Oh dear, I hope I don’t sound to merry about mums developing mastitis, but I do feel that it is season relevant. So, it’s not really ‘the season’ for mastitis, but there are many factors linked to this time of the year, that somehow lead to higher incidence of mastitis.

For instance, this time of the year, children, parents and even pets are sneezing and coughing everywhere. The common cold causes havoc in households across the country, especially for small breastfed babies.

Breastfed babies are ‘nose breathers’ and really need to be able to breathe through their nose whilst nursing. The common cold often leads to stuffy noses and this affects the way in which your baby breastfeeds. You may find that your baby has to pull off the breast more often during the feed, or that she is very sleepy and doesn’t seem focussed, or that she pulls off and cries even after a very short feed. As our sinuses are linked to other cavities such as the ear. A build up of pressure can lead to babies feeling sore and uncomfortable during the feed and this often lead to babies refusing to eat or cutting feeds short.

Another winter factor is dehydration. I don’t think we realise how much moisture the cold weather outside and the central heating inside, is lost. When mums aren’t hydrated, breast milk can become thicker and stickier, gradually leading to blockages in the milk ducts and then mastitis.

It is these circumstances that lead to mums being more vulnerable to developing mastitis in winter.

Application:

• Ensure you keep your fluid levels up during the winter period. If you are not keen on drinking cold water, maybe have some herbal tea instead or hot water with a slice of lemon.
• Keep an eye on your baby. If you can see that he or she is struggling to feed, speak to your GP about using Nasal Saline drops before feeds. I tell my clients to warm the little bottle in their bra for 5 minutes before administering. This way, your baby won’t even notice and this will lead to far less fighting or tears.
• Keep an eye on the state of your breasts. If your breasts are beginning to feel hot and lumpy, apply something cold from the freezer to reduce swelling and inflammation.
• If your baby suddenly cuts feeds short, you may need to express to drain the breast effectively. This way you can maintain your milk supply and prevent the breasts becoming hot and engorged.

The important thing to remember is that mastitis just just appear. There is a natural progression to full blown mastitis and if you are aware of what they are, you can pounce quickly and stop things developing further. For more information, have a look at my Mastitis eBook.

What a lovely time to welcome a new baby into the family. I have to admit that I am Christmas crazy and will find any reason I possibly can to celebrate Christmas, even more so when little people are involved!

So If you are expecting your first baby or will be having your first Christmas with a baby, here are some bits and pieces for you to consider.

Rest and recuperation
Winter is the perfect time to hibernate and rest. As a new mum this time offers a ‘guilt free’ period of putting your feet up, enjoying lots of dark lie ins and great food. It is important not to be tempted to race around Christmas shopping, meal planning and cooking, in short being the ultimate hostess. I guess what I am saying, is allow others to look after you! Do your Christmas shopping and wrapping now. Prepare meals and freeze them. Fleur from The Food Stork prepares great meals and delivers them to your door, if you are in the mood for a real treat.

If you already have other children, take your foot off the gas a little and create a more relaxed routine, so that you can settle nicely into second gear closer to Christmas. Take them out for at least one super activity a day to burn off tons of energy and keep the end of the day (tea time, bath time, bed time the same). If they way early, get them to snuggle with you or read you a story whilst you catch a few more zzz’s, rather than getting up and starting the day.

Breastfeeding
This time of the year can be quite punishing for mums and babies a like. The continuous stream of colds and lurgies that circulate this time of the year, often results in baby feeling poorly for most of the festive season. The important thing to remember is that babies are nose breathers and if that little nose is blocked, your baby won’t be feeding as well as we would like. This can lead to your baby wanting to nurse frequently, taking small feeds and then coming back for a feed again within a couple of hours. Don’t panic and think that your baby has started snacking. (If you are up for a challenge, pinched your nose semi closed and then try sucking yoghurt through a straw – similar to how your baby will be feeling.) Offer smaller feeds more frequently until your baby starts to feel better. Nasal saline solution drops before a feed and a mucus extractor are useful to help rid baby of excess mucus before and after feeding.

Mastitis
If your baby is not feeding well, your breasts will not be emptied well and this can lead to engorgement and mastitis. Firstly ensure that your baby is well positioned and is offered the breast frequently (if you are not sure about this, check out my selection of eBooks) If you are producing far more than your baby can drink and your breasts start to feel hot and sore – you need to start treating as soon as possible. Cold packs (something from the freezer) will help reduce swelling and allow milk to flow more readily. Treating the first visible signs quickly will help you to minimise and reduce symptoms quickly. (Mastitis eBook essential here)

Clothing
If you are expecting or enjoying Christmas with your first baby, be careful not to over dress and overheat the little one. It is difficult to keep the balance – especially when you are popping in and out of the house, into the car, into shops. Snow suits and so on are great when you are out and about, but your baby will positively fry if you keep them wrapped up when inside. (Look at the babies who are crying their eyes out in super markets – they are so HOT, they just don’t know what to do with themselves…if only their mums would unzip them, take off their hats, gloves and their rain covers, they would be calm and happy) Remember, you want your baby to be warm like a toasty hot cross bun, not piping hot like a roast chicken!

Finding help
Many of my clients have booked up appointments in advance, as finding breastfeeding help is incredibly difficult. I am available for consultation most of the festive season, but if you need a little help and live too far away, get yourself one of my eBooks – they have saved breastfeeding mums from quitting all over the world.

This is a much debated topic of conversation, so I want to show you the benefits of waking your little one in the early days. We already looked at how waking your baby will help you in the first 3 days, so today I want to look at the next few.

Waking your baby to get you through engorgement – day 3-7.

If you have been waking your baby to feed for the last three days, you should hopefully see that he or she has not lost too much birth weight. Your baby should be getting rid of a lot of the meconium and should have moved onto producing spinach green poos. If your baby is 3 days old and this is not the case – you need to feed more frequently.

A few days after your baby is born, your breasts will become hot, tight, lumpy and very full. This is called engorgement and to perfectly normal. It can lead to other complications if not managed correctly, so you need to stay in control here.

On day 3-4, your colostrum becomes more dilute. It increases in volume and can travel down toward the nipple a lot quicker. Your baby has had a few days to practice his or her suck, swallow, breathe sequence and can cope with a faster flowing fluid. This is all wonderful, but you may still have super full breasts, which can make it difficult for your baby to latch.

It is important to wake baby and feed frequently for the next few days, so that the breasts are drained often and the tightness begins to subside. If you are not waking your baby to feed frequently at this stage, your breasts will become fuller and could lead to mastitis.

The more your baby feeds, the better your breasts will drain and will soon regulate to produce the amount of milk your baby needs.

If you are struggling to wake your baby, do a little winding or if that fails, a nappy change is sure to get the little one awake quickly.
When the breast is very full, babies can create a lot of nipple damage which understandably, makes feeding seem less attractive.

If you are suffering with sore nipples, have a look at my Sore Nipples eBook for practical tips and a fast recovery.

Breastfeeding Workshop
Wednesday 29 September 3pm – 5pm
Let’s Breastfeed Practice – Twickenham

We are having so much fun with the water theme, I have decided to continue with it a little longer!

Join my fun and interactive September Breastfeeding Workshop and learn the practicalities of breastfeeding through play!
This workshop is totally different to any other workshop out there, even mums who have done the NCT courses can’t believe how incredibly useful this workshop is! (I keep them small so that I can teach you more)

We cover and practice everything from holding, positioning, attaching, winding, expressing, bottle feeding and we also cover potential problems, how to recognize and avoid them.

Due to popular demand, you can also get all the products you need while you are here. Not only are they the best (tried & tested by thousands of clients) but I can also give you expert advice on how and when to use them, so that you don’t create more damage, OUCH!

Book early as places go quickly!

Breastfeeding Workshop
Saturday 9th October 10.30am – 12.30pm
Earthlife

We are sticking with the water theme – learning is always easier when you are having fun, right?

Join my fun and interactive October Breastfeeding Workshop and learn the practicalities of breastfeeding through play!
This workshop is totally different to any other workshop out there, even mums who have done the NCT and hospital courses, can’t believe how incredibly useful this workshop is! (I keep them small so that I can teach you more)

We cover and practice everything from holding, positioning, attaching, winding, expressing, bottle feeding and we also cover potential problems, how to recognize and avoid them.

Due to popular demand, you can also get all the products you need while you are here. Not only are they the best (tried & tested by thousands of clients) but I can also give you expert advice on how and when to use them, so that you don’t create more damage, OUCH!

Book early as places go quickly!

Well, you already know that there is a lot of conflicting advice with regards to almost anything, so it is hardly surprising that with an emotive topic such as breastfeeding, feelings and opinions run much higher!

With regards to mastitis and expressing, there are a couple of things I think need to be said, as their omition is causing far more damage than necessary.

So what happens when a mum develops mastitis?

Mastitis is a breast inflamation and a result of a slow build up of milk in the breast, that for some reason is not being drained. When milk is not drained from the breast, it seeps into breast tissue around the milk producing sacs and this leads to swelling and tenderness in the breast.

If the back log of milk is not dealt with effectively, the breast becomes more inflamed and then escalates into full blown mastitis where mums experience flu like symptoms including body aches and shivers accompanied by high fever. As the breast has not been drained, your body produces a lot less milk and goes through a recovery phase, where milk supply is very low.

The good news is that this can easily be avoided. At this time of the year, many nursing mums are at risk of developing mastitis when their babies pick up a cold and develop blocked, stuffy noses. As babies are nose breathers, breastfeeding becomes uncomfortable for them and this can lead to them shortening their breastfeeds.

If your baby suddenly starts pulling off the breast a lot sooner than normal, you will feel full at the end of the feed and this could become a problem if your baby continues to shorten breastfeeds over a number of days.

It is at this point that you should consider expressing the excess milk off the breast, so that your breasts are drained at the end of a feed to their normal level. Expressing to ensure the breast is empty will stave off any bouts of mastitis and will also maintain a good milk supply, so that when your baby is back to good health, your suppply is abundant and feeds revert back to normal quickly.

Many mums find that having expressed breast milk to hand for when your baby recovers and demands more food, is also reassuring.

I believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so be alert and act quickly this winter!

Much love,

Geraldine

My baby is 2 weeks old and I am on my third course of antibiotics for mastitis! My husband says that I should give up breastfeeding as he can’t stand to see me is so much pain, but I really want to breastfeed my baby – my mother breastfed 4 of us for nearly 18months each! Please tell me what I should do as I can’t seem to shift this lump/mastitis and I can’t cope with the pain for much longer.

Poppy Gehl Surrey

Hi Poppy,

Your baby is still very young, which means that you are still very new to mothering. It is such a pity that you have discovered your first steps to mothering through a cloud of pain, but I am pretty sure that we can guide you all the way to the ‘silver lining’.

I just want to clarify that you are on your third course of antibiotics for one bout of mastitis which has not cleared?

There are a few of things I would need to know, for instance, does the lump in your breast get bigger and smaller during the day – say before feeds and after feeds? Is the mastitis/lump still in the same area in the breast or does it stay in one breast but move to different areas? Does your GP know that the antibiotics aren’t helping to clear the infection – or have you seen 3 different GPs?

If the lump or inflammation is variable during the day and is moving to different parts of the breast, it sounds like you are not draining the breast properly – so check your positioning and attachment. Make sure that you are drinking enough water to ensure your milk is not getting too sticky and leading to blockages and blocked pores.

If the lump/mastitis is still in the same area that it was when you originally went to the doctor, I would suggest that you ask to go for an ultra sound. Sometimes the inflamed area can close off and become a capsule – either containing milk or puss – due to the infection. If you have developed a capsule of fluid/abscess, you will need to have this drained before it is resolved and you can continue feeding.

I would also recommend that you have this checked out by a Breastfeeding Specialist for a second opinion, as I can only advice you on what you have told me.

Either way, it is possible to enjoy breastfeeding – pain free breastfeeding. To summarize, you either have recurring mastitis – due to poor drainage or possibly even over supply, or you have developed a fluid containing capsule which is preventing you from healing completely.

I hope this has given you some fresh insight. Please drop me a line and let me know how you get on.

Geraldine

Let’s Breastfeed is dedicated to making your breastfeeding dreams become a reality. If I can’t see you in person, you can still have me in your living room with my Let’s Breastfeed Program!