[sarbear]

Looking for some wisdom here ladies. My twins are almost 8 months old, and I have had mastitis 4 times. I treated all 4 with antibiotics, and just finished my latest round less than 2 weeks ago. Generally the soreness starts if I go too long at night without feeding (if one sleeps more than 5 hours, and so do I), then in no time it is a full blown infection, red and very painful.

Last night I woke up with one breast sore in the same spot as my last infection. It is getting more sore as the day goes on. I have heat on it constantly, and I'm drinking tons of water. Is there anything else I can do to ward off another infection? I will just DIE if I am bed-bound again for another couple days, and MORE antibiotics?!

I really feel uncomfortable taking another round again so soon.

I am seriously considering night-weaning soon to solve this problem once and for all. I am obviously prone to mastitis for some reason, I have been to the doctor and a breast specialist, and they can find no 'medical' reason for this. Any advice is much appreciated!!

 

[ShwarmaQueen]

I'm sorry you keep getting infections. I'd contact your local LLL to see if they have any tips since you seem prone to it. I had it once and the area still hurts from time to time (and I haven't nursed in 3 years)!

By chance are you pumping at all? That usually causes more plugged ducts than nursing alone. No advice really, but I'm not sure how nightweaning would help the situation right now. I think it's better to be removing the milk while you're fighting this round of mastitis.

 

[fruitfulmomma]

I've had good results with garlic and echinacea.

You can read more on these two sites...
http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/natur....html#mastitis
http://www.familyherbalremedies.com/...treatment.html

 

[foreverinbluejeans]

Night weaning would be the worst thing to do. The more often you nurse the less chance you have of getting an infection.

 

[Quinn's Mama]

Sorry about your pain.

From what I've read about mastitis, the more you nurse or pump the better. However, you need to be draining dry the infected breast every time.

You might also try probiotics to replace any of the good 'flora' that is supposed to be in your system that the antibiotics killed off. It may help prevent future infections.

Good luck!

 

[heidirk]

garlic and echinacea can't hurt, and I agree with the yogurt/probiotics, too.

I had mastitis multiple times while nursing my first. A LC told me that I probably have a very high fat content in my milk, and that fat is sticky and can plug my ducts. combine that with a HUGE supply and infrequent feeds, and I was a ticking bomb. She told me to take Lecithin every day, and that that would keep the fat in my milk liquid, and prevent plugs. It did work! I did not get mastitis after that.

When number two came along, someone had recommended POKE ROOT tincture. I went online here- http://herblore.com/service/index.php?pg=info_pokeroot and got some. Whenever I started to get that feeling, I took some, and it has resolved/prevented mastitis several times for me. I have not had to be treated for it at all.

:

Go get a big bottle of Lecithin capsules, and take a few a day. And go on the Herb Loresite, and order yourself some Poke root. Good Luck!

 

[lulutattoo]

I'm really prone to plugged ducts. Luckily I've always managed to get them to resolve before they develop into mastitis (we were close once--searing pain while nursing until it resolved).
Lecithin has worked wonders for me, but I don't take it in pill form (not very tolerant of soy products). I get it by eating two eggs every day (eggs are high in lecithin). You can buy egg lecithin pills but they are super expensive.
I really notice a difference in my pumped/stored milk--when I forget my eggs, the cream sticks to the side of the bottle like cement--very hard to swirl it back into the milk. When I've been eating enough eggs, it is not anywhere near as sticky!

 

[spughy]

The other thing you can do is switch around nursing positions quite a bit. Is the mastitis in the same place each time, or is it different? If it's in the same place, it probably means there's a particular duct that's not getting drained well for some reason. If you institute "fun new boob positions" every once in a while (and you can be quite creative with older babies, they'll think it's fun to nurse draped over your shoulder, or if you're on all fours on top of them as they lie on the floor) it'll help.

I agree with the PPs who said NOT to nightwean - especially if they're still nursing lots during the day, that'll be guaranteed to cause mastitis.

I had recurrent mastitis in one breast, caused initially I think by accidentally sleeping on the cord for my heating pad.

I found pumping helped, actually - I made sure that breast was fully drained at least once every day and that worked - I didn't have mastitis again until after I went back to work.