I saw a Mom on Friday who was diagnosed with a breast abscess 2 days prior to
when I saw her. She came to me to discuss the possibility of continuing to
breastfeed even with abscess. I have limited experience with this condition so
most of my knowledge is book knowledge in this respect. I shared with her the
section in The LLL Answer Book, Auerback, and The Breastfeeding Counseling
Guide in order to give her more information with which to make an informed
decision. She expressed a strong desire to continue to BF her 3 month old baby
who was even having allergic reactions on breastmilk only. He had had episodes
of blood in stools and Mom had done lots of diet modifications under the
guidance of her Ped.
The surgeon, who has a very good rep in this area, advised weaning in no
uncertain terms. Mom contacted LLL , and was told she could BF even after I&D.
I basically gave her that same information and we discussed all of her options
of how to continue.
She saw surgeon right after me and the surgeon flat out told her NO! She was
not given a choice! If I was this Mom I would have felt strong enough to say
this is my baby and my decision , thank you for the good job on the I&D and
that's as far as your involvement goes! I tried to encourage this Mom to make
her own informed decision given the information in the literature but I felt
like she was bullied into thinking her own health would suffer irreparably if
she did not wean.
I even talked about BF from one breast as a last resort. She was too teary to
talk at that point.
Any comments, ideas on what I could have done differently? I have not spoken
to the surgeon, but would like to? Any research on this?
Any help would be appreciated.
Jane Ciaramella RNC, IBCLC