Red milk !? Does it seem weird to you? Moms, in fact, this is something that can happen to you while breastfeeding your little one. A mom shared a picture of her red milk on the Milk Meg Facebook page.
Red milk: How does it happen?
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While breastfeeding their baby it is stated that roughly one mom out of ten will suffer from mastitis. This infection is the symptom of milk stasis causing inflammation. Mastitis affects only one breast in general, in its totality sometimes, but most often on a small area which is then red, hot, and painful. As a result, the mom will face symptoms similar than the flu: high fever, achiness or chillness. The mastitis can be caused by various reasons: infection, tight bra, exhaustion, bad sleep position…
When the mom continues breastfeeding she can realize some differences in the aspect of her milk. One of these change can be it to turn pinkish or red.
Is it dangerous for the children?
Many specialists have studied the subject and the verdict is that it’s completely safe! Some moms might not even notice that their milk has turned red if the baby is feeding directly from their breast. Moms using breast pumps are more likely to see the difference. Actually, a few drops of blood can turn the entire bottle of milk red!
How to treat mastitis?
- Continue to breastfeed your baby. Moms are claiming that they would rather go into labour again than have mastitis because of how painful it is. Feeding your baby with the infected breast helps a lot to drain the infection and unblock the milk stasis. However, your baby might be a little reluctant to take the breast because the milk may taste saltier than usual.
- It is important for the mom to have some time for herself because mastitis can come from extreme tiredness.
- Even if your baby is not hungry you need to relieve yourself and unblock all the milk. Using a breast pump softly can be a good idea to heal the infection.
- Rotate between hot and cold treatment on the breast (hot showers, hot gloves/ice cubes in a towel).
- Do massages on the infected breast, it can help to make the oedema go away.
- If you don’t feel any improvement on the mastitis after following all the advice above. You should take into consideration to see a doctor that will prescribe you antibiotics.
If you also had to deal with mastitis, feel free to comment and share this article, to find more daily life useful tips and countless baby products visit: Motherhood.com.my.