Question Hi there! I really hope you can help! I am the happy mother of a 4 1/2 month old (born 2/16/09) who is exclusively breastfed. About 2 weeks ago I noticed a small whitehead on the end of one of my nipples. I put some heating pads on it & continued to nurse. About 3 days later I developed a low grade fever, chills, aches & my milk was very thin and not very abundant. I went to the doctor who diagnosed me with mastitis & prescribed dicloxacillin. I took it & the symptoms went away, but the whitehead is still very small on my nipple- so I think it's going away too. My question is this...Before my bout with mastitis, my daughter was fairly happy (kind of a fussy baby though), eating every 2 1/2-3 hours & sleeping about 7-8 hours a night. As of right now, she is crying to be fed every 1 1/2-2 hours & waking up every 3 hours at night. She's also had green stool for the last 2 days & even had a few streaks of blood 2 nights ago (we went to the doctor for the blood & she took some cultures, but the doctor didn't seem concerned because she had no fever, no vomiting etc., & had some irritation around her rectum- so she thought that it was just a tear). Is all this related? Did the infection do something that affected my milk? It was more watery during the early days of the infection, but seems more normal now. Should I start mixing some breastmilk with rice cereal to make it more filling? I am also working 40 hours a week & unable to nurse her as frequently as I would like, so I would really like to figure out what's going on! Her daddy is giving her 4 ounce bottles every 1 1/2-2 hours. I am also vegan- so she hasn't had any dairy in her diet at all (no milk allergy). Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!
Answer Hello :) I am so sorry you had the mastitis. that is horrible to go through... the white pump may have been a clogged duct that could have caused the infection, you might also watch for yeast. Especially because you had antibiotics.
It is very possible that it was not the infection that caused the irritation in your daughters gut but the antibiotics. I assume you nursed through the infection ? It would have been a good thing if you did. THe antibiotics might have effected the gut in the baby by also taking away some of the bad flora. So, eat lots of yogurt and get some pro biotics from a place like whole foods etc. they can advise on dosage when you buy it. this shoudl help clear up both of you. there is also a baby acidopholus you might get too just for the baby to help balance things back out again.
Just to also rule out some other things, you might nurse her from one breast for each feeding. If you normally change her and offer the second breast, then just let her off, burp her and put her on the same breast. then the next feeding, feed off the other side, burp and put back on that same side.
Between those 2 things, it should help clear up what you have going on.There isnt usually anything to worry about as far as health wise really unless she stops eating or gaining weight. the fussiness might be from the greenish poop and stomach that feels kind of yucky...
NO, do not mix rice cereal with the milk. this can acutaly cause the problem to get worse as her gut isnt ready for anything other than breastmilk for the first 6 months.
Yeah for ruling out the milk allergy! that is FABULOUS!
If those couple things dont help, let me know again... I will try to brainstorm some more..
