Adventures In Babyfeeding

I will now discuss a subject that is close to my heart (literally). :) As I discovered after my most recent post, many people who read this blog are mothers of babies. After a little hestitation, I decided to go ahead and do it. Yes, I am going to go there. I am going to bring up an issue that strikes fear into the heart of every nursing mother, the dreaded "M" word. M-A-S-T-I-T-I-S...

After having this awful condition three times now, I feel that I am qualified to write a comprehensive report on the matter. I hope that the things I write may help someone who is unfortunate enough to stumble into the world of mastitis. It is a world where no woman should have to go, but, sadly, many are forced to enter.

Here is my experience... It all starts when things seem to be going great. For many women, it usually occurs during the first three months after having a baby. For me, however, it usually happens around four or five months. Just when the baby and I are starting to get comfortable with the whole nursing relationship, things take a nasty turn for the worse.

First, if you are lucky, you will discover a hard knot (a plugged milk duct) BEFORE it turns into mastitis. If you are able to identify this and head it off quickly, you may save yourself much agony. If, however, the knot progresses into full blown mastitis, you may have some work ahead of you if you wish to continue nursing your baby. If it is mastitis, the area will feel warm and will look red/pink. For me, by the time I have those symptoms, I feel like I've been run over by a truck and am already laying in bed underneath three or four quilts, alternating between shaking from the chills and burning up with a 103 fever. I would also be on antibiotics at this point.

Anyway...This time around, I was so sick that I could barely lift Milla for a couple of days. I had to call in my sister, Tessa, who came over to watch my kids while I rested and recovered.

I called a lactation consultant this time around. "Kathy" and I quickly achieved BFF status because she spent so much time on the phone with me. She patiently gave me many things that I could do to fix the problem.

Things I already knew to do:
1) Get in a hot bath. Try to massage out the knot.

2) Get lots of rest.

3) Nurse, nurse, nurse...

4) Take the baby to bed with you. (This was virtually impossible, especially with #2. Milla likes her own bed.)

5) Pump (Every nursing mom should have a quality one for times like this.

6) Point the baby's chin toward the knot.

Tips I learned from Kathy:

1) Alternate HOT and COLD compresses, while trying (in between) to massage out the knot
(Some pics of the two things that never left my side all week:

Frozen peas...and...my Origins Heat Wrap)





2) Instead of taking two ibuprofen every few hours, take one-half of an ibuprofen every hour. This helps to better reduce inflammation.

3) I had read that taking Lecithin can help to thin out your milk, making the plugged duct easier to unplug. Kathy told me, however, that Lecithin is found in none other than...EGGS. I hard boiled a dozen or so eggs and started eating eggs in the morning, eggs in the evening, eggs all the time.



4) Guess what else she recommended? Besides eating tons of eggs, I needed to load up on Vitamin C! She first suggested that I use a 24 hour time release Vitamin C that could be bought at my local health food store. If that wasn't easily accessible, though, (It wasn't.) she suggested this fun fizzy little drink. I drank this three times a day to help boost my immune system, so that it would work well to fight off the infection. This fizzy little supplement was much more exciting than a once-a-day pill anyway. I felt like I was having a little party each time I drank the fizzy orange Vitamin C. And, as an added bonus, it kept me hydrated.


5) I already knew that pumping was important to get rid of the plugged duct, but I had the technique down all wrong. Before talking with Kathy, I had been feeding Milla first, then pumping afterwards. Kathy explained that I needed to feed her on the affected side first, then, while I was feeding her on the healthy side, pump at the same time. This made for some interesting acrobatics as Milla struggled to play with this curious new toy beside her. In the end, I had to hold Milla on one side, pump on the other side, all while trying to keep the pump parts hidden underneath a blanket. She kept batting at the connecting tubes to the pump, disconnecting them, then looking up at me to see if I was smiling at her little game. I wasn't. What I learned, though, was that more milk could be expressed if you pump while feeding at the same time. When you are dealt the blow of mastitis, that is exactly what you want, more milk expressed, not less. Also, pumping can help you not to lose your milk supply and to build it up again after a bout with mastitis.



6) Last but not least was perhaps the most bizarre tip I received. At this point, I was so fatigued from trying to rid myself of this annoyance that I was willing to try anything! If she had told me to nurse while bicycling or eat fried bologna, I would have hopped on my bicycle with Milla and headed to the store to buy some of Oscar Mayer's best meat parts products. Thankfully, though, I was only given the tip of putting raw potato slices on the affected area. Guess what? It worked! Amazing! Who knew?



Things are slowly getting back to normal around here after about two and a half weeks of hard work. When I had mastitis with Mary Alice and with Major, things resolved much more quickly. This time was especially difficult to get through. We are working our way back to a sense of normal with Milla's eating habits. I am determined to do everything I can to ensure that this doesn't happen to Milla's food supply again. If it does, though, I compiled this handy little list of Kathy's Helpful Tips to help me through. :) I hope this wasn't too much information. This information was very helpful to me. I thought I would share what I had learned in hopes that it might benefit someone else who finds themselves stuck in this situation.