What to do if you have mastitis during pregnancy

Don’t think that mastitis is an uncommon disease. Many pregnant women are prone to mastitis during pregnancy, so it would be better to popularize more knowledge about breast diseases. If you get mastitis after pregnancy, as long as you detect breast discomfort early, it can be treated with simple treatment and care, and the impact will not be significant.

What to do if a pregnant woman gets mastitis

1. Massage therapy can be performed with the help of a professional physician or by the patient himself. Place your hands on the swollen part of the breast and massage the nipple area. Push them forward while gently twisting the nipple and pressing the breast to allow the accumulated milk to slowly drain out. This can relieve inflammation in the breast.

2. Hot compress therapy uses hot water bottles and other items for hot compresses to improve the phagocytic function of white blood cells in the patient's breast, so that the patient's inflammatory exudate can be better absorbed and liquefied, reducing the patient's pain.

3. Moxibustion treatment method. This method is also relatively simple to operate. Just take an appropriate amount of garlic and mash it into garlic paste, apply it to the red and swollen area of ​​the breast, and then use moxa sticks to fumigate for about 20 minutes.

4. Acupuncture therapy: take a filiform needle and insert it into the patient's Zusanli acupoint and leave it there for about 20 minutes, twisting the needle every ten minutes. Alternatively, you can use a three-edged needle to stimulate the back and then squeeze out the blood.

5. Drug treatment method. Based on the principle of the disease, we know that the first step to treat mastitis is to eliminate inflammation, which can be eliminated by taking anti-inflammatory drugs or injecting antibiotics. When pregnant women choose anti-inflammatory drugs, they must pay attention to whether they will affect the baby. If they are afraid of affecting the baby, they can use Chinese medicine, such as chrysanthemum or Chinese medicine that clears heat and reduces fire.

Symptoms of malformation mastitis

1. Early stage: In the beginning, patients with acute mastitis will experience breast fullness and pain, which is worse during breastfeeding, poor milk secretion, breast lumps or no breast lumps, slightly red skin or no redness, or general discomfort, poor appetite, chest tightness and irritability, etc.

2. Suppurative stage: The local breast becomes hard and the lump gradually increases. It may be accompanied by high fever, chills, general weakness, dry stool, rapid pulse, ipsilateral lymph node enlargement, and increased white blood cell count. Abscesses can often form in 4-5 days. Breast throbbing pain may occur, and the local skin may be red, swollen and translucent. If it is a deep breast abscess, the whole breast may become swollen, painful and have a high fever, but the local skin redness, swelling and fluctuation are not obvious. Sometimes there may be several abscess cavities in one breast at the same time or one after another.

3. Late stage of ulceration: Superficial abscesses can often penetrate the skin, causing ulcers or milk overflowing from the wound and causing milk leakage. Deeper abscesses can penetrate into the fat between the breast and pectoralis major muscle, forming a retrobreast abscess. In severe cases, sepsis may occur. Acute mastitis is often accompanied by enlarged and tender axillary lymph nodes on the affected side. The total white blood cell count and neutrophil count were increased. This disease is usually more common after childbirth.

During pregnancy, women must know how to take care of their breasts and keep them healthy. Reasonable massage will also promote breastfeeding for the newborn after delivery. Therefore, in order to avoid breast discomfort after pregnancy, it is necessary to more comprehensively prevent breast diseases during pre-pregnancy examinations to ensure that the newborn can be breastfed smoothly after delivery.