How to treat mastitis in nursing mothers. Symptoms and causes of the disease

Before you tell how to treat mastitis in nursing mothers, let's try to understand what, in general, he is. Mastitis is an inflammatory process in the mammary glands. As a rule, its beginning coincides with breastfeeding, more precisely with the first trimester after childbirth. According to doctors, about half of all young mothers suffer from mastitis.

Stages of

In most patients, the disease develops gradually and passes through several stages. Often, it appears against the background of lactostasis, that is, milk stagnation. By the way, both diseases are characterized by the same symptoms: fever, pain in the whole body, tension in the chest, swollen nipples. Therefore, before you ask yourself how to treat mastitis in nursing mothers, you need to make sure of the correctness of this diagnosis. However, identifying lactostasis is not so difficult: in this case, high temperature will be observed only in one armpit - the one that is next to the "affected" breasts. With serous mastitis, the difference will not be so noticeable. One more point: patients with lactostasis note a significant improvement in the condition after expressing the milk.

Diagnostics

Want to know how to treat mastitis in nursing mothers? As already noted above, first of all it is necessary to diagnose the disease. This is done with the help of a general blood test: an increased number of leukocytes and an increased rate of erythrocyte sedimentation indicate an inflammatory reaction. If you do not take timely measures, after a couple of weeks the mastitis goes to the next stage - infiltrative. It is much more heavily transported than the previous one: in the breast, the woman has seals, the head is always hurting, the feeling of brokenness does not pass. The third and most severe form is purulent mastitis in the nursing mother. Symptoms of it speak for themselves: severe pain, swollen mammary glands, sudden temperature changes, lack of appetite, unchanging nausea ... The body "screams" about the need to see a doctor.

Possible reasons

Among the most common factors affecting the development of mastitis, doctors call stagnation of milk: the accumulating liquid becomes an excellent medium for the reproduction of bacteria. The same effect has cracks on the nipples - through them the lymph vessels penetrate microorganisms, which provokes mastitis in the nursing mother. Treatment in this case should be directed primarily to the destruction of the infection. Also, do not underestimate such diseases as sinusitis, tonsillitis or pulpitis. The fact that after birth immunity for a while remains low, so the risk of complications is so great.

Therapy

So, how to treat mastitis in nursing mothers? Whichever stage it is going through at the moment, you should seek the help of a specialist. Self-medication (especially antibiotics) can harm not only you, but your baby. If the cause is a serious infection, it is recommended to temporarily give up breastfeeding and transfer the baby to artificial feeding. Antibacterial drugs prescribed by a doctor are usually administered intramuscularly or intravenously. Usually treatment lasts about ten days. In order to improve the outflow of milk, hormonal drugs are used. It is also advisable to decant regularly.