In the article, we will consider how to distinguish lactostasis from mastitis.
Recently, more and more young mothers choose to breastfeed their baby, but very often they have to give up this idea because of the pain that occurs during feeding. The most common painful conditions during lactation are mastitis and lactostasis. How to distinguish one from the other is interesting to many.
Doctors strongly advise women to continue breastfeeding only until 6-9 months of age, and then start complementary foods and gradually transition him to a regular diet. But these problems develop, as it should be, in the first months of feeding. Many women refuse to breastfeed.
Development of serious complications
If lactostasis and mastitis are eliminated in a timely manner, they do not cause serious harm, but if left untreated, serious complications can develop. Similar problemsoccur not only in women giving birth for the first time, but in mothers who have given birth more than once.
These pathologies are similar to each other - they are accompanied by the development of severe pain in the mammary glands, local redness, the appearance of seals, but they also have significant differences. To understand what kind of disease a woman has, one should study the features of mastitis and lactostasis. How to tell them apart?
Symptoms of lactostasis
Lactostasis occurs due to the fact that milk stagnates in the breast and obstruction of the excretory duct of the mammary gland occurs. It can occur during the lactation period, regardless of the age of the baby.
In the place where the blockage of the thoracic lobe occurs, there is redness and severe soreness. The mammary gland is made up of about 20 lobes, which end in a duct leading to the nipple.
If you express milk with lactostasis, you can see that it does not flow from every lobe, or it flows weakly from one or more lobes, while from others - under strong pressure.
Women's well-being
It is worth noting that a woman's he alth with lactostasis remains normal, the temperature does not rise.
It is important that such problems arise for reasons not related to the feeding experience, the age of the baby. Lactostasis can develop at the most inopportune time.
How to distinguish lactostasis from mastitis, it is important to find out in advance.
Reasonsdevelopment of lactostasis
The main reason for the development of the problem is insufficient emptying of the breast lobe. It can occur for the following reasons:
- Severe overwork, great physical exertion, stress.
- Big breasts.
- Inverted nipple.
- Cracked nipples.
- Laying on only one breast.
- Failure to follow the feeding schedule.
- Wrong sleeping position (when the mammary gland is pressed against something).
- Nipple injury, breast mechanical damage.
- Dehydration of the body, which causes milk to thicken.
- Maternal endocrine disorders.
- Support breast with fingers.
- Violation of the technique of attaching the baby to the breast. This causes the baby to latch onto the nipple incorrectly and be unable to empty the breast completely.
- Using a bra that is not properly fitted and constricts the chest.
After the cause of lactostasis is clarified, you can begin to eliminate the problem, as well as take measures aimed at preventing the recurrence of the disease. Measures taken in time can prevent the development of complications, such as mastitis.
Symptoms of mastitis, causes of development
The difference between lactostasis and mastitis can be difficult to understand.
Lactational mastitis is a complication that develops as a result of lactostasis due to the fact that pathogens penetrate into the mammary gland through the duct.microorganisms. The symptoms of mastitis are usually very severe:
- Severe breast tenderness that occurs when a woman changes body position.
- Redness of the skin in the projection of the area of stagnation.
- Heavy rise in temperature.
- Chills, fever.
To determine that fever is a symptom of mastitis, you should measure it in the groin, elbow, both armpits.
Specialists draw the attention of women to the fact that if the temperature in one of the armpits is higher, then we can assume that it is provoked by developing mastitis.
Stages
There are three stages of the disease, which are interconnected, occur one after another:
- Injury, swelling of the nipple of the mammary glands.
- Lactostasis.
- Mastitis.
The crack in the nipple causes severe pain. Because of this, the woman begins to involuntarily reduce the time the baby eats, which in turn causes blockage of the ducts in the breast.
In addition, severe soreness that develops with lactostasis interferes with normal milk expression. Because of this, the degree of clogging of the duct increases. Stagnant milk favorably affects the development of pathogenic microbes (staphylococci, streptococci), which have penetrated through a crack in the nipple or areola. The result of such a lesion is mastitis.
A woman's immune system is greatly weakened after childbirth, her bodyunable to cope with emerging inflammatory foci. In this case, immediate treatment is required, otherwise further complications may occur.
So, how to distinguish lactostasis from mastitis?
Comparative analysis of symptoms, differences in diseases
The symptoms of the two diseases are almost the same, while the results of laboratory tests of blood samples are also similar. However, it is still possible to differentiate mastitis and lactostasis from each other by certain signs.
Mastitis comes in two varieties - non-lactational and lactational. The chance of developing is higher if the woman is breastfeeding.
What is the difference between lactostasis and mastitis? Lactostasis, in turn, can develop exclusively in the lactation period, that is, during breastfeeding. This means that a non-lactating woman cannot have lactostasis. With adequate therapy, the problem disappears in just a few days.
Mastitis is a consequence of incomplete cure of lactostasis. Its onset is characterized by the appearance of strongly pronounced symptoms of the inflammatory process. Mastitis in its development goes through three stages:
- Serous. It is characterized by the appearance in a woman of signs of serious intoxication of the whole organism.
- Infiltrative. At this stage, there is an increase in the inflammatory process and a long-lasting fever.
- Purulent. At this stage, a purulent lesion joins mastitis.
Lactostasisdiffers from mastitis primarily in the absence of an inflammatory process. In addition, with lactostasis, a woman maintains normal body temperature, general well-being. With mastitis, the temperature rises sharply, weakness, fever, chills, and headache occur. At the same time, the general state of the woman's he alth is rather difficult.
Since lactostasis flows imperceptibly into mastitis, it is quite difficult to accurately recognize the end of one disease and the beginning of the second. Only an experienced mammologist can do this.
It is also worth noting that lactostasis is treated, as a rule, by conservative methods. For women with mastitis, doctors mainly recommend surgical treatment.
These are the main differences between lactostasis and mastitis.
Conclusion
In this regard, it is important to pay attention to your own well-being when feeding the baby, follow the recommendations of doctors on the correct attachment of the baby to the breast, and treat cracks that appear on the nipples in a timely manner. Only in this case it is possible to recognize lactostasis in time, eliminate it, preventing the development of mastitis.
We looked at the difference between mastitis and lactostasis.
