help! recurring mastitis.

[hildare]

i'm x posting in challenges and posting for a dear friend, who writes:

I'm interested in experience or information related to recurring clogged ducts and/or mastitis. I've had three bouts of mastitis since December and clogged ducts every 2-3 weeks. I get the clogs on both breasts, and it never seems to be the same spot. I can usually work out the clog with warm compresses, massage and nursing, but I'm interested in any ideas for prevention.

 

I nurse T. 3 or 4 times a day (early morning, late afternoon, before bed and sometimes once in the middle of the night if he wakes up), and I pump 3 times while I'm at work. I generally do not nurse or pump by the clock but let Thomas stop when he's full and stop pumping when the milk is no longer flowing.

her ds is around 6 months old.  she's been to the nurse midwives for the last round and they didn't have more solutions to offer.  we've looked at the kellymom and the LLL site about recurrent mastitis, too.  anyone been through this?

[MnMtm]

Yes, I've had recurring mastitis. What I found helped was being extremely vigilant about avoiding any pressure on any spots of my breasts. This includes sleeping with my arms touching them at all and having my arms against them when I nurse. I switched from nursing bras to nursing tanks, and that seemed to help as well. I also wear either nursing shirts or loose fitting shirts so that when I NIP I don't have even the slightest bit of pressure from a more form-fitting shirt. By avoiding the clogged ducts, I could usually, although not always, avoid mastitis. I hope that some of that helps!

[iowaorganic]

I had recurring mastitis with my first 2 little ones.  I saw Drs, nurses, lactation consultants and everyone gave me some different theory.  Underwire bra, too tight of bra, germs, use only dial soap, infection from nursing pads, oversupply... You get the idea.  It wasn't until I was got it a month after my 3rd baby that my CPM firmly told me it was because I was just doing too much and this was my bodys way of telling me.   Her 'cure' was sleep, rosehip tea on a regular basis, cabbage leaf over the red spots, garlic, and nurse the baby for a couple of days in bed.  Her 'cure' worked and I started paying attention to how much I was doing.  Sure enough when I get to overdoing it- my body lets me know and I slow down.  I know how hard that is with having more than one little one and I can't imaging having an out of the home job as well.  But it very well may be her bodys way of trying to get a break.  We are not superwomen no matter what we think.

Other things that I think help me are wool nursing pads (lanacare has the theory behind them), mothers milk tea, a diet in high fat (lictethin- not sure of the spelling), and making a priority of resting with my baby.  Also- I only wear a nursing tank and never a bra- that sure helps too.

[Amalia]

I also had recurring mastitis with my first son. In 2 1/2 years I probably had mastitis 15-20 times with him and then 5 or 6 times with my second child. I also went through dr.s, lactation consultants etc. and ended up at a breast cancer specialist and no one ever figured out what was wrong. Looking back on it now, though, I think that stress played a large part in it. At the time was completely sleep-deprived, had a very fussy baby and was on a crazy diet because of all of my son's food allergies. So I would say really take a look at stressors in your life and see if you can find a way to reduce some of them. And try to get rest (both physical and mental) whenever you can.

During that time, I started taking a tablespoon of lecithin a day (I found it at my local healthfood store) and tried to make sure my son was nursing in a good position.

I know how horrible it is when you first feel that clogged duct or feel the soreness in your breast. But it won't last forever- one day soon it will be a distant memory.

Wishing you much rest!