Thank you to Frank for this overview.  I second Gonneke's question about why
to assume that mastitis shortly after birth is penicillin-resistant staph,
and I wonder whether one should make this assumption even when the mother
has given birth at home with a community midwife who herself is not daily
immersed in the bacterial cesspools present in most hospitals?  The only
mothers I have seen with serious infections requiring hospital admission
after home birth, have been hospital employees who worked until shortly
before giving birth, and I don't think that is plain coincidence.  One
worked on a pediatrics floor with children hospitalized for infections (she
got a galloping mastitis less than a week post-partum, and yes, there were
some BF problems which contributed) and the other worked on a dialysis unit
(she got endometritis).

Also, I bet I am not the only one wishing for more info about why not to BF
if Bacitracin or Chloramphenicol are needed to treat mastitis.
Speaking anecdotally now: we (everywhere in Norway) give babies
chloramphenicol eye drops from the second or third day of life if they
develop bacterial eye infections.  I learned as a nursing student in the US
twenty years ago that the risks of side effects of chloramphenicol were
present regardless of the route of administration, yet we use it *all the
time' here, it is our first choice for these infections, and it works well.

Another anecdote: my own daughter was treated with IV Chloramphenicol for 10
days for a presumed septicemia when she was 19 months old and still
breastfeeding.  I know 19 months is not a newborn, but if I had gotten
mastitis while nursing a toddler which required treatment with
chloramphenicol, surely I could have continued to breastfeed?

wondering in Kristiansand, Norway
Rachel Myr

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html