Has anyone ever heard of this? My neice phoned me today to see what I
thought and honestly I had never seen this.  Her baby was born 11/24/00,
and is still not nursing the best (still using shield and sns), she pumps
about q3-4hrs daily to supplement in sns. The baby is not the most
aggressive sucker in the world. Anyway, New Years Eve she went out without
the baby for dinner and forgot to pump first, by the time she got home she
was very engorged and went straight to the pump, however her breast was so
hard she couldn't get anything out.  By the next night she had a temp of
103 and her breast hurt so badly that she couldn't even touch it.  She went
to the ER, was dx with mastitis, given morphine for the pain, pain pills
and 2 kinds of antibiotics.  She went to her regular doctor the next day
for her 6wk pp check and they had 5 different people come in to look at her
breast for no one had ever seen anything like it  One dr commented "It
feels like wood". They sent her for an US to rule out abscess, and she
didn't have one.  It is now 4 days later and she says her breast is a
little softer, but her areola (the whole thing) is very hard (has been from
the 1st day) and has never gotten better, but she said that the skin feels
very thick, andits very red.  She is therefore unable to hand express very
well because it hurts.  I told her to try the warm canning jar that I read
about on lactnet. But what do you guys think about the thick skin on her
areola.  She said her dr said something about scar tissue developing from
the mastitis and that it may take 5-6 months to resolve.  I feel so bad for
her, she has had nothing but trouble with breastfeeding since the start,
and now this.  She wanted me to ask you if anyone has heard of this and
what can she do, the baby won't nurse at all on this breast now.  Thanks
Barb in WI (whose 3 yo told her today that the dog couldn't open the door
because she "doesn't have opposable thumbs", imagine that!)

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