Mastitis – real full-on bleurgh!

Ugh!

Having just been knocked out for the best part of three days by my first proper bout of mastitis I thought I’d share the joy :frog: Actually, I’ve given advice on mastitis so many times now, both on and offline, that I thought it might be a good idea to put my experience down here and then I’ve got something to refer to in future. Any more self-help ideas or references welcome too please 🙂

I’ve had warning signs before – blocked ducts, lumps in breast, painful areas, even a slight fever – and always managed to head it off with self-help methods, but this time either it came on very fast or I missed the signs 🙁 (I was a little distracted by Gina 😉 ) I woke at 4 in the morning on Thursday with uncontrollable shivering, teeth chattering, raging thirst and breast pain. No matter what I did I could not get warm, but I was too muzzy headed to realise that this probably meant I had a fever 🙄
Feeding A helped a little with the breast pain, although it was rather uncomfortable to do, and then I woke Bob up and insisted he get me warm – poor man! He tried to warm me up with cuddles, blankets, a cup of tea (helped with the raging thirst anyway!) and a hot water bottle and then finally went in search of Ibuprofen (I think I may have been mildly hallucinating by then 😯 which I guess helped him realise I needed something!) which helped a little, but we didn’t really get much sleep from then on and by the time Bob should have been leaving for work it was fairly obvious I was in no fit state to look after our 4 small children and the two equally small friends we had sleeping over and he decided (bless him) to take the day off – and run toddlers for me :clap: That day I could barely stand up, my breast was hot, red and swollen, and it was hard even to string a sentence together; I stayed in bed all day except when I was in the bath.

I was determined not to take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary so used all the self help techniques I could think of:

– feed as much as possible from the affected side (and feed from that side first , so baby feeds most effectively) but don’t neglect the other side completely or you risk engorgement and possibly mastitis that side too.

– rest as much as you can.

– take ibuprofen (unless you’re allergic to it, obviously) to relieve pain, fever and swelling. Paracetamol (acetaminophen, tylenol) can also be used, but it doesn’t have the anti-inflammatory effect. Don’t forget you can alternate the two as well – I ended up doing this on day two when my temperature began to rise again between ibuprofen doses.

– a warm bath helps enormously. I used this as a chance to express as much as I could to drain the affected breast again, especially when I saw that the milk coming out of the affected ducts was grey-green and stringy and then luminous green and thick – although I’m assured it won’t do any harm I’d rather that went in the bath than in my baby! That gunky milk has to come out somehow and the faster you can strip it from the ducts the more chance you have of clearing the infection quickly.

– on a similar note, use massage or a wide-toothed comb to break up any clogs and to push any infection towards the nipple so that it can drain from the duct. Start well away from the nipple area and push gently but firmly towards it, either whilst nursing or whilst expressing. This is painful to do, but it relieves the swelling and tenderness no end, so is well worth it. I found it hurt less under warm water (ie in the bath).

– feed in different positions and at different angles to make sure that the breast is fully drained. The most effective position (if your baby will oblige – mine kept giggling at me 😆 ) is actually to lay the baby down and dangle your breast over his or her mouth so that gravity helps with the drainage as well. Angle yourself so that baby’s chin is pointing towards any painful/swollen/lumpy/red areas, as the chin side does most work at squeezing and so will empty more efficiently 😉 You may feel a fool, but I have cleared many a blocked duct this way and thereby avoided the whole mastitis experience 😀 I have a big advantage here in that L is still BF too, and she can take direction 😉

By day 2 I had a distinct red patch (looked like a bad sunburn) on my breast and a large lump which I could break up and almost remove by nursing and/or expressing, but which kept returning. I had a fever which I could keep under control by alternating ibuprofen and paracetamol and I felt as though I had been run over by a bus – I think thanks to muscle spasms from all the shivering the day before. I was well enough for DH to go back to work, but just barely – and we didn’t get much done that day (apart from visiting Gina and new baby 😀 ). Fortunately I have helpful kids 🙂 They got to play computer games and watch tv more than usual in return for keeping quiet-ish and playing with the baby too 😉

By day 3 the redness was still there, but a smaller area and less red. The lump was still there, but smaller, easier to get rid of and slower to return. The fever was occasional and the muscle aches almost gone, but my head felt as though it would fall off if I moved too fast 😕 That’s when I knew I could get by without ABs this time 😀 Luckily it was Saturday, so Bob was able to do childcare again and I was able to get more rest.

Day 4 is today and I still feel shattered, but my breast is pretty much back to normal, bar a little residual tenderness. My head still aches a little and I’m distinctly crabby, but I’ve got through to 9pm without retiring to bed…

Useful links for info on mastitis: BFN
kellymom

8 thoughts on “Mastitis – real full-on bleurgh!”

  1. Oh yuck, poor you. I never got it thankfully but i headed it off once or twice; glad i did!

    Get well soon!

  2. yeow! hope you are feeling better today. I’ve never been totally convinced by this “it’s okay to let your baby swallow that gunk” theory! When I had (much less dramatic) problems I sat under a shower as hot as I could stand to express the yuck out, it seemed to work better than a bath for me. Aprilia didn’t much like me spending hours under hot showers though!

  3. Oh ick Katy, really hope you’re feeling better now. Well done though for persevering through it and so far avoiding the ABs.

  4. wow, I take my hat off to you – I’ve got as far as the uncontrollable shivers and I headed straight for the abs, while doing all the other stuff as well. Don’t ever remember expressing green gunky stuff though.

  5. Glad you are on the mend, hope you fully recover soon. I had fever, red patches and hallucinations (my only ever experience of halluncination actually and so vivid I can still recall the aliens with red eyes saying to me that they’d come to take my baby now :shock:) when D was about 10 days old with mastitis but went straight down the ABs route, so well done for avoiding that.

  6. Oh my goodness – Bob didn’t mention this when he emailed me at the weekend! So did you manage the terracotta army ok then? Hope you’re feeling well again now.

  7. Hi Katy,
    I gather cabbage leaves are good applied to the breast … for some sort of drawing and cooling action. Haven’t had to try it, thankfully, as I’ve always managed to head it off at the first signs. So far I’ve been lucky, but your tale is a humbling one as I’m on my 4th breastfed child too and I’d assumed I was never going to get it properly by now!
    For anyone who is not averse to homoeopathy, I’ve had some success heading it off early on. You can certainly get help deciding on a remedy from Helios, who will usually post out same day too.

    Hope you are right as rain really soon.

    Ps: you have an early years blogring widget configured for wordpress! Please can I have the html for my text widget … mine is limping badly!
    Many thanks in anticipation.

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