-  Your breastfeed and become ill.

-  Your breasts get swelled, or extremely engorged and hot.

-  extreme pain while feeding or a burning feeling every time he/she eats.

-  a fever, normally over 101

-  red patches on your breast

-  for a really bad infection your milk may be yellow, like puss.

If any or all of these symptoms are showing up calling your local doctor for further instructions. If caught in time you can start feeling better right away with a bit of medication.

Post from: Babylune

Course every bit of crying meant I leaked a bit more, my shirt was soaked and I ached. It took a couple of days to get to where we needed to be, which of course we stopped at hotels and he ate all night long. He was the type of breastfed baby that ate off and on all day, it was more like quick bursts or snacks, this was also the way he slept. When we pulled in to my grandparents house we were finally there, all we needed was to find a home, in the meantime I would rest and she would play with her great grandson.

Little did I know I was getting sick and when I finally realized it I blamed it on the cold, stating that we just moved from the desert my body was probably just hot. It wasn’t, I got even more sick and I hurt every time my son touched my chest. My husband and grandmother tried telling me I had a fever but I thought it was just them worrying as I was naturally hot.

The next feeding, yes even though it hurt so much, I noticed I looked a bit off. My breasts were lumpy and just didn’t look right. I began to feel them and felt the lumps, thinking back I remember the doctor telling me I should give myself breast exams and feel for lumps, this immediately threw up a red flag. I had cancer. I told my husband which in turn pulled out our tricare folder and told me to call a number, thank goodness the on call nurse had been in my position and walked me through it. I did not have breast cancer, I had mastitis and I’d need some medication to get over it. If it didn’t work within two weeks I had to go right in to the hospital. It worked, but boy did it hurt.

So there ya have it, that’s how I thought I had breast cancer. (I’ll be posting some facts on mastistis later today)

Post from: Babylune

I woke up this morning with swollen breasts that were as hard as rocks and a headache. I had the same problem with my first child a few days after his birth. The day my milk came in he was so hungry that he ate every two hours. The next day, he wasn’t even peckish. The problem being that my body had received the “increase production” message from frequent feedings and now had all this extra milk.

This time, it was caused by travel-stress nursing. Everytime the baby wimpered on the plane, I gave her my nipple so she wouldn’t disturb the people sitting around us.

Over producing breast milk is a problem. It can cause mastitis, the inflammation of the breast and infection or blockage of the milk ducts. I’ve had two friends recently describe to me the fever, chills and pain of mastitus and it is something I want to avoid.

The first time my breasts were swollen, my midwife put me on a strict regime to deal with the problem. After each feeding I would plunge my breasts into a basin of ice water and soak them for five minutes. Then, I would apply a qwark (a kind of German fresh cheese)mask for twenty minutes followed by ice packs. Right before the next feeding, I would thaw out my breasts with warm water. It was a terrible few days. 

This time, because I caught the problem right away, I applied some ice packs first thing in the morning and am repeating it now. Hopefully if I regulate the baby’s feeding for the next few days and keep the ice on, the problem will go away.  

Do you have any tricks for maintaining breast health while you nurse? 

Post from: Babylune