One morning you wake up and notice that your breast is very tender. You think that it’s just because your body hasn’t gotten used to your baby sleeping through the night, and you are just engorged. You feed your baby, and the tenderness doesn’t get any better. In fact it gets worse. Now you realize its not just tender, but it actually hurts! Worried, you call your doctor and describe your symptoms to him or her. Your doctor tells you it sounds like you have a breast infection and he or she calls your pharmacy and prescribes you some antibiotics.
Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world and you don’t have to quit breastfeeding. In fact, it is recommended that you continue breastfeeding in order to prevent the infection from worsening. The first couple days will be torture, and you may want to give up breastfeeding, but you can get through it. I did, just recently in fact.
After I was told I had an infection, I decided to do a little research and help out my fellow breastfeeding moms. I had no idea if this was common, how to relieve the pain (I was in so much pain when I nursed my daughter for the first two days that just the thought of feeding her would bring tears to my eyes), or anything like that.
First, I worried that it was rare for a woman to develop an infection while breastfeeding. It actually isn’t extremely rare, approximately one to 3% of breastfeeding women develop a breast infection. Now I realize this is a small percentage, but when you think about how many women breastfeed now, that is still a large number of women. Infections are most common during the first two months of breastfeeding, but they can also develop in non-breastfeeding or post-menopausal women.
The infection occurs when some bacteria from your baby’s mouth, usually a streptococcal or staphylococcal germ, enters your milk duct through a crack in your nipple. There doesn’t need to be a large crack, you may not even realize that your nipple is cracked. Only very large cracks will actually bleed. It can take up to 72 hours after infection before symptoms appear. Breast infections require a doctor’s care. Your doctor may or may not prescribe antibiotics for your infection, it depends on how severe your infection is.
After your doctor’s appointment, there are several things you can do at home to relieve the pain and other symptoms of the infection. It is commonly accepted that acetaminophen (Tylenol) is safe for breastfeeding mothers to take for pain. Make certain you can take it with your doctor. If you cannot take Tylenol, your doctor will be able to tell you what is safe for your pain. If you were prescribed antibiotics, make sure you take them all. I know I’m guilty of missing doses of antibiotics once I start feeling better. Also, make sure you continue breastfeeding from the infected breast. When I heard that, I gave my doctor a funny look but she explained to me that since the bacteria causing the infection most likely came from my daughter’s mouth, it would do her no harm to nurse on that side. This helps because engorgement can make the infection worse. You can either continue nursing on that side or, if your baby isn’t hungry or you feel uneasy about offering that breast, you can use a breast pump to empty your breast.
If, despite your best attempts, your infection does worsen, you may be admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. Your infection may become an abscess. It is recommended that you discontinue breastfeeding if your infection does worsen to an abscess. In that case, many doctors will recommend using a breast pump to prevent engorgement and keep up your milk supply. Abscesses must be drained. That can be accomplished one of two ways. You can either drain it with a hypodermic needle, which is the preferred method when the abscess is near the surface of the breast, or have surgery to drain the abscess. Surgery is reserved for abscesses deep in the breast tissue, ones that are difficult to feel with a normal breast exam.
I know that all that information may be a little intimidating, but the good news is most women who develop breast infections will recover quickly and with no after effects. If you do develop an abscess, they also heal rather quickly with minimal scarring.
