Clogged Duct 5mo into Breatfeeding, How to Prevent Mastitis?

[icegurl470]

Last night lying in bed I noticed my left boob was a little sore. When my baby got up during the night to nurse I made sure to nurse her on that side first and it was very painful. This morning my left boob was noticeable very swollen, red and hard. I applied a heating pad and nursed her on that side again, It was extremely painful, but I thought she cleared the clog. As I began getting ready for work, however, it started to swell up again and become hard and painful. How long do I have before it turns into mastitis? I had mastitis around this time with my first child, but I thought it was from infrequent pumping. This time around I've stuck to a strict schedule, so I don't know how it happened. I really want to avoid infection because the antibiotics caused thrush and nipple yeast infections the first time around Advise?

 

[misspriss]

Nurse, nurse, nurse. Take anti inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen. Use heat shortly before nursing and massage but use ICE after (to reduce inflammation). Take lecithin if you can find it. Massage while nursing. Look at your nipple, see if you see a white plug and see if you can remove it. I ge reoccurring clogged ducts due to oversupply and tandem nursing and not once has it turned to mastitis. Good luck!

 

[yazzy]

Another thing that may help (but sounds odd!) Is when you nurse, lay baby down and lean over him/her while feeding. Gravity helps unblock the duct and massage at the same time. This is the only thing that really helped me.

 

[icegurl470]

Success! Thank you so much. I became so red and sore while at work I thought for sure I would end up in the ER over the holiday weekend with mastitis. But, as soon as I got home I told my husband I was going to bed and I took my baby in there with me and she nursed it back to health haha! So glad I dodged that bullet.