Ouchie!!! When Mastitis strikes!

The blogging hiatus is over!  I have had no time for such indulgences like blogging as I have been super busy with so many things. Firstly I was made redundant, so have been all kinds of busy preparing job applications and going to interviews.  Besides that, I've been working on a business idea with a friend that will hopefully make us multi-millionaires in no time at all.  I've had family over visiting, a battle with a cold that lasted an entire week, and  of course an increasingly obstreperous toddler hurtling towards her second birthday and demanding dancing at every hour of the day.

But now I'm going to try and make a little more effort and get back on the blogging wagon!  And I have so many things I want to ask you about and share with you......

However I'm going to start with the dreaded mastitis.  My best friend and mother of two exquisite twin boys Oscar & Isaac is suffering and I've been looking around the web for any tips that might help her.  She's been rather amazingly I think finding breastfeeding both boys a bit of a breeze until now.  I think she deserves an award for managing to breastfeed twins for so long (about 3 months now I think)!  So I know she isn't going to let a thing like Mastitis beat her either.  I can't speak from personal experience as I never had to suffer it, probably because I only managed 6 weeks of breastfeeding before losing what felt like an unholy battle with my efforts.

So here are my findings for those wanting to avoid antibiotics....

Mastitis affects many, many mothers (one in ten in the UK) and recurrent mastitis is often the demise of breastfeeding early on. It’s not only painful, but causes overall body aches and fever as your body tries to fight it off.  It can come on suddenly without warning with varied symptoms including redness, pain, or warmth in the affected area of the breast, elevated temperature, overall illness & misery, pain while breastfeeding, as well as swelling of the breast.
Just like other illnesses when breastfeeding, many mothers aren't keen to take the antibiotics that you'll get given at the doc's. Despite the worry that it'll be going into baby's bloodstream in your milk, antibiotics can start a cycle of yeast overgrowth leading to recurrent mastitis, thrush, vaginal yeast infections, yeast diaper rashes, digestive issues, and eczema just to name a few. So what's a sore and pissed off mother to do??

Firstly, enlist some much needed help and relief with babies and house so you can focus all your attention and little strength remaining on healing yourself.  Take some probiotics or lots of natural yogurt to help tackle the yeast and cut out sugary products to back this up.

Secondly boost your immune system.  An obvious one really, but I wanted to share some of things that work for me when I'm feeling rundown.  My immediate go-to product for a vitamin or energy boost is Berrocca.      Boots often does 3for2 offers, but Tesco does it's own version at half the price.  This works pretty good for hangovers too!  As I wasn't sure if this was so good for Baby Wild while I was breastfeeding (or pregnant for that matter) I relied upon Floradix and still swear by it!  You can buy some here.  It's not cheap, but works wonders during pregnancy and after birth.  I shopped at Napier's, which has this great advice leaflet for other natural remedies.

Next up get the garlic into you!  Raw garlic is also highly beneficial in boosting immune function as well as fighting of the mastitis because of it’s anti-bacterial/anti-fungal properties.  Grate garlic over your meals throughout the day.  Or mix finely chopped or minced garlic mixed with a spoonful of honey to drink if you prefer.  Best to take it during meals though as it could upset an empty stomach.

Now that you've gotten some additional help and carers to help you, retreat to bed with the baby and get as much sleep as you can when not breastfeeding.  As you know although it's the last thing you want to do, feeding as much as you can is really the only and best way through the hellishness of mastitis.  If you don't feel that your baby (or babies in this case) are emptying your milk supplies each time then use a pump or hand express the remaining milk yourself.

Drink buckets of water, and massage the inflamed breast to try and unblock the plugged ducts.  Using a heat pad or hot water bottle/lavender bag can help alleviate soreness and keep milk flowing.  If that doesn't work though, then try switching to ice packs instead to reduce inflammation.  Hot showers, going bra less as much as possible and raw potatoes have also been employed for some mothers, and no that's not just the Irishness in me coming through!  Honest - check out this natural treatment advice list for proof!

This mother has Breastfeeding First Aid kit she has drawn up which is rather impressive.  Highly recommended!
If you're big into homemade medicines, you could try this website for some advice.

But in the end, if it goes on for more than a couple of days and none of the ideas above are helping, let's face it - for your own sanity you're gonna need to go to the doctors......

Mrs A, I hope you make a speedy recovery! x