Mammaries on strike again

After a whole eight weeks of having to pump one breast or the other for cracked nipples, I put my pump away two weeks ago and was able to live a normal life - baby in her baby bjorn, feeding as I went about my day to day.  I thought I had the baby breastfeeding nailed at last, and she seemed happy enough on it.

But the other night, she slept through and so I had an excess of milk following a missed feed during the dark hours. And instead of staying home and making sure that I properly emptied the boobs and taking it easy for one more day adapting to a new routine, I hit the road early and started my errands. Four hours later, most of the errands achieved, I had started to feel a bit dodgy, so I went home and had a cup of tea.

By 5pm I had a red boob and the instant mastitis-feeling of being knocked over by a bus. It really is startling how quickly a dodgy boob can render a person absolutely useless, and how absolutely awful you feel with a tiny blocked milk duct!

I was feeling quite hard done by, knowing that the reason for this blockage was partly my own refusal to listen to my body (which I rarely do), but mainly because the baby had slept thru the night, which was surely a reason for jubilant celebration, and not for lying on the sofa under a blanket, shivering with fever and feeling like pants.

A quick trip to the surgery for some antibiotics, followed by intensive hot and cold compresses in the middle of the night saw a dramatic recovery by morning. Hopefully this is the last time there will be problems as I am running out of patience with feeding, if it is going to strike me down with fever every 3 weeks or so. But the baby looks so good on her diet of mother's milk that I know I will battle through any future bouts. She is just the right size for her age, has a terrific complexion, doesn't vomit or have wind or get colic, sleeps all night and is frankly, a joy to have around. She is alert, chatty and smiles on request! Altogether a good little package, which makes me feel quite guilty about my moody complaining when I discovered I was pregnant with her in the first place, which if you are interested, you can read about here