Mastitis - feeling terrible

[PollyPocket245]

Hi all :), Im really sorry for the long post, it’s mainly to vent and feel like someone is listening but also wondering if anyone has any wisdom to spare. I feel like I’m completely drained. my LO is five weeks and after a really horrible birth I’ve had infection after infection with numerous antibiotics which I’m still on. My LO was diagnosed with cmpa so I’ve now given up dairy, I guess I didn’t realise how many things have dairy in them! I’m constantly hungry all the time and never feel like I can eat anything because a lot of the alternatives really upset my stomach! Now to top it off I woke up three nights ago shivering uncontrollably with a lot of breast pain and redness which I’m fairly sure is mastitis 😕, I feel like I have severe flu without the cough or runny nose. I’ve tried the hot and cold compress but it seems to be getting worse 😞. Does anyone have any ideas that might help? And I also wanted to ask if any one has any tips for trying to put LO down to sleep? She only sleeps on myself and my partner. It would be great to be able to rest when she sleeps! xx

If you've been feeling like this for days then you have to go straight to the Dr's and get antibiotics. If you have a breast pump you can express and sort of massage the sore breast, to try to unblock the duct. I always managed to catch it at the beginning but felt truly awful for those hours , so I can't imagine feeling like that for days! You can also take paracetamol and ibuprofen.

Oh you poor thing. Please call doctor. I had this a few months ago - in April at height of first covid wave, as it happens.

I felt absolutely horrible and called midwife (LO was 11 days old). She took it very seriously and sent me to hospital where I ended up for 3 days!

I think for me they were afraid it was covid and wanted to eliminate that first and at the time it was taking 48 hours to get covid test results. Once they finally gave me the right antibiotics for mastitis, I got better very quickly but it was not a nice time at all.

Hope you're feeling better soon

You really do need to call doctor! You'll be fine once you get antibiotic

Go straight to the doctors ASAP. The good news is from my experience the antibiotics work really quick, i started seeing improvements overnight. I got given penicillin (if thats how you spell it lol) but just be careful as it can change your babies natural balance, mine got thrush afterwards so be on the lookout for that, god there's always something!

Also I second the ibruprofen it did wonders for me and the doctor said it helps with the inflammation

Pleaseeeeee don't feel like a failure if you need to stop bf. Just do it. I really wish with my 2nd ds I gave up sooner I think it ruined our bond rather then made it. Within two days off giving it up I was like a new woman the guilt took a little longer to subside but I had energy I wanted to cuddle and feed him and my body felt amazing. I still carried on to bf 3rd ds but I guess it's not always easy and it's not always right. Hugs op

You need antibiotics now. If you get mastitis again then you must get antibiotics straight away. Ibuprofen will help too. You can use cooling packs on your sore boob for 2 minutes at a time. If you have any lumps in your boobs try putting a warm pack or hot flannel on your boob before feeding and massage your boob when feeding. Make sure you has a good latch. If it’s not good then don’t be afraid to remove her and latch again because if she has a poor latch she won’t be able to drain the boob properly. When you are getting better you can see if you can safely cosleep.

There is a really good CMPA breast feeding Facebook page. Are you soya free too? Most bourbons and oat biscuits are dairy and soya free.

As you have untreated antibiotics for 3 days I would also suggest you check out the signs for spesis. If you have any of these then you need to go A and E straight away.

Hope you're ok @PollyPocket245. Just wanted to say, I have breastfed 5 DCs for about 9 years between them all, because it worked out for me and I found it convenient BUT even though it feels like such a big deal in first few months, it's really not worth sacrificing your happiness and wellbeing for. If you switch to formula, your baby will be just as happy! Do what's best for both of you. Take care

This is awful, I had similar and you need antibiotics. Also for a dairy free food that needs no prep and gives you energy Nairn's oatcakes are good. Hope you feel better soon. It does get better.

A doctor and antibiotics quick smart.
Mastitis can get really bad really quick .
Take care op ...it’s the worst.

As others have said get this treated ASAP. While you're waiting to hear from GP get some ibuprofen into you, send partner to get it if none in the house. Partner or someone else that can help needs to stock fridge up for you with lots of things to eat like homemade soup that you drink in a cup while breastfeeding, bananas, pasta, bourbon cremes (dairy free apparently)

If you can summon up some money to throw at this problem I highly recommend both a stretchy wrap sling and a sleepyhead for getting the baby to settle. Also white noise.

Thank you all for your replies, apologies for the delay in replying. I rang the doctors yesterday and got some antibiotics, I was really trying to hold off calling because I’ve had to go there so many times the last few weeks I just felt like a pain to them. But hopefully it will get sorted now :).
I have a sling from the sling library just not had the energy to try it out yet but as soon as I can I will :)!
Definitely have been considering stopping BF but will wait until I feel better to decide. I’m so emotional at the moment from being so run down, I don’t want to cut my nose off to spite my face xxx

Sounds a sensible approach. Hope you're feeling better soon. Please take things easy; you've been through the mill emotionally and physically. It will all work out though. Congrats on your baby!!

I gave up bf at 6 weeks with my first but I’m still feeding with my second. They both have CMPA. It’s definitely easy to bf a baby with CMPA then find a formula that they can tolerate. With bottle feeding was the right choice for me the first time round.

If you want to chat or ask questions about CMPA or bf or a general moan about bf and new borns then feel free to DM.

I hope you feel better soon xx