Severe mastitis

ejled

To make a long story short, I recently had surgery to drain an abscess from my breast which was due to mastitis. I have had a drain in this breast for over one week, and it will not be removed for at least several more days. During this time I have not nursed on this affected side; I have continued nursing on my good side. 

I hope and pray that I will be able to resume nursing on the bad side. Does anyone know what the prognosis is for this breast as far as milk production goes? I have had a mild to moderate decrease in supply on my good side. I cannot start taking any kind of supplements until my incisions have healed. 

Any info or advice would be great!

TravelingCouple

Ouch, so sorry to hear that! I hope your pain has lessened severely. I never had mastitis, but a few of my GFs did and they were in agony!

Anywho, our bodies are pretty smart and I think you will be able to increase your supply again -- just put baby to that breast as soon as you're given the green light. Make sure you're drinking a lot of water. Foods that can increase supply are oatmeal, flax seed and brewer's yeast. Look up a recipe for breastfeeding cookies which will use all of those ingredients. You should be able to eat those while waiting for healing (check with doc to be sure). Your production will certainly have decreased since you aren't nursing on that side, but it can be increased again, don't fret! If you find it's not increasing enough as quickly as you need it to, look into Mother's Milk tea or ask an LC in your area.

ashton2190

I'm not sure about that side producing again but I know plenty of women have breastfed on one side only. A few days of nursing exclusively on one side should ramp up supply. My SIL only produced on one side and she's still breastfeeding over 2 years later

ejled

Thank you girls very much for the info! I bought all the supplements so I can start those after this drain is removed. And I have a LC appt tomato make sure I'm doing all that I can. Thanks again