Mastitis have gone cold turkey FFS

[Passmeamuslin]

3 days ago I developed mastitis. I was bf feeding up until then but have now gone cold turkey. DS is 3 weeks old.

I need some non judgmental, practical advice.

My fever has gone and am on antibiotics. My mastitis boob is still red and engorged. What do I do? I've had lots of baths and have been hand expressing, will it go away like this?

I've looked on dr. Google but all it says is to keep breastfeeding on it. I can't do this, I've had enough and this has been the straw that broke the camels back. If I pump won't this mean the milk will come back and I'm back to square one.

Has anyone gone cold turkey with mastitis? Please don't tell me to power on through and breastfeed. I am in agony.

If you've decided you want to stop that's fine hon.

I had to stop BF due to being mucked about with a tongue tie that left me in agony but they wouldn't snip. I was horribly engorged and found that pumping once a day helped it not be too painful plus it gave baby a bit more of my milk while I was stopping. A warm towel over my boobs twice a day helped too. Yes it meant it took a bit longer for my milk to go but it was much less painful. With my dd1 I went cold turkey and it was horrific. X

I stopped bf dd at 4 months cold turkey. I pumped to reduce engorgement for 2 weeks, gradually cutting down from 3 times a day to 1. It definitely helped, and meant dd had a couple of weeks of being mix fed. You probably wouldn't need to do as much or long as you have already had some time without feeding and have been feeding less time, but if you are really Uncomfortable it might be worth it.

My lovely hv suggested 'heat, rest and express' for mastitis. But if you are trying to slow/ stop supply then a warm shower (with water flowing on your breasts) or a warm bath with warm flannels on your breasts may just allow uo breasts to leak enough to make you more comfortable. I had mastitis, it's miserable and feels like flu. Do rest plenty.

I would try expressing.

I know you want to stop bf but if you do it gradually it will help with the engorgement. So maybe express 4 times today, 3 tomorrow etc

Also I found aiming hot shower at boob and hand expressing helped. If there's pus try and get that out when in the shower.

Mastitis is horrible good luck

Thank you for your replies. I got worried as the redness had spread so expressed some milk at 4 this morning. When I woke up it was a lot better so think expressing helped. Shall carry on with the 'heat, rest and express' mantra. Could even hold my baby properly today. Bliss. Mastitis is hell.

Express until you get some relief don't over do it though and every time you get sore express another bit slowly your milk will tapper of as the demand for it stops bit going cold turkey is hard and can make mastitis worse. Lots of cold compresses between expressing and a warm compress when you do. Wear a well supported bra or two if you haven't got one. I am a cup size F and wore my sisters C cup bra which was really tight but I helped loads