Mastitis...call OB or not? Please Help!

Caroline03.09

So it's Friday afternoon and my OB is closed...of course. I have had a clogged duct in the past, so I know: warm compresses, hot showers, massage, nurse, pump, repeat.

Last night I'm pretty sure I developed Mastitis. I had fever, chills, body aches, redness/soreness, etc. I am pretty sure it was caused by us weaning from the Nipple Shield the past few days. I took some ibuprofen and nursed every 3 hours throughout the night and pumped afterwards.

Today I feel much better. No fever. Just redness/soreness. I have been feeding every 2-3 hours, but my daughter is getting so frustrated. She is not able to get any milk out (both with or without the shield.) I am only pumping out about 1 oz. each time.

Ugh. I'm resorting to nursing her followed by a bottle because she is hungry. Do I need to call my OB and get a prescription? Or is the fact that my fever/etc. is gone that it's a sign it's now only a clogged duct?

What has been your experience? Advice? I'm sorry this is so long. I really appreciate any and all responses.

juniper19

The fact that the flu symptoms are gone probably mean that you beat the infection and the clog is gone too.  It is common for there to be residual tenderness for a few days after the clog has cleared.

Your supply may have been affected by the clog, however.  I had chronic clogged ducts and my LC feels like that is why I had supply problems after a few months.  Just keep nursing a lot and hopefully things will get back to normal.  kellymom.com has suggestions for bringing up supply.  If that doesn't work, contact a LC.

StinaSLC

When I got mastitis in the past, I would just call my OB and describe my symptoms and they would call in a prescription for me to the pharmacy. I have managed to avoid mastitis when I had just a clogged duct, but the fact that you did have a fever makes me think you might have an infection (which would be better to treat than not). Hopefully you can just call the on-call doctor and have them call in an antibiotic for you. Someone on here recently posted a horrible story about how she had to get surgery after not treating her mastitis over the weekend!

mrsbliven

call the on call doc. you dont want to mess with a mastitis infection. good luck!

irngrl73

I had mastitis for six weeks and never had the symptoms of it (fever, chills...). I just had half of my breast clogged and VERY painful. Anyway, I had to be on two different antibiotics for it to finally clear up. Call the dr!

mrs.baum

I would call, I was given an antibiotic to clear up the infection. It is so frustrating, but the best thing is to get your LO on the breast to get that clog out. Try BF more frequently, like every 1-2 hours.