Hi Pat and Lactnetters,

 

In 1957, I had a left breast abscess at 11 days old and the MD told my
mother to immediately stop breastfeeding.  It was lanced and my mother said
that the hole was so big and deep that she could see right down to my ribs.
The scar is now less than an inch long.  I produced less milk on that side
but there was no difference in size.  I always had a large thick fibrous
mass under that site and did later have the complex mass removed after my
breastfeeding days were over and had yearly mammograms starting at age 29.
I developed early stage breast cancer in the opposite breast and had a
mastectomy.  The breast that had the neonatal abscess has so far been free
of cancer.  I doubt the abscess has any relation to breast cancer, but
having the mass removed from the affected breast was the reason I had a
papilloma removed from the right at the same time, and the cancer developed
under that other scar years later.  I may not have found it had there not
already been a scar there that I paid close attention to and the breast
surgeon may not have ordered a biopsy.  So I guess I owe my life to that
neonatal breast abscess.

 

I have seen 3 neonatal abscesses that I can recall in my lactation career,
but they were all in babies of breastfeeding mothers, so there may have been
many others in non-breastfed babies that I did not see.  I don't think this
is that unusual.

 

Linda Anderegg, BSN, RNC, IBCLC in frigid Chicago

 

Date:    Fri, 14 Nov 2014 07:15:48 -0600

From:    Pat Young <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: Interesting article of the day

 

Found 2 articles on neonatal mastitis/abcess in the baby! One is 1975, the
other is 1991. Staph aureus being the most common cause.

the 1975 article mentioned adult reduction in breast size and function. This
article also mentioned that 1940s textbooks described it as very serious.
Also mentioned in an 1830 text describing the problem.

There was some connection between expressing the infant's breast and
subsequent infection, but that wasn't usually the case.

I've been doing this since 1967, as LLLL, IBCLC & APN and I've never seen
this. Has anyone else? Any current text describing it?

What are we doing differently today that avoids this problem? Initiating BF
quickly and avoiding serious engorgement in mom, so hormones in milk don't
go crazy?  Trying to figure out the physiology of this......Pat in SNJ

 

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