These germs aren't harmful to your baby — everyone has them. They just don't belong in your breast tissues. Nipple damage may be caused by a baby not being latched on correctly or having a tongue tie. In rare cases, untreated dermatitis of your nipple or surrounding area can be the cause. While mastitis is common in the first month of breastfeeding, it can also occur at any stage when you are lactating and particularly when the number of breastfeeds or milk expressions is suddenly reduced.
Most cases of mastitis are caused because your baby is not latched on or positioned on your breast correctly. This leads to milk stasis, with blocked milk ducts and alveoli, and nipple trauma. See your doctor or midwife straight away if you have a fever, as you may need antibiotics to treat the infection.
If you have had all the appropriate treatment for mastitis and an area of your breast remains hard, reddened and painful, a breast abscess may have formed or be forming. If this happens, see your doctor for treatment. Read more about breast abscess. If you are unable to latch your baby properly, or express your milk normally, you may opt to express the blockage yourself. Sometimes, during gentle massage, you can even accidentally express it!
The coagulated milk responsible for the blockage may look like a rock, grain of sand or even a strand of spaghetti. If your baby clears this blockage during breastfeeding, this is not harmful. During pregnancy, your breasts may feel lumpy. This is usually because the glands that produce milk are increasing in number and getting larger in preparation for breastfeeding.
This is a good time to consider getting help from a lactation consultant. This person—usually a nurse—specializes in helping women with breastfeeding. You can breastfeed more effectively with less pain and help prevent future mastitis if you remember to change positions and make sure that your baby is latching on properly.
Be sure to get treatment for mastitis. Delaying treatment can lead to a breast abscess, which can be harder to treat. If you have mastitis , you may first notice:. These initial symptoms may start after you have resolved a blocked milk duct. Call your doctor if you have other breast problems like cracked and bleeding nipples or blisters on your nipples that are not relieved by home treatment.
In some cases, symptoms of mastitis get worse and the breast develops a pocket of pus abscess in the infected area.
Symptoms of a breast abscess include:. Thrush yeast infection can occur in your baby's mouth and spread to your nipples and breast ducts. If you have symptoms of mastitis that are not going away in spite of treatment, pain in the nipple area during and after breastfeeding, sharp breast pain in between feedings, or nipples that look very pink, you may have a yeast infection.
This condition can also begin with a sudden start of pain or burning when breastfeeding has been going well without problems. If you have yeast infection symptoms, both your nipples and your baby's mouth should be checked for thrush.
Treatment for thrush requires that both you and your baby be treated, even if your baby doesn't have symptoms. For more information, see the topic Thrush. Your doctor can usually diagnose mastitis based on your symptoms and an examination of the affected breast. Tests are usually not needed. But they may be done to confirm a diagnosis or to help guide treatment for other problems that can develop. If you have an infection that isn't improving with treatment, your doctor may do a breast milk culture.
To provide a sample for a culture, you will squeeze a small sample of milk from the affected breast onto a sterile swab. The culture results help your doctor confirm a diagnosis and to find out the specific bacteria that are causing the infection.
In some cases, it takes more than one round of antibiotics to clear a breast infection. If you have not been responding to antibiotic treatment, culture results may be used to find out the most effective antibiotic for you. Sometimes a pocket of pus abscess forms in the reddened area of the breast. If an abscess is too deep to examine by touching it, your doctor may use a breast ultrasound to examine it.
Ultrasound can also be used to guide a needle to an abscess that needs to be drained of fluid. A culture of the abscess fluid is usually done to identify the infecting organism. Mastitis will not go away without treatment.
If you have mastitis symptoms, you may need to call your doctor today. Prompt treatment helps keep infection from rapidly getting worse and usually improves symptoms after about 2 days.
You can safely continue breastfeeding your baby or pumping breast milk to feed your baby during illness and treatment. Your baby is the most efficient pump you have for emptying your breasts. Your breast milk is safe for your baby to drink, because any bacteria in your milk will be destroyed by the baby's digestive juices. If you have mastitis because of a blocked duct and you delay treatment, your breast infection may develop into an abscess.
Treatment for an abscess includes:. Most women can continue breastfeeding on the affected breast while an abscess heals. With your doctor's approval, you can cover the abscess area with a light gauze dressing while breastfeeding. If you are advised to stop breastfeeding from the affected breast while an abscess heals, you can continue breastfeeding from the healthy breast.
Be sure to pump or express milk from the infected breast regularly. For more information on pumping or expressing breast milk, see the topic Breastfeeding. From the time you begin breastfeeding until your baby is weaned, take measures to prevent mastitis. For example, learn about different breastfeeding techniques so that you will know how to completely empty your breasts. Not emptying your breasts completely when nursing or going too long between feedings may lead to mastitis.
If you have symptoms of mastitis, you may need to call your doctor right away. Delaying treatment can lead to an abscess forming in the affected breast. Severe infection can require intravenous antibiotics in the hospital.
Along with oral antibiotic treatment, continuing to nurse your baby and being careful to empty your breasts completely will help shorten the duration of the infection. In addition to taking your prescribed antibiotics and continuing to breastfeed or pump breast milk, there are other steps you can take to make yourself feel better until the mastitis goes away.
Most women can successfully continue breastfeeding during a breast infection. If mastitis makes it difficult for you to continue breastfeeding while the infection is being treated, remember that emptying your breasts regularly is essential. Don't hesitate to talk to your doctor or a lactation consultant for further help and support. Author: Healthwise Staff.
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You are here Home » Mastitis While Breastfeeding. If this is the case you can help by ensuring you feed or express a little to avoid further problems. A milk blister or bleb is usually a painful white dot on the nipple or areola.
Thickened milk may block milk flow near the opening of the nipple, or sometimes a tiny bit of skin overgrows a milk duct opening and milk backs up behind causing the blister.
They can be associated with mastitis. A milk blister is not the same as a blister caused by friction, either from incorrect latch or a badly fitting nipple shield or breast pump flange.
Milk blisters do not always hurt and may resolve over several weeks without any treatment. If you have a painful milk blister:. Avoid opening the blister yourself; it may bring relief but could also result in infection.
Once a blister is open, help prevent infection by washing the wound with mild, unperfumed soap and rinsing well once a day.
As well as having a tender breast, you are likely to feel achy, run-down and feverish; you may have flu-like symptoms. Mastitis is usually caused by backed up milk in a section of the breast.
This can progress to an infection if not treated. Delayed nipple wound healing, stress, chronic engorgement and persistent breast pain increase the risk of mastitis. Areas of the breast that remain undrained or that experience blocked ducts may be focal points for bacteria to take hold and start an infective process.
Milk production may drop from your affected breast for a few days during the worst of the symptoms, but it is important for your baby to continue breastfeeding from that side to help prevent the infection from turning into an abscess. The milk from the affected breast will not harm your baby. If you have mastitis you can try all of the treatments listed in the section on blocked ducts, as well as the following care plan.
Note: It is a myth that it is unhealthy for your baby to breastfeed when you have a breast infection — the antibacterial properties of human milk actually protect your baby from infection. Continuing to breastfeed when experiencing a sore breast, plugged duct or breast infection will speed recovery. Nursing frequently helps to provide comfort, reduce inflammation and encourage opening of the blocked area.
Many mothers find that varying breastfeeding positions drains all areas of the breast more effectively. Rest is an important component in recovery from sore breasts, plugged ducts or breast infections. Try resting in bed with your baby cuddled next to you. Link safe sleep post This will also encourage frequent breastfeeding sessions to drain your breast.
Keep supplies such as diapers, toys, books, your phone, a drink of water nearby to minimize trips out of bed.
Applying wet or dry heat with a heating pad or hot water bottle and gently massaging the sore area of your breast before breastfeeding can assist it in further emptying. Many mothers find that taking showers or baths and gently massaging with a warm cloth on the sore breast is a relaxing treatment during a stressful time.
Another technique is to lean over a basin of warm water and soak the sore breast for about 10 minutes three times a day. This will also remove any dried milk secretions that may be blocking the flow of milk out of the nipple. Breastfeed immediately, while your breast is warm, to help unplug the blocked duct. An LLL Leader can help you explore improvements you can make to help prevent the condition recurring.
Get local support. In order to prevent future plugged ducts or breast infections, you may find it helpful to be cautious of sudden long stretches between nursings. Maintaining general health through your diet and getting extra rest may help keep your breast from becoming sore again.
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