`Mastitis- Every women should aware of

What is Mastitis?

Mastitis is a breast tissue infection that can be very painful. It usually happens when a woman is breastfeeding her baby. 

Normally, mastitis appears within the first 90 days of breastfeeding. The breast will become inflamed and you will notice that the breast swells, and the skin is warmer to touch than normal. 

The symptoms are very similar to the flu. Breastfeeding mothers who have mastitis often feel tired and lack energy.

Mastitis Causes and Symptoms

Some of the common symptoms of mastitis are feeling as if you are suffering from flu, painful breastfeeding, inflamed or redbreasts, a general feeling of tiredness. 

It is a good idea to seek treatment from a medical doctor if you have one or more of the symptoms.

Mastitis is caused by bacteria entering the breast through the nipple or opening in the skin like a cut or crack. Bacteria can enter the milk ducts causing the infection. 

This infection can spread throughout the breast tissue, as the infection spreads, the mother will experience tenderness, soreness, and pain, making it difficult for a breastfeeding mom to nurse her baby.

Nursing mothers that are experiencing mastitis while breastfeeding should and can continue nursing their babies.

Avoid Mastitis

In order to reduce breast infections such as mastitis, you need to make some simple changes. 

• Stop wearing tighter fitting shirts and bras that compact and compress the breasts. 

• Some doctors will tell a nursing mother to sleep on her side or back which helps avoid mastitis. 

• Sleeping on your stomach for long periods of time may cause mastitis.

•  The reason is that the weight of your body pushes the breasts against the mattress causing them to be severely compressed.

Continue to breastfeed on your normal schedule, if you miss one breastfeeding session, pump the breast milk and bottle it. 

This will keep the breasts from being engorged with milk. Breasts that are engorged may cause clogged ducts, and this may cause mastitis.

 Massaging your breast before breastfeeding is just one way to avoid having your ducts clog. 

It helps if the nursing mother uses a breastfeeding pillow that is specifically designed to position the infant perfectly for breastfeeding. In fact, these are a few ways you can try to avoid mastitis while breastfeeding.