Hi, I have been working with this mom (mostly by email) for about a week (other issues - when to start solids, sleeping through, etc). History: baby boy is 6 months old, 21 lbs, exclusively breastfed; baby has dairy allergies, and she has eliminated all dairy from her diet; Father of baby had dairy allergies as well as wheat allergies. Her doctor has suggested taking lecithin daily, which she is doing. I spoke with her this morning, and she is feeling better now, and seems less inclined toward weaning early, but is concerned for her health, and getting pressure from family. I told her she definitely has options other than weaning and gave her several from the Breastfeeding Answer Book. The mastitis and plugged ducts have occured in the same breast each time, and she said with the last occurence, it was too painful to wear a shirt. Is this within the normal range for recurring mastitis, or is there something else to look for? I would welcome any thoughts, suggestions, questions, etc. Thank you, Jackie Sinicrope LLLL, Cary NC I have permission from the mom to post the following email she sent me: Thanks so much for the reply. I had planned on coming to the meeting today, but woke up at 4 a.m. with a terribly painful round of Mastitis. I had Mastitis just 4.5 weeks ago so this makes 3 times for Mastitis and at least 5 blocked ducts. My Mom is a BIG LLL person, but she told me today she is worried about my health and thinks it might be better for me to stop nursing. Of course I don't want to do that, but with a temperature of 102 and my body fighting so hard it is pretty miserable. The doctor has told me today that there is no way to avoid the Mastitis, but I keep getting it in the same side. He said that you get Mastitis from bacteria in the baby's nose. So, I hate to imagine it, but perhaps what I need to do is pump and then give him the breatmilk in a bottle to avoid the infections. I'd hoped to make it to 12 months or at least 9 months and he was eating well on solids. Plus I have been doing a slower pace on his vaccinations and believe it is important that he get breastmilk during those. What are your thoughts? Have you read up on anything to prevent Mastitis or plugged ducts? Is there a danger physically to getting Mastitis over and over again? Each time I get it the infection seems more severe and bigger spread and MORE painful. Now it is painful when I breathe as it hurts all the way into the under arm and is incredibly flaming red. Any advice would be great. *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] 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