From personal experience I can tell you that it is quite possible to 
have mastitis without a telltale lump or red spot.  I had to look it up 
and find out when it happened to me.  It gets a brief mention in the 
Breastfeeding Answer Book.

I fell asleep prone a couple weeks ago, and my toddler slept much 
longer than usual.  The pressure apparently caused milk to leak into 
the surrounding breast tissue and caused a generalized inflammation.  
It felt just like "regular" mastitis--the whole hit by a mack truck, 
fever, malaise, etc, but no lump or redness.

It cleared after three miserable days.  I am not one to treat a fever, 
but ibuprofen did seem to help with the inflammation, and lowering the 
fever sure felt better.  No antibiotics were necessary.  I didn't 
bother with soaks or massage, since there was no plug to push out, but 
cold packs felt wonderful.

Lynn in MO

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