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Infant feeding

Mastitis

1 reply

coldofhands · 30/07/2014 16:34

Hi there, I've done a search and got some ideas but was after some support with mastitis please?

I'm a first time mum, baby is 7wo (2 weeks corrected as born at 34 weeks) and after suspecting I had a blocked duct, doc diagnosed mastitis yesterday & prescribed antibiotics (I'm allergic to penicillin so it's clarithromycin)

I'm drinking gallons of water, massaging my breasts (I think I'm doing this right, downwards from behind the affected area?) hot flannels/ shower running on breast, ibuprofen for pain. Is there anything else I could try at all - or should be doing when bfeeding that anyone knows of. I'm ebf and keen to not stop so have been expressing as well as continuing to feed on demand.

I'm wiped out, utterly shattered (not sure if this is to do with infection or just being a new mum) but DH is at work so I'm looking after baby by myself. Today has been a bit of a failure - I've done nothing but feed and express so am feeling utterly useless

Thanks in advance

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ElphabaTheGreen · 30/07/2014 16:49

Deep sympathy, OP Thanks I've had mastitis seven times, including once on both sides at once. Yes, it makes you feel monumentally crap so that plus the work of a newborn is going to compound how you're feeling.

I think ibuprofen is two every eight hours, yes? You can take paracetamol as well - two paracetamol plus two ibuprofen, then four hours later two more paracetamol, then four hours later paracetamol plus ibuprofen etc. Double check on the dosage with your pharmacist, but this is what I did.

Re: expressing and feeding. The best thing you can do is feed off the affected side as much as possible as that's the most efficient way of draining and clearing the breast, then express off the unaffected side to maintain the supply on that side.

The thing that really worked for me was expressing in a warm bath with a hand pump and a wide-toothed comb. Hand-express underwater for a bit, sweeping the wide-toothed comb over the affected area from armpit to nipple. Then use the hand pump above the water in long, strong squeezes, not the more rapid squeezes you'd normally use when expressing. Compress the breast at the same time as you squeeze the hand pump, and also massage, so that you can try and get a long continuous stream of milk going. I envisioned myself blasting the blockage out, firehose stylie I even got yellow cack and little pellets out once this way Try and time this exercise for about half an hour after you've had pain relief because it bloody hurts but I found it extremely effective.

HTH Smile

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