I spoke with a mom today that is wanting to wean her 15 month old son. She
had gotten to the point where she was only breastfeeding 5 times/day at nap
times and bedtime. Up until about 1 year old the baby had ONLY been
breastfeeding, so working down to only 5 times/day was a gradual process.
About 3 months ago (3 cycles ago) she had a very painful ovulation. This was
a new thing, she said she had never felt her ovulations before. Then she
woke up very early one morning with her right breast in excruciating pain
and was soon achy and feverish. Got antibiotics to treat mastitis and it
cleared up in 3 weeks. 
Next cycle, same thing only this time she nursed frequently to help with
mastitis and things cleared up eventually. She woke up again early this
morning with all the same symptoms, only this time in left breast. She is
really frustrated because she wants to wean but the mastitis is causing her
to nurse frequently for many days and sometimes weeks. She is afraid each
month she is building her supply back up, but not only that, she's
incapacitated for many days with the flu-like symptoms. She says that each
time she can feel a painful lump in her breast, but the location each time
is different. Aside from breastfeeding she has been doing breast massage
around the lump, hot and cold compresses, and resting. Each time the
mastitis occurs very soon after the painful ovulation, with very little
warning and wakes her up very early in the morning with the pain. What can
this mom do? I know that this is not unheard of - hormonal changes like that
of ovulation leading to mastitis - but I wasn't sure what to tell her,
especially since she is wanting to wean. This is her 4th child and she has
had mastitis a handful of times with the 4 children, but not with this
frequency. 
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Samantha

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