one painful breast - what could it be?

[Elvis]

My ds3 is 12 months old and I'm just bfing once in the morning and once at night now. All was fine on Friday night, but woke up with a very painful left breast on Saturday morning. With gritted teeth I have managed to feed as usual.

I was hoping that as it came on quickly, it may go quickly. But no. It was too painful to touch, but now I'm used to it there seems to be a considerable lump under the nipple. The nipple and lump are what's giving me the most pain.

Any ideas anyone?

Can't see a red patch. Was wondering if it's mastitis. What do I do if it is?

Definitely sounds like mastitis to me. Take ibuprofen tonight and go to the doc in the morning if it's not better. DON'T leave it any longer. I had recurrent mastitis with my last child. You don't always get a red patch straight away. I developed an abcess in the end, believe me you don't want that to happen.

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Sounds a bit like a blocked duct to me. I've had this a couple of times and managed to sort it out without a trip to the doctor. Can you see any tiny white specs on the nipple? I found that a hot water bottle against the breast, and massaging towards the nipple helped. Have a look here:
Blocked duct

if you want to go the natural route i found the following for mastitis worked;
.weleda homeopathic remedy called 'phytolacca' - (was a complete non-beliver in all alternative medicine but had been on antiobiotics twice before with mastitis and just didin't want ds1 to have any more in his system)
.hot bath
.green savoy cabbage in very loose fitting bra
.comb method as described by beetroot

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If it is a blockage you must keep things moving. Feed on that side or express milk and massage the painful area even if it's the last thing you feel like doing. It does help a lot with the pain if you can relieve the pressure. Also good old cabbage leaves out of the fridge can be very soothing.

I had several bouts of mastitis which did come on quickly as you describe but one time it did turn into an infection. I got a lot of pus out of the nipple when I expressed so wonder if that's what your lump is? I'm no expert though so probably best to get it checked.

Btw the doctor advised me to keep feeding even with the infection as she said it wouldn't harm the baby and it was essential not to let milk build up in the breast or it would make things worse. I felt awful but ds didn't seem to notice.