What to do if your breasts become inflamed during lactation

I believe all mothers know the many benefits of breastfeeding. The safety and health of breast milk can supplement nutrition for the baby and promote the baby's rapid development. It can also help the mother's breasts to secrete milk and the body to burn fat. However, mothers still have many things to pay attention to during breastfeeding. The most important thing is to keep the area clean, otherwise it is easy to cause breast inflammation, which directly affects the baby's feeding. This article mainly explains what to do if the breasts are inflamed during breastfeeding.

What is mastitis and how to diagnose it?

Mastitis is the result of a purulent infection of the breast. It often occurs in postpartum and lactating women, and it can occur at any time, especially 3 to 4 weeks after delivery.

Mothers can judge whether they have mastitis by some symptoms:

1. In the initial stage, there may be initial breast pain, high skin temperature, tenderness, and due to milk stagnation, poor venous and lymphatic return, there may be unclear boundaries of the local breast nodules. If mothers discover it in time and take correct measures, the inflammation can dissipate as soon as possible.

2. If it is suppurative mastitis, local skin redness, swelling, heat, pain, obvious nodules, increased tenderness, etc. will appear, and you should seek medical attention immediately.

3. If a breast abscess is formed and the lump is fluctuating, and the fluctuation of the superficial abscess is relatively obvious, you should stop breastfeeding and seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Causes of mastitis during lactation:

The cause of mastitis during lactation is generally bacterial reproduction. The bacteria may enter through cracks in the nipple skin or fissures in the areola and spread along the lymphatic vessels to the fat and fibrous tissue between the mammary lobules and in the lobules, causing mastitis. It is also possible that milk is stagnant, creating an environment suitable for bacterial growth. If the mother fails to master the correct breastfeeding technique after delivery, or the baby's sucking is abnormal, resulting in nipple cracks, mastitis may also occur.

How to treat mastitis during lactation?

1. Treatment through diet:

(1) Use a pig’s trotter and 25 grams of day lily, stew them once a day. It can be used for patients with early-stage mastitis before pus forms.

(2) 1 baby pigeon, 30 grams of astragalus, and 30 grams of wolfberry. Wash the baby pigeon, wrap the astragalus and wolfberry in gauze and stew them with the baby pigeon. After they are cooked, remove the residue and eat the pigeon meat and drink the soup. Used in the recovery period after mastitis rupture.

2. Mothers can also take medication, but they should consult a doctor about specific symptoms before taking medication.

It is not uncommon to get mastitis during breastfeeding, but mastitis will affect the baby's breastfeeding, so mothers should pay attention to their physical condition during breastfeeding and never give bacteria an opportunity to take advantage. If the condition is too serious, mothers should never breastfeed until the inflammation subsides. For the health of their baby, mothers should still pay attention to their health.