Expert: Sue Ennis - 12/6/2007

Question
My baby is almost 9 weeks old and I am on my 4th bout of mastitis.  He's my 4th.  My 1st I never got it, my 2nd I had it twice, and my 3rd three times.  I'm on my 4th bout of antibiotics and it's taking longer to get over it.  Do you know if there is a low dose antibiotic or something else I can take to prevent getting again so I can nurse for at least a few more monthes.  I know it's not good to take so many antibiotics and maybe their not working as well for me because I've taken so many lately, but I don't know what else to do.  I really don't want to stop, but with 4 children and one with a disability I can't continue to be battling this all the time. With each child I have seem to get it sooner after they come home from the hospital.  My 2nd I didn't even get it until she was 8-9 mo. old.  Any suggestions?  I may also need advise in how to stop my milk without getting mastitis again if I am going to continue getting it.  Thanks.

Answer
Hello Shandiin and first, I wish you well with your juggle :)  In terms of the antibiotics, your doctor really needs to advise on that and looking for a lower dose with your recurring history may not help things.  That's a tough balance in terms of correcting the issue and taking the antibiotics to ensure an infection doesn't set in that would just worsen things.  Most times the mastitis is actually caused by a bacteria in the infants mouth, so really want you are doing is sparking your immune system with the antibotics to combat the effects that cause this mastitis.  Mastitis also commonly occurs due to hormonal changes which obviously in your state, hormones are running many body processes so you need to try to keep your health in good shape.  Given you've had it a number of times, do know that recurring mastitis is very common.  You most likely already know to make sure you are drinking plenty of water and also it's helpful to entirely drain the breasts of milk, so if your child doesn't do it, try pumping to empty yourself.  You can apply warm compresses before and after breastfeeding for pain relief...and if that isn't helping, the application of cold compresses can be tried.  Just don't apply cold compresses before breastfeeding as that can slow your breast milk production.  You also asked what you can do to comfortably stop your breast milk production without getting mastitis and this ties into the cold compresses... you can use a LaMa Bra that was designed for this purpose available at http://www.lamabra.com and it's specifically designed to apply the appropriate amount of pressure and form fitting cold packs to the breasts.  So in your case, you can now warm the gel packs to comfort and help with your mastitis and then use the LaMa Bra to slow and eventually stop your production.  With your recurring pattern, do stay in close contact with your doctor in case you are have a bacteria that is resistant to the antibiotics...so any sign of worsening, don't wait.  All the best and you take care.