Diagnosis: mastitis

The last four days or so have been a non-stop blur of intense pain.  I've been taking ibuprofen around the clock, and when that wasn't enough, started giving myself acetaminophen as well on an opposing schedule.  But I tell you, not very much was touching the pain.

Why was I in pain, you ask?  Well, let's just say that those initial days of shallow latching, and the continued poor latching (despite continuing to work on it), has caused painful and large cracks, specifically on my R breast.  I began to dread the nursing hour, and when I did get 2.0 to latch appropriate, there was still about 30 seconds worth of lip-biting pain and sensitivity.  On top of this, my nipples have developed a hypersensitivity to touch and cold - yes that means that even coming out of the shower feels like scissors are cutting away at the nips.

Then yesterday, this was all brought to a whole new level.  Around 9 PM, I started full-body aching, as if I was stricken suddenly with the flu.  This proceeded to full-body chills, which only resolved itself after an hour of being curled in fetal position inside 2 blankets (and 600 mg of ibuprofen).  That happened again at 3 AM when I woke to feed 2.0 - I ended up feeding him with a fleece robe on and a fleece blanket over my body.  SO UNCOMFORTABLE.

This morning, I woke up and knew I had to do something.  I'm not unfamiliar with symptoms of mastitis - I guess I was just hoping it'd go away on its own.  Stupid. 

I placed 2 calls - one to the OB advice team for the mastitis symptoms (they agreed with the diagnosis, and set me up on clindamycin for 10 days) and one to the lactation consult about what to do about the painful latching problem.  I was bracing for a lecture - sometimes I feel like people who are lactation consultants never ever ever recommend anything but continued breastfeeding, even if it meant completely ignoring mom's needs.  I was pleasantly surprised by Kim, the LC I spoke to today.  She listened to me and showed a great deal of empathy.  She told me that first and foremost, we needed to fix the mastitis issue.  In order to do that, we needed to get the milk out of that breast efficiently - if this meant using a nipple shield, so be it.  If this meant pumping and bottle-feeding, so be it.  She also gave me a myriad of tips, including applying a warm washcloth on the breast before feeding, football hold to improve latching if needed, and even how to use the nipple shield with the best results.  

I immediately sent M out to get the nipple shield and fill my clindamycin.  I already feel better, with the nipple shield.  Let's hope the clinda, more rest, ibuprofen, better latch, and nipple shield all work together to make me feel better.

Here's to a better breastfeeding day tomorrow!

Already cut the tags off, can't return him no more!