Breastfeeding part 1- The two most important things to do during Mastitis

In this episode I discuss one of the most common problems that occurs during breastfeeding. Mastitis. 
I discuss two really important things to incorporate during this tricky time that i have personally used and found to be extremely effective to help nip mastitis in the bud. 
I myself have a combined eleven years worth of breastfeeding experience. I will be sharing more information on breastfeeding in future episodes.

Transcript

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Hello. Welcome to Book a Kin podcast. I'm your host, Lili. Thank you for being here. So what I've been thinking recently is that I want to do a series on breastfeeding. Um, there's so much to talk about with breastfeeding, and there are so many subjects to cover with breastfeeding. So I thought it would probably be good if I did some solo podcasts like this one today where I just cover a segment on something breastfeeding in particular. Um, we break it down that way, um, so that it's easier also to navigate I'll find what it is you're looking for. So I'll just give you a quick background into myself. I'm a breastfeeder myself. I'm currently breastfeeding right now. My youngest daughter is, uh, two almost two and a half, so she's still breastfeeding. I have two children before her who breastfed long term. They're not breastfeeding anymore because they are big, but I breastfed them long term. So my first child was breastfed until he was four, but he did try to continue to breastfeed until he was about Four and a half. My second son breastfed until he was four and a half, and he tried to continue until he was five. Um, so with my sons, I tandem fed. If you don't know what tandem Feeding means, it basically just means breastfeeding more than one child. Um, that could mean of the same age, like twins or triplets, but it could also mean Children of different age group. So in my case, if my son says twenty two months between them, it meant that I was breastfeeding my first son, Um, until he was twenty two months solo, then my second son was born, and I continued to feed my first son and my second son until my second son weaned. So that meant that I was tandem feeding for about two years. Is that two, two and a half years? Then it went back to solo feeding because my first son had weaned for four and a half, and then I continued to feed my second son for another two years after that. So when you combine, um, all the years of breastfeeding put together, I currently have around eleven years experience of breastfeeding three children. Um, each different each with different needs, each did it differently and and also did lots of things the same. Um, so I've I feel like I have quite a lot to share in this area, and I've gained quite, Uh, amount of experience, um, and I would love to pass that on to others. So what I was thinking today in this segment was that I would cover, um, potential problems that Arise that are really, really common, especially with first babies, and one of those problems is called mastitis. So I had this problem myself with my first baby and only with my first baby. Um, it's A comp it it it's kind of a complicated thing because if you read, um, if you read books on the subject So you look up the subject online, you'll you'll get you'll get varying degrees of information about why you can get mastitis. So in my experience, what I found was one thing seems to be quite universally true, and that is That being tired and being burnt out and worn down is definitely not helpful, but I My experiences tell me it's not actually the factor of why mastitis happens, But it definitely it's sort of like if you're in a position where mastitis is gonna happen And then you become really burnt down and you're really tired. It almost acts like a trigger switch that that it makes it happen, but I really don't think it's actually the cause. That's That's my opinion. Um, my two instances of mastitis were actually slightly unusual, um, not Something you commonly read about. So, uh, one of the first times I have mastitis, It was because I had had an osteopathic treatment where I had laid I've been asked to lay on my stomach. I I can't remember exactly how old my son was. He was quite young, so I was in the in the phase of being engorged and quite sore, and my breasts were sort of it's when your breasts are always full up with milk in those early, you know, those early weeks, early months. Um, and the osteopath is absolutely brilliant as he was, um, at his job. He She really shouldn't have ever had me lay on my stomach, and I was laying on my stomach, on my breasts for about half an hour. And I noticed as soon as I'd left the the clinic that I started to feel a bit I I felt off. And then as the Day went on, I started to feel ill. And as the day went on a bit further, I started to feel more unwell, and then That sort of turned into feeling like I had really bad flu, although it was far worse than that. Um, and by the evening, I was rested up in bed, and I've I literally I couldn't move. I was I was absolutely as sick as a dog. And I didn't quite understand. Even at that point, I didn't understand what was happening. I just thought I had caught a cold that day while I've been out and, you know, and I was ill. Um, and it was only when my son, during that time that I was in bed, he, um, was My husband was bringing him to me to breastfeed, and he would I start to breastfeed on my it was my left breast, Um, that was posing the problem. And I I felt this real tenderness, and, um, and he would feed from it. And I it was Almost excruciating, actually. You know, it was very, very difficult to let him carry on feeding from it. The tugging feels it was really painful. Um, and then I noticed that what was coming out of my nipple was blood, um, which immediately Like, told me it all clicked. It all fell together then. Um, I don't know why it took me so long to realize, but my first baby, first time and all that. And then I realized, uh, I've got mastitis. Um, so I started having herbal teas and, just, you know, my husband was looking after my son and, uh, bringing him to me for feeds, and, um, I just started working towards Basically, trying to get out of that illness without having, to contact the The doctor to get antibiotics because that was absolute last thing I wanted to do was to have antibiotics. So I called upon all my nutritional and herbal Um, and started to work there with those things. But I'll be honest with you. The two things that worked for me That worked for me so quickly, and I knew it was those things that were working for me, was one, was having my son feed from that breast as much as Humanly possible. So as much as I could get him on there feeding from me, as much as he'd take it, and also trying to balance out him feeding from the other breast because I didn't want to leave the other breast unfed from so that it became engorged and a problem be you know, arise there. But I would get him on that breast as uncomfortable and painful as it was I knew that it was healing by him feeding from it. And I just want to add, it's perfectly safe for them to feed From your breast, that is the problem that has the lump, the must the that has a a lump in it, um, that's basically a clogged, uh, it's It's it's a clogged duct, and it it's perfectly fine for them to feed, and it is perfectly fine for them to feed even There's blood coming out the nipple. They don't notice. They don't care. It doesn't make any difference. It is not dangerous. It's perfectly safe. So I continued to let him feed from that breast. And, um, over time, it was probably the next morning. I think the blood had stopped. I didn't really have any blood in there anymore, and I could already feel, Um, great relief in that breast. But the other thing I did, and this I feel like was maybe almost as important as My son feeding from me, which is the most important thing, which is the place where most ladies go wrong. So they get mastitis, and it's So painful, and they can't have the baby on it. And then they might have advice from other people saying, oh, no. Don't let them feed from that breast anymore. You know, you're too over and they get all this terrible advice, and they don't, um, and then they feel especially if you're feeling really ill from it and, you know, you got a fever, It just it's sort of, you know, knock on effect of making everything worse by not having baby come to feed from that breast that is the one that's causing the problem. So that is key. Just keep letting baby feed from that breast as much as you can, um, as much as you can tolerate. And even if it's little intervals, even if Babe will only feed from it, you know, for, like, five minutes. It it doesn't matter. Just get the baby on it, feeding from it as much as possible because you want, Um, the feeding, the sucking, the stimulating of milk, that's what's going to clear the blockage. So you don't want to stop using that breast and just you just have to grin and bear it, to be honest with you. So the second thing that was incredibly helpful to me was that I had, Um, one of those electric massages, the ones that you plug in and use you know, you would use, like, on your sore muscles, on your back, whatever. Um, my one It's quite a powerful one. I think it was it's made in Japan. I don't think they make them anymore. It was actually given to me, by my mom. it's a very old model, and it is absolutely excellent. And I'll be honest, I have not seen anything come up to standard, that's made now, but maybe there is. So get the massager on the breast. Um, do it on a low speed. Avoid your actual nipple, and you basically just do that for about ten minutes. You run you rub run and rub the the massager over your breast the same way you would your back or your leg or whatever it is you would normally use it for. So do that for five or ten minutes, um, intervals. I was doing it for longer than that, um, but you'll get the sense, you'll get a feeling of what's too long and what's not. And when you've had enough and when your breast has had enough, you'll feel it. But just do do that and do that frequently. So do on the first instance of having mastitis or if you suspect you've got it, I would get the massager on your breast immediately. That would be one of the first things I do. Then I get the baby feeding as much as possible. That would be the second thing. So you just keep doing that throughout the day, and you would just do it as much as you can, um, you know, every hour, every couple of hours, as much as you can. And then you would continue to do that the next day, the next day until you felt your breast and you could feel the lump had dispersed, and you feel that there is no tenderness there anymore. If you had blood, there's no blood there anymore. Um, if you did feel a lump, you should not be able to feel a lump anymore, and your breast should Feel pliable and comfortable for you to squeeze gently. So that's that's the place you want to get to, and it's not until you get to that point that you stop using the massager. So use that massager until you reach that point. I promise you, you will not believe what a godsend One of those massages are, um, it just saved my bacon, you know, countless times because although I had mastitis twice, The first time was what I've just explained The second time, I was just getting to the brink of being unwell. But it's funny because once you've had it once and once you've had that feeling in your breast once or you've had that you can feel that sort of lump in your breast once, Once that's happened to you, you seem to have a sixth sense when it's going to happen again. And you you and the more, you know, the more it happens, The more quickly you realize it's happening and the the faster you sort of nip it in the bud before anything even arises. So this this has happened to me quite a few times over the years of breastfeeding, but it never ever got to it never got past to the point where I just put the breast the The massager on it, um, where it was I did that, like, three times in a day, and it was gone. That feeling in my breast where it was it I've started to feel there was a little bit hard in there. Now for me, it was never because, um, my children didn't feed enough because I've always fed my children, um, on queue. So I I I never done scheduled feeding. I've never withheld or or told them no or, you know, thought, nope. They're not having that because they're gonna be eating their food or whatever. They there's always been free rain for them to have a breastfeed whenever they want breastfeeding. So for me and also I had two children breastfeeding from me, so I was Always breastfeeding all the time. Um, so for me, it was never because my breasts weren't used. I was also a stay at home mom, so I wasn't pumping, and I wasn't Away for long hours of my breasts not being used either. For me, it was different reasons. And maybe as these, Um, as I do these segments, I will cover or throw in a bit more information into certain things I found to be triggers. Um, but today, it was really just this segment is just really about If you feel that coming on, they're the two things that are really, really, really important, and I highly suggest you do them. Um, also, I wanna mention that when If that's occurring and you have you feel like mastitis is coming on, um, it's a good idea If you wear bras, um, I don't wear bras, personally. I haven't worn bras for, gosh, I don't know, my Late teens, I think, was the last time I ever wore a bra. Um, but if you wear bras or if you wear tight sports tops, You might find that that is a contributory factor if you're getting these blockages in your breasts that will then Eventually, um, make their way into becoming a mastitis type problem for you. So maybe think about that as well, but, especially If you're in this in that stage, you don't want anything tight around your breasts, under your breasts, or under your armpits, Around your arms. So you want all you want all of that area to be, so that the blood and your lymphatic system has, flow a good flow. Nothing's restricting that area, so make sure you're not wearing anything tight. Yeah. So that that's that's quite it's amazing to me actually how, common that can be a problem, Just wearing tight fitting clothes. I have worn, a sports top, which was organic cotton. And I felt that it was fairly loose and and a good top. And, After I had been wearing this for a few hours one day, I could feel already, that this left breast that Seems to always be a trigger breast for me. I never get any problems in the right one. It's always the left one. Um, I could feel it playing up, and I just knew it was the top Pop that I had on. And to me, it didn't feel like a very tight it didn't feel like it was too tight. So, um, you know, off that came. Out the massage, it came, and I got it on the breast, And that was that. Um, and I didn't wear that again. So it's I just think that, There are really simple reasons why we can end up with lumps in our breasts in this way when we're breastfeeding, and it's sometimes it it's so simple. It's right in the you know, it's right at the end of our noses, but for some reason, we just seem to miss it. Um, but, anyway, I'm gonna finish now. Um, there's my two top tips today is If you don't have a massager and you're breastfeeding or you're newly breastfeeding or you're going to be breastfeeding, Um, I would or you get breast problems you've you've already had breast problems, you know, you've got anything I've been talking about, I would highly suggest That you buy yourself a massager. It doesn't have to be anything expensive. It just has to have a good amount of rev on it. Because what basically, what it's doing I'll just quickly explain what it's doing. So the the revs on your breast are causing vibration. The vibration is going into the area that's clogged. That area is clogged full of, um, milk and your The fat in your milk that's become quite solid. And you just it's basically like the vibration is It's a bit like putting, you know, something solid in a in a blender and blending it. Um, those vibrations and the blades, will break that all up into liquid and make it smooth like a smoothie. So If you think of your duct that way that you've got these ingredients in there and some of them are a bit lumpy, and they can't get They can't get through, um, they can't get through the the tunnels because they're too large. They it all needs to be shook up and broken down, Oh, it's curdled, so if you wanna look at it like that. And so what the massager does is is that it's a bit like a if you look if you will, It's a little bit like a blender, so it's breaking all that up, um, and making it much smaller particles To be mixed with the milk is breaking it all down, um, so that it can be it can it's fast flowing. It can go where it needs to flow where it needs to go. Um, so that's the idea of the massager, and it works. It truly, truly works. Um, in the L'Eauche League handbook breastfeeding handbook, There's something in the suggestion that, um, using ultrasound using an ultrasound machine actually helps. Now I wouldn't Personally recommend that because of all the radiation and the EMFs that come from, from the ultrasound machines. So I wouldn't want that all over my breasts, to be honest. the reason that the ultrasound works is because it actually has vibrations, Um, that go deep into the breast tissue and break up all all of the stuff that's clogged. Um, but you can achieve exactly the same thing from a massager. So I recommend you get a massager. Um, have a massager on hand if you feel like you're prone to these problems or you're worried you might be. And just keep that to hand, and you will never regret it. And it is one of the easiest, cheapest commodities to have on hand to help you through your breastfeeding in the beginning. So, anyway, with that, I am going to finish this segment. I hope that was helpful and I'll be back to do more on different subjects of breastfeeding. So thank you for listening. that you'll tune in soon. Bye for now.