The Joy of Healing Lactational Adenitis during Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is a very important and happy thing to do. However, there are some difficulties that can only be deeply appreciated after we have experienced them ourselves. Despite all the precautions we took, we encountered many difficulties while breastfeeding. And it was a grim time, with Covid-19 ravaging the world and many services in the community at a semi-stagnant state. There was a time when we were in pain and helplessness, unable to see where the hope for Doris's recovery lay, and more often than not, the two of us had to feel our way forward. Lactation mastitis in Doris occurs between 3 and 4 weeks after delivery. Doris's early mastitis treatment focused on the unobstructed flow of milk. The main treatment was to soothe the liver, clear away heat, dredge milk and reduce swelling. The massage method of lactation was to massage from the base of the breast with both hands, slowly squeezing and advancing towards the nipples, with a degree of force that Doris could tolerate. We gently tugged on the nipple several times while massaging to widen the milk complex at the front of the breast, a method that promotes the smooth discharge of milk.

Four to five months after delivery, the symptoms begin to worsen. The main clinical manifestations are redness, swelling, heat, and pain in the breast, local formation of lumps, and elevated temperature. According to the doctor, Doris' lactation mastitis was due to direct bacterial invasion caused by blocked milk ducts and milk stagnation. Doris' mastitis often started with a low-grade fever and mild chills. Subsequently, Doris' breasts became locally hard, with red, swollen skin, pressure, and pain. These symptoms of mastitis became progressively more pronounced and worse, with very severe inflammatory lumps in the breast and sometimes fevers reaching 39 degrees or more. This may be a chain reaction of the use of antibacterial agents. During that time we focused more on looking after Doris's breasts and there were many things in our lives that needed attention.

We administered hot compresses as an adjunct to Doris' treatment to clear liver fire, activate blood stasis, and reduce swelling and disperse nodules. Sometimes when Doris' breast swelling and pain were obvious, we applied wet and hot compresses of 25% magnesium sulfate. At the same time, we massaged Doris once every 3 hours for 10 minutes along the direction from the root of the breast to the nipple and tried to express the milk or suck it out with a breast pump. We try to prevent Doris' milk from pooling, prevent further nipple damage, and keep her nipples clean, which is the key to treating breastfeeding mastitis. Doris let our baby hold the nipple and the whole areola while breastfeeding, emptying one breast and then switching to the other side, and not letting our baby sleep with the nipple in her mouth, which would prevent our baby from sucking too hard and cracking the nipple and invading bacteria. We got into the habit of breastfeeding regularly and when the baby did not finish sucking Doris's milk, we used a breast pump to suck out the remaining milk after breastfeeding to avoid sludge.

In the evenings, when the baby had not breastfed for longer periods of time, Daniel often got up to help Doris express milk to get rid of the swelling and to keep the breasts clean and comfortable. Before Doris nursed her baby, Daniel helped Doris to clean her breasts carefully, especially the nipple and areola areas. Hot towels were then applied to the breasts to help the milk ducts to flow freely. We insisted that Doris changed her underwear regularly to avoid breast infections due to contaminated nipples from unclean underwear and that Doris did not wear bras with steel braces to avoid squeezing her breasts and causing localized milk stagnation. We sometimes found a slight nipple inversion in Doris' breasts, and we washed the nipples with 3% boric acid water before and after Doris nursed them. When we found that Doris' nipples were broken or cracked, we immediately suspended breastfeeding and used a breast pump to suck out the milk to feed our baby to keep Doris' breasts clean and prevent bacterial infection.

At that time, from the time we first found out that Doris had mastitis, we became concerned about whether Doris would be able to continue breastfeeding our baby and whether there would be adverse consequences if we continued to breastfeed our baby. According to the information sent to us from the hospital and the guidelines from the doctor who was seeing Doris at the time, we had to keep breastfeeding even though Doris' breasts were inflamed after Doris had mastitis, this was because if we stopped breastfeeding it would not only affect our baby's feeding but would also increase the chances of Doris' breasts stagnating with milk. Therefore, when Doris's breasts felt sore, swollen, or even red in places, we still fed our baby diligently and try to suck out the milk from her breasts. Usually, mastitis is a problem with one of the two breasts while the other is still healthy, so Doris had no problem feeding our baby on the non-inflamed side of her breast.

When Doris had problems with one of her breasts, we stopped breastfeeding on the problem breast and used the usual milking technique or a breast pump to suck out Doris' milk to facilitate the flow of milk from Doris' breast, while still allowing our baby to feed on Doris' other healthy breast. In addition, we took steps in Doris' diet and we insisted that Doris did not eat stimulating foods such as onions, ginger, and garlic. When Doris' mastitis was severe, Doris ate less or no "milk-producing" meat or fish soup to avoid aggravating her condition. Wheat flour, corn, soybeans, and some other grains, as well as milk and its products, are good for Doris' breast health and calcium, and Doris ate as much of these foods as possible.

Doris also developed a habit of eating foods such as mushrooms, walnuts, silver ears, and black fungus, this is because these foods are natural bio-response modifiers that boost Doris' body's immune system and strengthen her body's resistance. Grapes, kiwis, lemons, strawberries, citrus, figs, and other fruits high in antioxidants contain many vitamins that have a preventive effect or function against breast cancer. In addition, the consumption of vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, pumpkins, asparagus, cucumbers, alfalfa, radishes, and various green leafy vegetables as well as various nuts high in antioxidants are beneficial to health. Through practice, we have learned more about these and have applied them.

In addition, when we looked at information on the efficacy of herbal remedies for mastitis, we found that dandelion tea was particularly effective in preventing and treating many breast diseases. So, Doris drank a cup of tea with dandelion every day, and she feels very good. When making tea with dandelion, we also added some roses, red jujubes, longans, etc., which could relieve the coldness of dandelion.

Every day before going to bed, Daniel used boiled mugwort water to soak Doris's feet, through the foot soak to circulate the blood in Doris's body, especially in winter the effect is more obvious. Mugwort foot soak helped to remove dampness and avoid the accumulation of large amounts of dampness in the body and the corresponding adverse consequences to the body. In addition, there is a local recipe for mastitis using boiled eggs with mugwort, which we have also tried.

Original by dawnxisoul393