaring or bossy

Share the BfN factsheet with her - you don;t have to tell her anything, except 'I found this and printed it off for you - it's got plenty of facts in it'.

Good luck to her!

i can't find it on the link though

thanks for your help.

found it

i think i'll get this for her too

Tiktok, isn't it right to think that GPs give antibios far too often for mastitis anyway? I was advised that if you catch the mastitits at its earliest, when it starts to be painful, take 400mg ibuprofen for the first dose to reduce the internal inflammation and feed like mad from the affected side, then the infection needn't build up to need antibios. (Then, step two, get your latch checked to see why the problem occurred.) I certainly had friends who didn't attend the fantastic bfing clinic I did, and they were never advised of this, just presented at the GPs and were given antibios.

Ibuprofen certainly worked for me many times over seven years of feeding - I took them everywhere with me, to catch it early - and took a handpump too, so that I could stop the other side from suffering, whilst I fed as much as possible from the side with mastitis.

(I was told that ibuprofen is safe whilst bfing, although not in the early months of pregnancy, so if you are ttc whilst feeding, this is a no-no)

So, am I right? It certainly worked for me, but I'd hate to advise anyone else wrongly.

Hiya according to my BF advisor It is ok to take ibuprofen if the baby is allowed to take it. So assuming no history of asthma, is not taking any other meds and baby is old enough for paediatric nurofen then it should be fine. Personally I hate advising people on stuff like this so always recommed double checking with gp.

I agree with tiktok though. print all the info and let her decide for herself - either that or get her to log on here and get an honest opinion!

I have to say that my experience of this was that the antibiotics I was given in the same situation did indeed make the baby very uncomfortable and poorly. Can't remember which drug it was, but it was a non-penicillin one, as I am allergic to penicillin. The doc checked that the antibiotic was bf-compatible (showed me what it said in his drugs manual, so I know he wasn't fibbing), but it gave ds absolutely terrible green diarrhoea and caused him to lose weight despite feeding constantly. The constant feeding and resultant exhaustion made everything worse for him and me. I had bf his older sister for 2 years with no problem whatsoever. ds (then 4 months) became thin, pale and listless and I ended up mixed feeding up until about 12 months. Then gave up ff and carried on bf until he was 2. Compromise is possible and sometimes necessary.

Mcbolshy, I think i would have gone back to the gp and asked for another type of antibiotic - There is usually another option. I agree that compromise is sometimes necessary, but sometimes it is also necessary to question the drugs given out. Just because they are bf compatible doesn't mean they are compatible with everyones children.

Having had a similar experience with dd2 ( i too am alergic to penicillin)I returned and asked the gp to find an alternative she said no problem and commented as she wrote the prescription that this drug was more expensive otherwise she would have given it to me in the 1st place as it had less side effects!!

dd was fine with me on the new antibiotics so I did feel justified in going back.

Agree, kitkatqueen - now I realise that's what I should have done. At the time I had been driven a bit mad by sleep-deprivation, a very high fever and by having to keep it all together to deal with 3 bereavements in the close family (it never rains but it pours - father of my older child, my father and my MIL). It just didn't occur to me that the doc had got it wrong with the antibiotics. Even though that was the 2nd dose of the bloody stuff and it did the same the first time. Looking back, I could really have done with an advocate and my dh, bless him, was not able to fulfil that role and there was no one else around (all too busy dealing with the dying). However, whilst I would have preferred to have bf exclusively, given that mix-feeding was successful and I carried on bf for 2 years, I don't suppose that kicking myself for the use of formula now serves much purpose. Sometimes things really are desperate and you have to follow the path of least resistance or crash and burn.

Mcbolshy, B*y Hll! You obviously had about the worst time imaginable. I don't think I would have coped as well as you did. Losing one family member is terrible thing to have to deal with at any time. I personally think you did a fantasticly by continuing to breastfeed at all and I didn't mean to imply that you hadn't. I wouldn't kick myself for ffing when necessary either, It worked, you succeeded. After all the goal we all set ourselves is to have a healthy child and by bfing to the age of 2 you have done exactly that.

I was lucky in that my dp is very supportive of my breastfeeding and was really worried by the horrific poo and sick looking baby. Also the GP ( who was pregnant at the time) made a point of saying " Any problems with you or baby come straight back"

So thankfully I did.

I would just hate to think there was someone else out there right now going through something similar and thinking there was nothing they could do.

Anti-b's can make baby have loose stools or be irritable etc but if your friend knows how the risks of certain illnesses and conditions increase when feeding formula instead of BM I'm sure she can see this is minimal in comparison.

Personally I wouldn't giver her 'advice' but the telephone numbers of the helplines, too often people are given 'advice' when they need information, if you can get her to find this herself through the helplines etc this may help