Help! Mastitis + bleb with teething twins way too painful

[ariel01]

I just cried my eyes out trying to BF my 2.5 mo old twins. I've had mastitis for 4 days now and antibiotics are helping with the fever chills and body aches. But now when I get the girls to latch the nipple pain is so intense all I can do is cry. I've tried to stick with it as I know it's better than pumping but even pumping hurts. I'm also pretty sure my girls are starting to teeth already. Just not sure how I can get through this pain. I don't want to quit breastfeeding but am thinking of pumping only. Just don't know what to do right now and two fussy babies and no sleep isn't making it easier to think.

 

[ariel01]

I now have a black spot on my nipple. I've read this is like a blood blister. I tried again to latch the girls tonight, even tried a nipple shield and the pain was again so intense I couldn't do it and all I could do was cry. Now pumping is expelling hardly any milk. My left breast is so engorged. If I can't stand the pain of BFing and the pump doesn't work....what am I supposed to do? Going to try a hot shower, but even trying to massage and hand express gets nothing out. Any other suggestions?!?!?

 

[Maxy1]

*take some pain relief - ibuprofen will help with the swelling of the tissue.

*You may need a topical cream for the red blood blister on your nipple because I had that and it was the infection trapped in the nipple and it is horrifically painful.

*Take high doses of pro-biotics to help with the mastitis and pain.

* Before feeding or pumping put a really hot flannel on the breasts - this encourages the milk to let down.

* After feeding put a ice cold flannel on the breasts - this helps with swelling. Wet a flannel with cold water and put it on a plate in the fridge while you feed. Whip them out after.

*Stay in bed as much as possible, rest really helps.

* Massage the areola around and around the nipple to free up the congestion before feeding. This will make latching easier for the babes and hopefully help with the pain.

* massage in big circles around the outside of each lump regularly to try break them up.

* You should DEFINITELY be feeling amazing after 5 days on AB's, even if the lump is still kinda there. If you aren't, you are likely on the WRONG AB and need to go have your milk tested for the specific bacteria.

IME I have had the best luck with high dose probiotics. I take 300% dose when I have lumps and stay on normal amount as a maintenance. There are lots of studies that show that the efficacy of probiotics is more than antibiotics. I am NOT telling you to stop the antibiotics but to take the probiotics AS WELL.

 

[mom2b2013]

Sorry to hear you are struggling with this. I know how painful it can be. I used breast shields along with gel pads for healing... https://www.toysrus.com/buy/nursing...mfortgel-hydrogel-pads-2-count-17261m-4239865

I just put them in the fridge before wearing them and it seemed to help. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[ariel01]

Thank you both so very much!! These are great tips! The good news is I am feeling better. I didn't nurse for about 24 hours, just pumped, and the blister went away. I can now nurse although it still sometimes hurts. It took about 5 days for the lumps to finally dissipate, despite massaging and trying lots of your advice, but they did after my girls nursed quite a bit for a few days.

Did you guys have mastitis continue to occur?

Maxy, what pro-biotic do you use or recommend? I was taking one, but I'm also concerned about it getting into the breast milk and my girls are a bit sensitive (I'm cutting out dairy and nuts right now to try to help).

 

[Maxy1]

With the probiotics the studies show that women that tended to get recurrent mastitis were actually lacking probiotics in their breast milk and by replacing the probiotic the women had a far lower incidence of recurrent mastitis than those who were treated with antibiotics.

For me, probiotics really helped DD, she settled a lot easier and was easier to burp. She also started sttn - which may be coincidence. But with DS I had continuous mastitis for 14 months and was AB's for almost the entire time. With DD I am taking the probiotic therapy and it has been great. Since starting probiotics (after 3 bouts of mastitis in the first 7 weeks) I have only had one episode and that was due to DD having a terrible reaction to the rotovirus vax and not feeding properly. I just put my probiotics up to 3 a day and it went away. The lump took longer than on AB's but the pain went much quicker.

I am on Inner Health Plus. I don't know if it is available in the US, but it is a capsule one that stays in the fridge. Both of my kids are dairy free, gluten free. There are plenty probiotics that are dairy free and gluten free.

I told Plunket here (HV) and she has told some other women this and they have had similar success.

 

[mom2b2013]

Thank you both so very much!! These are great tips! The good news is I am feeling better. I didn't nurse for about 24 hours, just pumped, and the blister went away. I can now nurse although it still sometimes hurts. It took about 5 days for the lumps to finally dissipate, despite massaging and trying lots of your advice, but they did after my girls nursed quite a bit for a few days.

Did you guys have mastitis continue to occur?

Maxy, what pro-biotic do you use or recommend? I was taking one, but I'm also concerned about it getting into the breast milk and my girls are a bit sensitive (I'm cutting out dairy and nuts right now to try to help).

Fortunately the mastitis did not come back for me.

 

[ariel01]

Thanks Ladies! I couldn't find the Inner Health PB but found some other brand that is milk free, etc. Going to try it and hopefully keep this from happening again! I'm done with AB now, so we'll see.

Glad it didn't reoccur for you Mom2b!

 

[ariel01]

Well, now on my third bout of mastitis. Things were going pretty well, I thought I'd found a balance between pumping and nursing. Guess not. I've been taking the probiotics and I think they have helped some. On another round of antibiotics, a different one this time so we will see if this works.

The dr. said he wouldn't prescribe a low-dose antibiotic that I could just continue taking. Bummer. He suggested I look into stopping the breastfeeding, but with my twins allergies, I'm not ready for that yet and the pediatrician doesn't recommend it.

Have to at least get to six months BFing!

Other ladies who kept getting recurrent mastitis, what do you do? Each time I feel like I've been run over by a bus!

 

[apple_20]

I have mastitis ATM and just wanted to say how well you have done to still be bf at 4 months going through it so many times.

I don't have any more advise I'm only 24 hours into antibiotics so still feel quite bad. Only feeding a lot has helped my pain.

I hope you can find a solution that suits you but don't feel bad if you can't continue bf x

 

[jenmcn1]

I had mastitis horribly with my 2nd baby... 105 fever for 5 days chills engorgement etc. and I went on to have it 4 times. It was awful and emotionally draining. BUT there is HOPE!!!!
I now have 3 kids and from day 1 of my sons birth I took 'poke root'!!! It's a tincture that my midwife have me. It's natural and you put 4 drops in a glass of water. It's a natural antibiotic. I started to develop mastitis around 2 weeks pp, and everytime I would feel the mastitis or engorgment coming on, I would take the Poke root, jump in a hot shower and try to expel milk as much as I could after feeding the baby. It totally worked!!!!!!! You can purchase it from a local health food store! Highly highly recommend it!!!!