Oh heck, why do I have mastitis again, please tell me what I'm doing wrong?

[Flllight]

This is the third time since ds2 was about 10 or 11mo - I had it with ds1 as well, from about the same age, never at the beginning. We are always fine till about nearly a year and then it gets recurrent.

Feeling horrible so off to out of hours in a bit but I'd hate to stop bfing now, he is only 13mo and I managed till 16 with the first one and really don't want to quit.
He's been feeding a lot the last couple of days which seems to bring it on.

Please does anyone have any ideas for how to prevent this happening, it is a pain taking heavy duty ab's every month or two. I keep wondering if it is something I'm doing - I feed on demand pretty much, several feeds a day, several or more at night. Try and alternate.

Thanks

Sorry he wasn't 16, just 16 months old.

~beump~

As they get older and more proficient at bf, sometimes the latch isn't as good as it could be.

It may be worth checking his latch and positioning a the breast.

Hope you get this sorted

Ah, that could well be it...thankyou very much

do you express as well fllight?

i had loads of issues with blocked ducts and mastitis when DD was about 6months old. I stopped expressing and the blocked ducts and mastitis disappeared as if by magic.

I would agree to check his positioning and latch though; he could just be getting a wee bit lazy

No, I never express (did today to try and unblock it if it was a duct, it was quite interesting!)
I just read the Kellymom page on it and it says it could be due to limiting his feeds - I had forgotten not to do this, I sometimes remove boob if he is near the end of a feed. This is probably the issue.

I am a bit impatient! Plus he does muck about

Oh god, the mucking about is so annoying, it drives me insane!

Yes I have warned him, if he doesn't concentrate he has about one more week and I will pack it in! Bought him a sippy cup today

Sippy cup will not stop him crying when he falls over though

Ah, you know it's an empty threat, you're both still enjoying it so much

The mastitis and the mucking about will pass, you'll both get over it, then happy days

I hope you get through this phase fllight and keep going for a while longer.

I never had mucking about; only biting!

I wish she was still feeding though; she sometimes buries her nose in my cleavage and gives me a lick. It's quite sweet

I got it seven times with ds2. I think we got a bit lazy with latching, sometimes he'd be sort of on his back but still feeding and I'd be reading a magazine or whatever. I tried to remember the nauseating phrase 'tummy to mummy' and that seemed to help.

The le leche league said sometimes it is recurrent if you eat a high fat diet as this can block the pores up, funnily enough I had always been eating badly around the time I got it. I bought some lecithin that they recommended from the health food shop, granules you take that helps to break donw fat but I didn't really remember to take it so I can't say if that helped.

Also seemed to come when I was most stressed and forgetting to relax, hard to relax when you have other children but it is important for mastitis.

Hope you feel better soon