Arrhhh....mastitis ?

[FourLittleDucks]

Hello All -

Advice needed about preventation of mastitis ! have 3wk baby, fed very well from birth, no problems or soreness latching on.
Yesterday the side of one of my boobs started to get tender - can't see any redness, and it isn't sore to feed off, but is sore all the time (not agony) and especially to touch. Have fed rubgy ball style (is that what you call it ?!!) to try and relieve that side but hasn't changed it.

Basically I've got a family wedding this weekend and could really really do with not coming down with mastitis (at the moment don't feel ill) !

Any tips for getting rid of this before infection of some sort sets in ?

Go see you GP as soon as possible, I started off with the same as you and when it kicked in properly I was in bed with flu like symptoms for days. Hopefully it wont happen to you, but it did appear very quickly.

Make sure if they do give you an antibiotic its compatible with BF. Actually ask them, I was given one that wasn't at first (found out via Google).

Hope it gets better quickly for you, have a great time at the wedding and congratulations on the birth of your baby!

2 ibuprofen, a hot bath with gentle breast massage and continuing to feed off the affected side generally heads it off at the pass for me.
The occassional ibuprofen whilst bf is OK as far as I know (no expert, but it gets a green tick on this website).

www.ukmicentral.nhs.uk/drugpreg/qrg_p1.asp#top

If it gets worse at all or doesn't ease by tomorrow get thee to the gp. Antibiotics may be in order.

Good luck!

lie baby flat on bed and get on all fours above them. It is difficult when they are so small but we have managed twice to head off mastitis using this method. Must be gravity.

Thanks for these tips.....any idea how quickly I should see an improvement ? Am tempted to see GP if not passed.
Are cabbage leaves an idea? something about encouraging milk flow ?

Use a mirror to see if you have any localised redness on the lower side of your boob, this would indicate a blocked duct. If you do see something like that, feed the baby with his/her chin towards the redness, (which is where the rugby-ball/on all fours positioning may help). The baby drains more milk from this part so it can free a blockage and head off mastitis.

With my first I did this a few times and it worked. Once fed her over my shoulder to orientate her to the right part of my boob!

You can often feel the blocked duct too- is there a painful lump in the breast?
I got several blocked ducts but managed to avoid getting mastitis again by massaging the area gently in the bath and during feeds. If I played around with position, I felt lke I could tell when the blocked duct was being fed from and drained. It was sort of sore, but sort of satisfying too- a bit like squeezing a spot!
Other possibility is thrush- have you checked for this?

Sounds like a blocked duct to me. Have had exactly the same twice since ds arrived 9 weeks ago and have always managed to get rid of it with my double Symphony pump, by turning it up to a high setting. Don't know if you have a pump but even a manual one might help?

Ibuprofen Ibuprofen Ibuprofen! And expressing after each feed.

Also, I would recommend getting your latch checked out. I had reoccuring mastitis and went on antibiotics. It would clear up briefly and then come back. It was only when I went to a breastfeeding clinic (where they cleared it up in one feed!) and got my latch sorted that it didn't come back. DD is now 8 months and I haven't had mastitis since she was 5 weeks old.

Good luck - it is horrible I know.