The most common cause of mastitis is hyperlactation or an oversupply of milk. This oversupply of milk causes your milk ducts to narrow because the surrounding tissue puts pressure on the ducts. This leads to engorgement, which is when your breasts are extremely full and swollen. This is known as inflammatory mastitis.
Mastitis is inflammation (swelling) in the breast, which is usually caused by an infection. It is most common when a woman is breastfeeding, but it can happen at other times as well. A clogged milk duct that doesn't let milk fully drain from the breast, or breaks in the skin of the nipple can lead to infection.
Practice good hygiene. Hand hygiene is important for everyone, but especially mothers. Your hands can be a source of bacteria that can cause mastitis. Be sure to wash your hands and your breastfeeding equipment before breastfeeding or milk expressions.
Prevention of Mastitis
Overall, removing milk from the breast regularly is the best way to prevent this condition. Whether you do it by pumping or by feeding, getting that breast milk out is key to increasing your comfort and cutting down on pain from engorged breasts.
Treatment. It is important to start treatment at the first signs of mastitis. Your breast milk is safe for your baby even if you have mastitis, so continue to breastfeed or express from the affected breast. Place a heat pack or warm cloths on the sore area before feeding or expressing to help with your milk flow.
Your healthcare provider will prescribe an antibiotic to treat a bacterial mastitis infection. They work to eliminate the bacterial infection that's built up in your milk ducts. The infection should clear up within 10 days. However, you should begin to feel relief within 48 to 72 hours.
Mastitis usually only affects 1 breast, and symptoms often come on quickly. They include: a swollen area on your breast that may feel hot and painful to touch – the area may become red but this can be harder to see if you have black or brown skin. a wedge-shaped breast lump or a hard area on your breast.
Breastfeed or pump your breast milk often. Put a warm, wet washcloth on your breast or put your breast in warm water. Then gently rub the lump. Try different feeding positions each time you breastfeed your baby.
Because mastitis is an infection, it will not go away easily on its own unless properly treated. If you begin to feel some of the preliminary symptoms like breast tenderness and engorgement, it's important to keep feeding and pumping to stimulate your milk flow.
Chronic engorgement, over pumping or trying to “empty the breasts,” all increase the risk of mastitis. Areas of the breast where ducts are compressed may create opportunities for bacteria to take hold, becoming an infection.
The following tips can also help you to avoid mastitis and breast abscesses: Make sure that your bra isn't too tight and your tops don't dig into your breasts. Avoid tight baby carrier straps or seat belts. Try not to wear a bra to bed or sleep on your stomach.
Washing your Reusable Breast Pads
Put them in the dryer on low heat, or hang them up to dry (which will take longer). Option #2: Hand-wash them in warm water with mild detergent and let them air-dry on a towel. Reusable breast pads don't cause mastitis.
Treating mastitis usually requires a 10- to 14-day course of antibiotics. You may feel well again 24 to 48 hours after starting antibiotics, but it's important to take the entire course of medication to minimize your chance of recurrence.
Blocked ducts and engorged breasts can also lead to mastitis if they are not treated appropriately. Mums can be predisposed to mastitis for a number of reasons, which may include damaged nipples, especially if colonised with Staphylococcus aureus and illness or stress.
You may notice redness and swelling on the infected breast as well as flu-like symptoms, such as chills and fevers. It's common for women to attribute these signs to being rundown and tired, but don't; it's important to alert your doctor right away if you're feeling any of them.
Mastitis and blocked ducts arising from blocked ducts can be relieved through massages. The Lactation Clinic at KK Women's and Children's Hospital shares more tips to manage these painful breast conditions. should not stop you from breastfeeding or expressing milk as this could make matters worse.
If you are breastfeeding, continue breastfeeding or pumping breast milk. It is important to empty your breasts regularly, every 2 to 3 hours while you are awake. These tips may help: Before breastfeeding, place a warm, wet face cloth over your breast for about 15 minutes.
Engorged breasts will normally feel tight or hard, while mastitis is more often characterized by redness and inflammation (engorgement does not normally cause redness). Though both can cause pain and tenderness in the breasts, mastitis pain can worsen when your baby feeds, and can feel like burning.
Your milk supply in the affected breast may be reduced for several weeks after mastitis, but will return to normal with stimulation from your baby. Breast pain and redness often peak on the 2nd or the 3rd day and return to normal by the 5th day.
Plugged duct symptoms progress gradually, and can include pain, a hard lump, a warm and painful localized spot or a wedge-shaped area of engorgement on the breast. Mastitis symptoms appear rapidly and include flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, fatigue and body aches.
One study of 946 lactating women, followed prospectively, found an incidence of 9.5 percent. Although mastitis can occur anytime during lactation, it is most common during the second and third weeks postpartum, with 75 to 95 percent of cases occurring before the infant is three months of age.
It usually occurs in the first two to three weeks of nursing but can happen at any stage in lactation.
Mastitis causes a woman's breast tissue to become painful and inflamed. It's most common in breastfeeding women, usually within the first six weeks after giving birth.