What should I do if a mother gets mastitis during the confinement period?

Women are particularly susceptible to mastitis after childbirth, and the causes of mastitis vary due to different living environments and habits. Therefore, mothers must take good care of mastitis after childbirth, and go to the hospital for treatment if the condition is serious.

Causes of postpartum mastitis in pregnant women

1. Milk is not discharged smoothly and accumulates in the breast.

2. Ignoring the care of the nipples during pregnancy makes the nipple skin weak and vulnerable. Because the nipple skin of primiparas has weak resistance, it is easy to be damaged by the baby's sucking, causing milk congestion and bacterial invasion.

3. Some new mothers have underdeveloped nipples, such as inverted nipples, which also hinder breastfeeding.

4. The milk of primiparas contains a lot of exfoliated epithelial cells, which are more likely to cause milk duct blockage and aggravate milk stasis. Milk stasis often reduces the vitality of breast tissue, creating favorable conditions for the growth and reproduction of invading bacteria. If it is not cleared in time, mastitis is very likely to occur.

What to do if pregnant women have postpartum mastitis

Mastitis is a common clinical disease, especially in women during lactation. Generally speaking, if you have mastitis, you can continue breastfeeding if the symptoms are not very serious, but if it is serious, you should stop breastfeeding. To treat mastitis, you should start by cleaning the breasts. At the same time, the combination of the six methods will have a good effect.

1. Pay attention to cleanliness: pay attention to rest in the early stage, stop breastfeeding, clean the nipple and areola, promote milk discharge (use a breast pump or suck), and stop breastfeeding if incision and drainage are required. This is the first prerequisite for treating mastitis.

2. Use milk-reducing drugs: Stop breastfeeding on the affected side and use a breast pump to suck out the milk. You can use milk-reducing drugs appropriately.

3. Antibiotics: Systemic antibiotics. To prevent and treat severe infection and sepsis, antibiotics are selected based on bacterial culture and drug sensitivity, and intravenous antibiotics are administered when necessary.

4. Hot compress: Apply hot compress locally, or wash 60g of fresh dandelion and honeysuckle leaves, add a little vinegar or wine, mash and apply externally. Use a wide cloth belt or bra to support the breasts.

5. Blockage: 60-80 ml of 0.25% procaine for breast blockade can reduce inflammation. Oral or intravenous administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics is recommended. 1 million units of penicillin can be dissolved in 20 ml of saline and injected around the inflammatory mass.

6. Drainage: If an abscess has formed, it should be incised and drained. The incision should be radial to the nipple, avoiding the areola. For retromammary abscess or deep abscess under the breast, an arc-shaped incision can be made at the thoraco-breast fold under the breast.

Combining the six methods of treating mastitis, patients should maintain a good attitude and take a two-pronged approach, and the treatment effect will be better.

How to prevent postpartum mastitis

1. Clean nipples frequently and keep breasts clean

Before and after each feeding, wash the nipples and areola with warm water to keep the skin dry and clean. When the nipples are soaked with sweat or dirt, wash them off in time. It goes without saying to clean the nipples and areola before and after breastfeeding, but it is also important to clean the breasts as a whole, and wipe them with a clean hot towel.

2. Breastfeeding time should be regular and the feeding posture should be correct

Generally, the baby should be fed every 3-4 hours (less often at night), and the breasts should be fed alternately, emptying one side before feeding the other. The posture for feeding the baby should be sitting or semi-sitting.

3. Pay attention to emptying the breasts. Try to let the baby suck out all the milk each time you feed. If the breasts are not completely sucked out, gently massage and squeeze them out to prevent local milk stagnation and inflammation. 4. Do not let the baby sleep with the nipple in his mouth

Letting the baby sleep with the nipple in his mouth can easily cause the baby to bite the nipple or suck hard, which can injure the nipple and induce infection.

5. Take proper care of the wound

When there is a wound on the nipple, you can apply boric acid ointment to protect it. If the crack is very deep, the pain is severe, or it has not improved, you should stop breastfeeding directly and use a breast pump to suck out the milk and feed it to the baby. During this period, you should seize the time to treat it. When the symptoms are mild, it is best to wear a nipple protection shield to breastfeed. After breastfeeding, disinfect the nipple with boric acid cotton and then cover it with sterilized gauze.

6. Don’t wear a bra with underwire

A new mother's milk will often leak out inadvertently, and the breasts will sag due to fullness of milk. At this time, the new mother should not wear a bra with an underwire. It is best to wear a special nursing bra to prevent the bra with an underwire from squeezing the milk ducts and causing local milk congestion, which may lead to acute mastitis.

7. Ensure that your baby sucks correctly

Don't let the baby only suck the nipple, which may cause nipple cracks. The areola should also be sucked.

8. Take care of your nipples from the beginning of pregnancy

After 4-5 months of pregnancy, the nipples should be wiped frequently with warm soapy water and a dry, soft towel to enhance the toughness of the epidermis and prevent cracking during breastfeeding.

9. Take Chinese medicine for prevention

After delivery, take 30 grams of orange seeds decocted in water, usually 2-3 doses, to prevent milk stasis.

10. Provide good care during weaning period

Before weaning, the number of breastfeeding times should be gradually reduced, and 60 grams each of malt and hawthorn, or 15 grams of raw loquat leaves should be boiled into a decoction and drunk as tea; if there are lumps and pain in the breasts, Glauber's salt can be applied externally to promote its dissipation.

11. Seek medical attention promptly if you have any questions

Once milk stasis occurs, the breasts should be emptied in time and unblocked through local physical therapy, supplemented by manual milking, which can quickly relieve breast engorgement and promote patency of milk ducts.

Do I need surgery for mastitis?

If an abscess is formed, surgery should be performed promptly to incise and drain. Small superficial abscesses can be treated under local anesthesia, while large and deep abscesses should be treated under intravenous anesthesia. The incision should be made in the center of the abscess, where the fluctuation is most obvious, but deep breast or post-breast abscesses may not have obvious fluctuation.

The surgical incision for mastitis should be large enough, radiating from the nipple, or making an arc-shaped incision along the skin fold under the breast. After entering the abscess cavity, use your fingers to explore and open up all the spaces in the abscess to ensure smooth drainage. In the case of retromammary abscess, the fingers should be inserted deep into the retromammary space and gently pushed open to allow the pus to flow out smoothly. For dumbbell-shaped abscesses, opposite-mouth drainage can be performed if necessary. Drainage materials should be placed after all abscesses are incised, and the dressings should be changed daily. The pus should be routinely tested for pathology.