It figures that just after I post about my oversupply issues, I would come down with a breast infection.
I was too gung-ho (read: silly) about trying not to hold out and not pump too much in a bid to reduce supply and ended up with plugged ducts instead. On Wednesday night, I felt increasingly unwell while putting Noey to sleep. A quick check with the thermometer confirmed my fears — I was running a fever of 38.1°C. On top of that, I was feeling aching and my there was a lump in my right boob that was extremely tender to touch. Argh.
I did my best to trying to clear it, and went to sleep ok, but the fever came back in the morning. Thankfully my Dad had popped over yesterday to visit so I was able to get him to bring me to the doctor to get this seen to.
Here is where God providentially provided. I went to a clinic in Paragon which I had been to once purely because it was on my company’s panel of doctors. It is turned out however, the doctor who saw me has a particular interest in treating breastfeeding mums with plugged ducts and mastitis issues. As such, she was able to give me some helpful tips and treat me accordingly, and I was assured that she knew what she was doing.
So it’s not quite mastitis yet, thankfully. I was given instructions to take the painkillers and squeeze the daylights out of the lump. She also gave me the number of a lactation consultant in case I failed to, or rather, wasn’t brave or good enough to squeeze the lump out as required.
I think I’m more afraid of the lactation consultant doing the job so I dutifully pressed out the lump as much as I could. Thankfully I have a fairly high pain threshold! It seems softer now but I’m supposed to continue doing this for a while. At least the fever has not returned. Fingers crossed that this will be resolved before it progresses into something worse!
Lesson learnt: Just pump if necessary! Plugged ducts are no fun at all.
Oh dear so sorry to hear that. I had that before and I found that it was easier and more effective to reduce the lump in a hot shower. Hope you get well soon. God bless!
Glad it wasn't full blown mastitis!!! Keep kneading that lump! And gosh, Naomi's got such beautiful BIG eyes!!! Heehee…
my SYMPATHIES!! TOTALLY!! :(( tat's exactly what happened to me! I resorted to antibiotics when it happened way too many times :(<br /><br />i'm so glad you met the right doctor! Still.. it's not easy to get those lumps out by yourself! i found direct latching helps to clear the lumps better than pumps.. but it depends on baby as well :(<br /><br />take care babe!!
@<a href="#c3468401828106691947" rel="nofollow">natchin</a> thanks D! i find the hot shower v effective for inducing let-down so i did some squeezing there too. have more or less cleared it, though i'm still dutifully pressing to be sure!<br /><br />@<a href="#c3315463884419740701" rel="nofollow">justpassingby</a> am much better — thanks for the concern! am officially scared so i've been
this also happened to me last week! a lump right in the middle and some fever.<br /><br />I was freaked out cos I had it bad quite a few times the last pregnancy, so called a massage lady (which only partially solved the problem) but praise God after a lot of self-kneading the lump went away. phew.
@<a href="#c1617289296069881721" rel="nofollow">lynklee</a> yikes, phew! i had it good with the previous pregnancy — did suffer any major issues till it months down the road so i didn't know any better! much more careful now.