I HAD MASTITIS… Let’s talk about it!

When I was two months postpartum, my daughter started to sleep better at night, which meant that I lost the motivation to get up at night to pump. As an over supplier, this was a very big mistake.

One day I woke up with a painful clog in my breast, but I had had clogged before so I just attempted to pump it out, this clog was very persistent and I could not get it out so I assumed I could get it out later throughout the day. However, after a few hours had passed, I began to feel like I was coming down with a sickness. Started to panic, wondering where I had picked up some sickness and if I was going to pass it to my daughter. Then, once all my symptoms intensified, and my clog became worse, I began to consider the option of mastitis. And once I saw redness on my breast I knew exactly that’s what it was.

The pain was almost unbearable, and let’s just say it definitely encouraged me to never miss a pump again. I immediately began taking raw garlic for its anti-inflammatory properties and as horrible as it tasted, it worked wonders. I took several cloves throughout the day, and cycled through warm and cold compresses to help manage pain as well as took Tylenol for the first couple of days the pain was horrible. I also called my doctor and my lactation consultant to make them aware that way if I needed an antibiotic or if symptoms persisted to an extreme manner, I could be seen by them and helped. Also to help heal the mastitis, I continued to pump on my normal schedule. Pumping less will obviously caused the clog to worsen, but pumping more often can actually tell your body to produce more milk, which can then cause newer clogs. So the best thing that I could do was follow my schedule as normal.

Luckily, the inflammation, never turned to a serious infection as I caught it just in time. I then began to pay much more attention to my pumping schedule and ensure that I was fully emptying every time I pumped.

#momsoflemon8 #lemon8parenting #parentsoflemon8 #pumpingmom #mastitis #lemon8partner @Lemon8Parenting