Mastitis Due to Breastfeeding

OB/GYN Dr. Lisa Masterson and pediatrician Dr. Jim Sears explain what doctor to see when you have breastfeeding issues.

Mastitis Due to Breastfeeding Dr. Travis: Picture this you're a new mom, your body is changing you have to take care of a new born. So who do you go to for your issue your family practitioner, your OB/GYN and your pediatrician? And it can be stressful but we have Dr. Sears and Dr. Lisa to help us make that decision easier because -- sometimes you don’t know. Dr. Lisa: It’s always sometimes you know who I am. Dr. Sears: I know pediatrician. Dr. Travis: You would be awfully busy if everyone came to you. Dr. Sears: Yes, you know part of it just kind of luck and a draw, often times a new mom will be in my office with her new born and something will come up with her. She’ll maybe say “you know, I'm having a hard time breast feeding or having some breast pain” mastitis is a actually a good example of this it’s a breast infection and you know she’s asking me pediatrician you know -- Dr. Lisa: Right. Dr. Sears: Right, because she’s in my office what can I do about it and often times I’ll give her some advice but she’s not my patient so I’ll make sure she calls you. Dr. Lisa: Right and you know what that is great to clarify that because you they -- the new mom will actually ask me stuff about the baby and I’m the obstetrician. And the obstetrician really is to take care of mom-baby unit because I'm a women’s health expert. And then when the baby comes out it's really you. Dr. Sears: Thank you. Dr. Lisa: So that’s why mastitis because that’s still with the mommy even though she’s feeding the baby with it falls onto my specialty because that’s part of women’s health. So basically mastitis which happens to about 10% of moms and it can be so painful, the breast gets red, hot, warm and what happens is it a plugged duct. There are about 15 to 20 ducts in the breast. So there's like all these little tubes and what happens is that it can get plugged or it can have an infection. And what happens is then the milk which normally goes through a regular breast from the duct right out to the baby. It can't pass as much and it gets all sort of backed up in there. And that backed-up milk, the backed up milk what you see in there acts as a nidus for infection and that builds up and that’s what cause the breast to get warm and hot. And the treatment for this is more breasts feeding as to get all of that milk out to not limit the breast feeding to use warm packs because that heat helps to open up the ducts as well as antibiotics. And sometimes it can actually back up so much they can form an abbesses. And I actually did this last week, where you actually have to drain the puss out of there so that the antibiotics can actually get into the infection.