Felicie's Blog

I’ve been breastfeeding for a long time. I thought I knew what to expect. Apparently not: this weekend I had mastitis for the first time in my four and half year breastfeeding career. And it was not fun. Let me tell you about it.

It started on Thursday night. I went out that night and didn’t put baby to bed (usually I nurse her to sleep). Then for some unknown reason, baby slept right through the night (like she NEVER does) until 7 am. And I slept on my stomach (which I LOVE doing; I really appreciate it after having two pregnancies where I couldn’t do it). When I awoke Friday morning after that blissful full night of sleep, my right breast was “ginormous” (as my four year old loves to say) and painful.

I went into action right away, nursing baby and using my usual tactics for relieving what I thought was just a blocked duct.  This time, though, an electric toothbrush was not going to cut it. Slowly, over the course of the day I felt more and more achy. By ten o’clock Friday night I was sitting on the couch, shivering and feeling miserably achy right down to my toes. I went to bed and didn’t get up until the next afternoon. I kept nursing the baby, but I sent hubby to get her during the night (something I may have done twice before in the last four years!).

I had always wondered what mastitis was like. I knew it was awful from the stories I had heard, but I truly didn’t expect the extreme chills and achiness that I felt. It was far worse than any flu I had experienced before. And the pain in my breast wasn’t as I expected it to be: it was different than a blocked duct. The pain felt much more intense and was all over my breast, not just in a certain area.  Also my breast was red and irritated looking and you could feel a large hard area in it. The other thing that surprised me was that baby seemed annoyed at the taste of the milk coming from the affected breast. She even said, “Yucky nana!” at one point. Apparently this is normal as the inflammation can cause your milk to taste saltier.

I started to feel better by Sunday morning, but if my symptoms had continued I was prepared to see a doctor and get antibiotics. The general rule of thumb tends to be if the symptoms are getting better within 24 to 36 hours then you probably won’t need antibiotics.

Not sure why I got better quickly, but I’m sure glad I did!  Here are some of thethings I did to help speed up my recovery:

• I stayed in bed and slept. I ignored the laundry, dishes, dogs, and kids (except to nurse my youngest).
• I ate a lot of raw garlic. Garlic is a natural antibiotic. It sounds awful, but if you cut each clove up into several small pieces and swallow them whole with juice, it’s really not that bad. I was sceptical at first, but it really wasn’t any different than taking a few large pills.
• I took several warm baths and showers. Warm water helps to soothe the inflammation and increases circulation.
• I massaged the hard area while I was nursing. This can help to loosen any blocked ducts.
• I kept a heating pad on my chest while lying down.
• I drank a lot of fluids. Water, juice, and Echinacea tea were my standbys.
• I took lots of ibuprofen to lower my fever and decrease inflammation.

I hope that you never have to experience mastitis and that you continue to breastfeed even if you do. “Keep nursing your baby” is probably the biggest piece of advice you will hear when dealing with mastitis. Weaning your baby because of mastitis could lead to a breast abscess that could need to be surgically drained. That would be worse than mastitis and no one wants that to happen.

Here are some resources that I found useful:

Page 59 of the Breastfeeding Handbook

Dr. Sears on Mastitis

Kelly Mom’s tips for natural treatments

Breastfeeding Inc. information on symptoms and treatments

Have you experienced mastitis? What was it like for you? How did you treat it?

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