Problems Weaning

sounds like a clogged duct. have you tried massage or expressing some milk for relief? warm compress should help too. i've never heard of the two...weaning and mastitis being related but you never know, right? good luck, i hope you feel better:)

Hi J.,

I had similar problems with mastitis while weaning my son. What eventually worked for me was that when I got down to about 4 feedings a day, I began mostly pumping, and kept the morning and night (before bed)feedings, then dropped the morning, then eventually dropped the night feeding. Pumping helped me get a bit more control over my milk supply, and I found that for me, it made a more smooth transition to complete weaning.

Good luck!

I haven't started weaning yet but have had clogged ducts, mastitis, and thrush. I have two simple suggestions. One to use a disposable diaper filled with hot water as a warm compress. It's convenient b/c you can put it inside your bra after a feeding and it won't get everything wet. It stays hot for a long time. You can even reuse it (microwave just a tiny bit). The second is what my pediatrician suggested when my daughter got thrush- to put some monistat cream (the same used for vaginal yeast infections) on the nipple after feeding. They said it was safe to leave on when my daughter nursed. Good luck!!

Contact your local La Leche Leaugue Leader! They will help you!

It's actually quite common to get mastitis when weaning-quickly, but you are not. SO, my professional advice is to check with your OB, are you getting the correct antibiotics for the right length of time. I have had good luck if the OB does a milk culture, much like urine culture when you have a UTI, and treat accordingly. Correct med for correct bug. IT could be yeast, but would not come/go on it's own. Continue to wean, and don't hesitate to pump if you get full, as long as in the big picture you are dropping a feeding, a pumping here or there won't make the supply worse. Hope this helps! C., IBCLC

Check and see if your baby has thrush (yeast infection in a babies mouth). I had an infection and taking antibiotics gave my baby thrush and we kept passing it back and forth for about a month. We both had to take a yeast infection antibiotic at the same time to clear it up.