Breast feeding - Mastitis/Breast Abcess

[teenmom2be]

Hi all,

I was hoping to find someone who may have had a similar experience to try and give me some advice?

I have just left hospital after having a severe breast abscess caused my mastitis which was aspirated etc. Anyway, I have an appointment with the breast surgeons tomorrow and will take it from there.

Since home I have been expressing from infected boob and feeding her off the other as much as I can (and sometimes with formula due to low milk supply),

I'm really worried about whether I'll be able to physically continue breastfeeding. After speaking with the HV she has expressed concerns that there may be issues with my supply and also the pain it may cause me.

I really really love breastfeeding, I don't want to stop and am scared I may have to. I was hoping that someone could maybe tell me their personal experience of issues like this??

Please be brutally honest I do need to prepare myself to maybe give up :(

Background - my girl is 5 weeks old and has been exclusively breastfed since birth. She only had her first bottle on Friday due to me going into hospital!

HV are notoriously awful at bf support (NAHV obvs). If you have concerns then get yourself as specialist support as you can afford! I haven't ever been hospitalised for an abcess but with decent private support I did manage to maintain exclusive bf in a situation I was told (by several community midwives and HV) would be impossible.

Are you able to feed off the affected breast? In my experience, babies are much more efficient at clearing out infections and congestion than a pump. Are you on antibiotics?

I had mastitis on and off from when DD was about 4 weeks old. The worst bout (about 9 weeks) had me hospitalised as I needed IV antibiotics.

Speak to your midwife and see if they can help. Look up breastfeeding support in your area - I had help from HomeStart that I will forever be grateful for as doctors were telling me to stop.

There are breastfeeding support agencies such as la leche league - have a Google.

I breastfed exclusively for 6 months and stopped at 18 months. I was bloody proud of myself for what I did but it was tough in the beginning. Breastfeeding is amazing and I wanted to make it work

Good luck

There were paragraphs when I pressed send, I don't know what happened to them!

Is there a reason you've stopped feeding off the affected side?

The World Health Organisation advocates health professionals supporting and encouraging mums to continue to feed even with an abscess. Any pus or infected tissue coming through to your baby is very unlikely to make them ill. This is the info on the GP Infant Feeding Network.

gpifn.org.uk/mastitis-breast-abscess/

Have you got local breastfeeding support? Have you phoned any national helplines?

Hi guys -

To answer some questions.

I have been told by the surgeons to pump but not feed off the affected side as I now have a large hole in my breast and have to go for appointments now twice a week.

I am pumping from one breast and feeding from the other to keep supply up and make sure she is only fed breast milk.

@mindutopia

Are you able to feed off the affected breast? In my experience, babies are much more efficient at clearing out infections and congestion than a pump. Are you on antibiotics?

Yes I was on IV antibiotics and now on my third course at home due to get my fourth course of another different antibiotic starting next week.

I had mastitis that was much less bad than yours, but I found a cheap trick to help -

Lots of doctors suggest massage, so I ended up putting a vibrator (yep!) in my bra

It really really helped get the circulation going and keep the infection moving on - I swear it helped it clear things quicker

Not sure if this is relevant to you but might be worth a try!! X

No advice to offer, but just to say you're doing an amazing job of carrying on. Breastfeeding is hard enough without mastitis and other issues that comes with it. Fair play to you for perservering. I hope this clears up for you soon.

Hi
I haven’t had an abscess but had mastitis about 5 times (!!) during the time I breastfed my son. I stopped this week at 15 months.
The first time I got it he was 3 weeks old.
I was prone to it I think because I had a lot of milk and any change to feeding routine meant I got blocked up. I always had to have anti biotics but I also tried massaging with a toothbrush, hot baths. Like I said I can’t really help but I guess moving forward take good care to avoid repeat infections? I have heard some people just feed from one side too! I feel for you...it’s hard but well done for still feeding xxx

I had mastitis which turned into a really nasty abscess. Had lots of antibiotics, IV antibiotics in hospital and had to have an op under general anaesthetic in the end.
My advice is to keep going back to your GP, mine felt like a hole too.

It was the worst thing I've been through.

Having to have it packed by a nurse every two days after the op was soooo painful. I didn't want to continue breastfeeding after that. When I had my next child, the doctor said there was a higher risk of the same thing happening again if I decided to breastfeed, so I decided against it.

Really hope you don't have the same experience. Hope you feel better soon