What should you know about the start of mastitis?

Mastitis is inflammation of breast tissue. One area may feel firm, hot, swollen, or painful, with redness that can be patchy or wedge-shaped. You may feel tired, shivery, feverish, or generally unwell. A blocked milk flow, breast pressure, or nipple damage can contribute, but symptoms can also develop without an obvious cause. Breast Pain and Painful Breastfeeding can occur with mastitis, though either symptom may have other explanations.

Continue breastfeeding or expressing if you can, following your baby’s usual pattern; stopping suddenly can increase breast fullness. Rest, drink to thirst, use a cold pack wrapped in cloth, and wear a supportive bra that does not compress the breast. Gentle handling is preferable to deep massage or forceful squeezing. Ask a pharmacist or clinician which pain relief is suitable for you, especially after birth or if you take other medicines.

A Lactation Consultation can check positioning, attachment, nipple injury, and milk removal without making feeding more painful.

Contact a clinician promptly if feverishness or worsening redness continues, you feel increasingly unwell, pain becomes severe, or a lump remains despite supportive care. Urgent assessment is needed for faintness, confusion, rapidly spreading redness, or a severe illness. A clinician may decide whether antibiotics or assessment for an abscess is needed; do not use leftover antibiotics.

Ask whether the symptoms fit mastitis, how to protect feeding while you recover, which pain relief is compatible with breastfeeding, and when a persistent lump needs imaging or review.