Mastitis is the most common disease in breastfeeding. Symptoms of mastitis during feeding should be recognized immediately, since without timely treatment, the disease will take a very serious form.
Symptoms of mastitis in a nursing mother
- Mastitis usually begins with a sensation of swelling and tenderness of the chest. The difference of this symptom from the usual rush of milk is that it is very difficult for a woman to decode. However, to express milk is necessary, since it is because of its stagnation that the development of the disease occurs. At this stage, you can still feed the baby in the event that one of the mammary glands is in a normal state. Give expressed milk from the affected breast can not, because the baby can pick up the golden staphilococcus , which is the root cause of the disease.
- A temperature jump. A sharp rise in temperature (up to 39 degrees) occurs after a time after the first symptom. As the temperature rises, the condition of the breast also worsens: it turns red, the skin becomes rough, the vascular net clearly visible. It is necessary to continue to express the milk.
- The next symptom of mastitis in nursing is the formation in the mammary gland of the seal, which is easy to feel. This stage of the disease is called purulent mastitis, and specialists should treat it. The chest is very sore, chills may appear, the temperature rises up to 40 degrees. At this stage, you can not express and feed anymore, as pus is found in the inflamed mammary gland and during feeding the infection can be transmitted to the healthy mammary gland and even to the baby. Feeding will have to stop until the final recovery.
Mastitis in unkempt women and its symptoms
In non-breastfeeding women, mastitis can also occur. The cause of it are stress, mastopathy, infection through nipples. Manifestations of it are similar to the symptoms of mastitis in a nursing mother, but to consult a specialist should be in the first stages, as soon as the chest hardens.