Coping With Mastitis While Breastfeeding

What is mastitis? This is a painful condition experienced by many women while breastfeeding. It is caused by inflammation of the tissue in the breast. This inflammation can be symptom of two different types of mastitis.

The first, and most common form is when the milk has not been fully drained during feeding and the milk duct has become blocked. The second form of mastitis is due to a bacterial infection. If the first type of mastitis is left untreated then it can develop into the infection bacterial type.

What are the symptoms of mastitis? The symptoms vary depending from woman to woman; however, there are definite signs which should be watched out for. Firstly a tender patch can appear on the breast and this will probably look pink or red and feel very tender to any touch. This will be the point of the infection or blocked milk duct.

If mastitis is not treated at this stage the symptoms will probably develop leading to a fever and a feeling of being very weak and exhausted. The pain will usually be intensified during your babies feeding. These symptoms will often cause a huge amount of stress and concern to the nursing mother and will probably result in her getting very emotional and anxious.

The pain felt during breast feeding makes this a very unappealing task; however, it is really important to continue and to increase feeding from the affected breast. By increasing feeding the blocked duct will hopefully be drained naturally by the baby. Any infection in the milk will not affect the baby and will pass straight through his or her system.

Increased feeding will also increase the milk supply, if you start to produce more milk than your baby needs or will drink it is recommended that you express in between feeds. A hot compress on the red, inflamed area just before feeding will help to bring down the milk from that milk duct.

Since the breast will be very tender a fabric compress is advised, a microwavable pain pad which is fabric covered and small enough to fit inside a sleep bra is ideal. Equally if you are trying to express in between feeds then it is helpful to express with a hot compress on the area as this will encourage the milk flow and help to reduce some of the discomfort during expressing.

Some cases of mastitis will need to be treated with antibiotics and it is important that you check with your health visitor or general practitioner as soon as you suspect any signs of mastitis.

During mastitis it is important to keep the area infected as comfortable as possible. Applying heat will hopefully help milk flow and will reduce pain, any bras worn should be loose, wearing a sleep bra is probably the best option, as these are soft, and loose. Sleep bras only offer minimal support, but they are suitable for holding a maternity pad or a hot compress.

Once the mastitis has been treated either through antibiotics or through continued feeding, it is important to continue to monitor the breast and to make sure that the increased feeding does not lead to engorgement, which can cause the mastitis to return.

This is a cycle which needs to be understood. While feeding to help drain the milk ducts the milk supply will be increased, if the milk supply is more than is needed this must be expressed to prevent the breasts from being over full and leading to either engorgement or mastitis.

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