What causes mastitis?

(Cathy Weeks) wrote in message . com...
I wound up with mastitis for the first time - and my nurseling is
nearly 2 years old! I thought it was rare this far into a
trouble-free nursing relationship?

I woke up Wednesday morning (after having no symptoms previously) with
a sore breast, and felt awful - fever and muscle aches (on top of the
cold I already had) and when I sat in the hot tub, I managed to
express - pus. Yuck. Doctor said to pump and dump on that side, to
avoid having Kivi ingest pus.

I woke New Years Day with exactly the same. I continued nursing and
pumping to keep that side milked out. (Just as we do with the cows)
I went to the Dr Friday morning and he gave me some anti-biotics and
told me to use hot and cold compresses and carry on nursing only on
the infected side (even though there was pus which is quite normal
with mastitis) and pump the other if I could until the pain subsided
then carry on with normal nursing. I'm still a bit lumpy but mostly
pain free now.

Emma is 7 months now and I haven't had any problem with nursing. Just
one of those things I suppose.

Mitch


After 36 hours on antibiotics I started
nursing on that side again, and 4 days into it, I'm much, much better.
It was sore, had a red streak, and a red patch, had hard areas, was
hot to the touch, the works. No fun.

So what causes it?

Cathy Weeks
Mommy to Kivi Alexis 12/01