Breast Hurting

This happened a few times when I was breastfeeding my 2nd child. I breastfed both of my babies for a full year. It never happened the first time, but with my 2nd baby, I had the same kind of breast soreness maybe once every couple of months. It would last for a couple of days and I felt a little achy all over, but I never had a fever and it never developed into mastitis. It just went away on its own.

I had this happen and it turned out to be a yeast infection on my breasts. I couldn't see any sign, just great pain, especially when she nursed.

Run to the doc quick and check it out. It is worth it.

Good luck

I don't know what the body aches mean, but I had a painful clogged duct once whan I was BF my DS. Massage breast toward her mouth, BF on that side first while she is most hungry, try to fully empty the breast before switching sides, and if she doesn't drain it all the way - PUMP! Pump both sides if they get engorged (hopefully before they are in pain). A warm/hot shower helps too. Take one just before nursing. La Leche League and kellymom.comare two excellent resources for information. Blessings to you for doing the very best thing for your little one! Breast IS best!!

That's mastitis. No doubt about it. The flu like feeling is the big clue. It happens sometimes with breastfeeding. Don't worry. But you need to see your doctor tomorrow to get antibiotics. It will not just go away on its own and COULD get really bad and cause worse problems if left untreated. Until then use warm compresses to relieve the discomfort as much as you can (I just used warm wet washcloths). Oh and seriously, REST REST REST. Treat it like you have the flu. You must rest. Tell your hubby it's just like being sick and you will not get better if you don't rest.

Oh, and I'm sorry. It's not much fun, huh? But it will go away soon after you see your doctor. And do NOT stop breastfeeding on that side. It won't hurt your baby, and even though it hurts you to nurse on that side, it would hurt worse if you do not nurse on that side.

I breasts fed my children as well. A week after my third child was born I contracted an infection. It is called... Mastitest.

"Breast mastitis infection commonly affects women who are breast-feeding (especially during the first two months after childbirth) but can occur in all women at any time. Mastitis is a benign (non-cancerous) condition that can usually be treated successfully with antibiotics. Symptoms of mastitis include red, hot, painful, or inflamed breasts and other flu-like symptoms such as headache, nausea, high body temperature (101 degrees Fahrenheit, 38.4 degrees Celsius or greater), or chills. Women with symptoms of mastitis should see a physician. Breast-feeding with mastitis is generally not harmful to the baby and may actually help speed up recovery.'"

This is a little explanation I found for it. It hurts really bad when the baby is nursing too. So I tried to just use the pump till it went away. It would hurt so bad that when the baby latched on I would tense up so bad that my milk would not let down. It was very hard time for me. I happened after my fourth, fifth and six child were born also. I suffered through it the whole time because that is what you do when something is important to you :) I would do it again.

Good luck. I hope it goes away soon. Its not fun.

Also if you put a warm rag over the top area of your breast that helps. I would get so desperate that I had a little heating pad... I would turn that on and set it over my breast while I was nursing or right before. Had to make sure it didn;t touch the baby! ;) But it worked. I did whatever I could. It would come back so often.

does it have R.? I would ask your doc. about mastitis... flu-like symptoms are one of the signs. (body ache...?)

Keep an eye out for mastitis....you'll have body aches, fever, etc along with the breast pain.

I would get in a warm shower and massage your breast fairly strongly towards the nipple. You can hand express while in the shower too. I also massaged while my baby nursed.

You may have a clogged milk duct which I got a number of times while nursing #1. It can be painful during nursing, but the pain should lessen after a feeding. I massaged as much as I could stand and encouraged nursing, nursing, nursing. I also took lecithin to help.

Here's a good link. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.html

I had my children on such a strict nursing schedule that when they would miss a feeding or even extend it by an hour or two, I would get the exact same symptoms. I always called it mastitis though I don't really know if it was. I would always try to get back on schedule as soon as possible and pump off the excess or nurse more at night. (However, if you do this very often it will increase milk production.) At times I would run a fever and get hot spots in my breasts; Tylenol took care of this.
The one time I did go to the doctor, with my 1st child, the doctor told me that his own wife would drink a case of beer when she's get mastitis! Now, I never tried that and certainly don't recommend it. An equal amount of water would probably do the same trick.
Eventually your body will adjust. However, if this continues over a period of weeks, do get it checked out. A local friend thought she had a severe case of mastitis and in reality, she had inflamitory breast cancer.

These are definitely signs of a clogged duct, which can turn into mastitis. The body aches are a sign that it is getting infected. Do you have a fever? You should let you doctor know. This has happened to me, but I have never had to go on antibiotics for it. In fact I was really sick and miserable once with it, but I was able to get over it myself without antibiotics. But I had a doctor who did not like to overprescribe antibiotics so he allowed me to wait a day before starting them.

I'm sure you have got some good advice on how to help this. You can use a heating pad on the painful spot. In the shower, use hot water on the spot and then with a comb massage from the top of the sore spot down towards the nipple (or up depending on which part it is in). When you nurse on that side (and you need to keep nursing on that side a lot) massage with your hand while the baby is nursing, it will hurt, but if you don't work out the clog, it will become infected and a problem. The main thing is to keep working at it. If the baby is not nursing enough to empty the breast you may want to pump as well and continue to massage it while pumping. Oh, and one other thing that would help is to change the position of the baby so her chin would be pointing towards the sore spot. Makes for some interesting positions, but sometimes that will help them drain that area more effectively.

I hope that helps. I know this is very painful and not much fun, so I hope it improves quickly. If it will not go away or you do get a fever, then you may need antibiotics as another poster said. Also, try to get some extra rest. I know that is easier said than done, but don't stress about housework right now, just rest whenever you can.

It sounds like you have a breast infection. You need to call your doctor because you may need antibiotics. You can get a fever and feel very flulike. Don't stop nursing! Your baby will not get the infection. You need to keep your breast empty. Apply warm compresses before you nurse. A trick I learned about is to position your baby so that the baby's chin is pointed at the sore spot. It helps to drain those milk ducts better. Drink lots of water, get extra rest. I nursed all four of my daughters for 1 year and experienced this a couple of times with each one. It seems like getting really fatigued can lead to an infection, or going a long time without nursing and letting your breasts get engorged. Good luck. I hope you feel better.

You've probably developed mastitis, which is an infection in the breast of a breast-feeding mother. It comes with breast pain and body aches/flu symptoms. Get to the doctor right away and he'll put you on antibiotics.