Monique wrote:
>baby is 6 weeks old and mom is reporting she has her 5th breast infection.
>tell me this isn't possible and we are talking misuse of language. breast
>infection really means plugged duct.
>
>any insight?
Check: the fit of her bra, is anything constricting?
does she lay down to nurse? Some ducts may not empty adequately.
Try
changing positions each nursing.
use lecithin
any repetitive motion that bumps breast in same area that clogs
develop?
ie: raking leaves ? or something like that?
oversupply? probably needs to be addressed. baby gaining tons?
Struggled with this personally 30-35 years ago. Have learned lots in
meantime :-)
**AND**
It *is* possible. And miserable. You should probably discuss difference
between plugged ducts and mastitis with her to be sure. It could be some of
both. Besides what Pat said, make sure she is nursing often enough, for
*her* body, which might be more often than her baby is asking to nurse, but
it's much more pleasant to remember to nurse more often (or to pump) than
to have another plugged duct :) She might want to try Phytolacca
(homeopathic). Also, with the lecithin, some women have to take more than
the package directs for good results. (I know doubling the package
directions stopped the bouts of mastitis that had plagued me for more than
four years. They started one month after baby #2 was born, and I had 11
bouts in 12 weeks...complete with fevers, chills, body aches. I went on to
get one every 2-6 weeks, except when I was pregnant.) Maybe someone else
here knows how much lecithin is ok, and how much is too much.
**AND**
If indeed it IS her 5th breast infection, I suspect galactocele (see Ruth
Lawrence book). This can be diagnosed by ultrasound, but may not need the
diagnosis. The milk can pool, and remember milk stasis is a risk factor
for infection.
A friend of mine who also had multiple breast infections asked her MD
for a low dose daily antibiotic, and had no further bouts with mastitis. I
suspect she had a galactocele but an ultrasound was never done.
**SO** these are the responses I received from my query at LACTNET. I
suspect this woman needs to drain her breasts better and prevent plugging of
milk ducts either by milk stasis or mechanical means (bras or restrictive
clothing). Eventually she may need to learn to reduce a copious milk supply
to a more appropriate level for hr baby. The way to do that is to nurse on
one side at a feed (or longer), hand express the other side just to comfort,
apply ice packs (I like frozen bags of corn or peas) when not nursing.
Let me know if I can help out any more.
---
Monique
Noah 6/97, Melissa 6/00
[log in to unmask]
Also, did I mention that my car, which used to be spotless,
now contains roughly 250 million free-range Cheerios? Dave Barry
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