Painful stagnation of milk in the chest, or lactostasis, is a problem that many breastfeeding women face. This is especially true at the very beginning of breastfeeding, when lactation is not yet established. You should not be frivolous and neglected, but you should not panic - correctly and timely measures taken to eliminate lactostasis almost always help to cope with the problem at home.
Should I see a doctor for lactostasis?
Since lactostasis alone is not a disease, but only an unpleasant condition characterized by painful stagnation in the mammary glands, you should not really worry about the first pains. But nevertheless, it should be remembered that after lactostasis a real disease - mastitis can follow. The treatment of mastitis, as well as the elimination of lactostasis, is carried out practically according to the same scheme: using decantation and massaging the breast. The traditional treatment, which involves taking medications, as a rule, is not required for a nursing mother with similar problems.
Mastitis in a nursing mother: symptoms and treatment: Lactational (postpartum) mastitis is an inflammatory disease of the mammary glands that occurs at the stage of breastfeeding. Most often, the disease occurs in primiparous women in the first weeks of lactation, as well as during weaning. Mastitis during breastfeeding is caused by pathogenic microorganisms (Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus aureus) - read more
When is it necessary to visit a doctor?
A situation that requires a visit and consultation with a doctor is an elevated body temperature. However, in this case, some rules should be followed:
- Measuring the temperature of lactating women is recommended in the elbow (to obtain a more correct result);
- If the temperature rises, a control measurement should be carried out immediately after decantation.
And only in the case when the temperature measured in the elbow bend does not decrease even after decantation, we can talk about inflammatory processes inside the body. In this situation, visiting a doctor is necessary and justified.
Paying attention to fever is recommended for mothers who gave birth to their babies less than 2 months ago. The cause of the temperature in this case may be inflammatory processes in the uterus. As a rule, such conditions are also accompanied by an unpleasant characteristic odor of vaginal discharge. With the combination of these symptoms: high fever and a characteristic smell, an ultrasound scan of the uterus should be performed immediately.
Which doctor treats lactostasis?
It is widely believed that lactostasis and mastitis are treated by a mammologist.However, this opinion is not true, because a mammologist is a doctor who determines neoplasms in the mammary glands, and the fight against stagnation of milk is not his specialization.
As for the recently popular breast-feeding consultants, these specialists help to properly put the baby to the chest, prompt, if necessary, how to express milk, help to choose convenient for mom and baby feeding poses. However, the fight against developed lactostasis or mastitis is not their competence.
A real, competent help with lactostasis is able to provide a surgeon. This doctor specializes in treating diseases such as mastitis or an abscess (complicated mastitis involving surgery). However, do not be afraid: as a rule, an operation is an extreme case. And here to give adequate advice and help as soon as possible to cope with the difficulties that have arisen - all this is within the power of the surgeon.
In the case when for some reason a visit to the surgeon is not possible, it is recommended to visit a women's consultation to meet with an obstetrician-gynecologist.
Treatment
Only a doctor can correctly assess the condition of a woman and her mammary glands. Professional assistance provided on time helps to prevent the transition of simple milk stagnation to more serious diseases.
The usual treatment for lactostasis is:
- in frequent breast expressing, in which stagnation is observed (learning to express breasts with hands);
- massage (proper breast massage during feeding (+ video));
- applying warm compresses for better milk output.
Breast lactostasis and its treatment: With the treatment of lactostasis, (if this process has not yet reached a critical point), any mother can cope on her own at home. All actions with this problem are designed to restore the movement of milk in the clogged duct - that is, it is simply necessary to determine stagnation - read more
UNIQUE VIDEO: Lactostasis: how to express milk?
As for antibiotics, the need for such drugs arises only in the case of an infectious (or non-infectious, but accompanied by cracks in the nipples) mastitis. At the same time, there are modern antibacterial drugs that can be used without stopping breastfeeding.
Also popular is the treatment of lactostasis through physiotherapy - ultrasound.
According to professionals, the duration of treatment for lactostasis is approximately 24 hours. Mastitis is treated for about 3 days.
With lactostasis, you can and should continue to feed your baby with breast milk. Taking antibiotics should not be an obstacle to continued breastfeeding.
We wish you a long and pleasant breastfeeding!
READ ALSO: Sometimes nursing mothers have chest pains while feeding the baby. This symptom should be taken carefully, because it can be a harbinger of serious diseases -Why does the breast ache when feeding a baby? Reasons and what to do?
I had such a problem while breastfeeding, but they managed only massages, but I did not even imagine that I had to go to the surgeon with this problem. We are planning another child, so the information is useful. Thank!
It seems to me that lactostasis cannot be avoided by a single newly-born mom. Because all my friends in one form or another had it. True, only one got to mastitis (the surgeon cut, yes). The rest managed the means, so to speak. Of key importance, as written in the article, urgent decanting. For example, my husband, a general practitioner from a polyclinic, who was called to the house about my temperature, in an ultimatum form announced a “grandfather's way” to help breast size - as if she were a baby. No matter how strange it may sound, but it helped, it did not reach mastitis, fortunately.
I had lactostasis in the first month after giving birth, there was a lot of milk, the baby did not suck everything out and stagnation occurred. The sensations are very painful, even the temperature has risen, but everything was treated with massage and decantation.
Yes, no one treats lactostasis, it's true.
I was sent to the hospital soon. And there they will help only if 40 days have not passed, and for a fee.
Just in case, expectant mother needs to know the phone of a good masseur who can come even at night. Well, have a breast pump at hand. Husband, of course, this is good. But in the mouth of an adult there are no conditions for a vacuum pump, like in a baby.