Mastitis

Mastitis … Oh the pain, the shooting pain of mastitis and the fever, and chills…it is one of the sorest things ever!

You will know if you get it as you will most likely have a high temperature, have night-sweats and chills and have pain in the breast with it being engorged or red.

I managed to avoid it when breastfeeding on my first child, I used the angel cups (silver healing cups) between feeds to keep the nipples from getting dry and cracked and I found them particularly useful in the first few weeks as my nipples got used to the feeding.

On both of my children I had a really strong supply of milk and a heavy let down, on my second baby my supply was even greater, so when I started wearing the cups I found it stimulated the milk to leak and then it made my breast pads damp. This, coupled with it being late October, meant I caught a chill out having a walk and got a mastitis infection, on my birthday of all days!

It was 2 weeks post-birth, I didn’t want anything fussy as I was too knackered and we were in covid lockdown, so we were just planning  a birthday cake at home. I hadn’t been out much with the baby yet as my stitches were yet to heal fully so I suggested myself and Mum go around the block. I distinctly remember it being really windy and Mum saying “We better head back, that wind is very brisk” and feeling a chill in my breasts. Then, that evening, the fever came on me and all night I shivered and shook in the bed with my daughter in the co- sleeper beside me.

My husband was in the other room, sleeping in with our toddler who went through a period of wanting one of us to sleep in with him when the new baby came along. I was tempted to go and wake my husband but foolishly didn’t in the end and just suffered through the night feeds with the baby like the martyr I can be! The next day I was in a heap, luckily I had the two week check-up for the baby booked in at the GP so I could use the opportunity to tell the doctor about my suspected mastitis.

As we were in the height of the second wave of Covid in Oct 2020, as soon as I mentioned I had a temperature the doctor prescribed me with antibiotics and said she was almost sure it was mastitis but was obliged to send me for a covid test. So, off we went to the testing centre in Clonskeagh with a 2 week old baby in the back of the car. I remember when I went into the centre, telling them “I am breastfeeding and have a 2 week old baby in the car” and asking if I could be seen to quickly. The test came back negative, I knew in my gut it would, nonetheless it still resulted in a horrific day of mastitis and extra worry that I could have covid! 

By the next day the antibiotics had kicked in and it no longer ached when I fed the baby, it felt normal again.

I wouldn’t wish mastitis on my worst enemy, it is  a dose! So try and keep your nipples hydrated by rubbing milk on them and, whatever you do, avoid a chill if they are damp. Also, hand express in the shower if they get engorged, it gives great relief, there is so much great support and advice available from your midwife or public health nurse or any of the breastfeeding groups on this eg CuidIu, la laeche.