Women who become mothers for the first time usually experience new experiences. Stabbing pain and shooting pain in the breast are some of the things that women experience during breastfeeding.
Spasm of the vascular wall located in the nipple can cause stabbing pain in the breast, which are harmless but cause unpleasant sensory stimulation in the mother, if breast pain persists during breastfeeding, it is best to tell your doctor for further examination.
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Breast pain (stepping) in breastfeeding
Changes in the mother’s body, breastfeeding and hormones are the causes of your breast pain, there are different types of breast pain:
Different types of breast pain
- Breast engorgment pain:
About forty-eight hours after the birth of your baby, breast congestion causes some pain and discomfort, the cause of this pain is that your body produces more milk than your baby eats, and the accumulation of this milk makes the breasts tight, irritated, painful, and throbbing.
Breastfeed from both breasts. When breastfeeding, use appropriate positions so that your baby can drink enough milk, place a warm towel on the breasts, and avoid taking topical or oral medications without your doctor’s advice.
- Let-down pain:
The first time you breastfeed may be accompanied by a milk-ejection, this means that the milk inside the milk ducts suddenly jumps out of the nipple by sucking your baby. Usually you will hear the baby crying if a letdown reflex occurs.
A sudden jump of milk from the nipple can be the cause of shooting pain in your breast during the first breastfeeding.
- Mastitis:
Mastitis can be the cause of stabbing pain in your breasts during breastfeeding. Inflammation and infection of the breast tissue is called mastitis. Studies show that about ten percent of women experience mastitis during their breastfeeding and complain of shooting pain in their breasts.
Symptoms of mastitis
- The most important symptom of mastitis is pain, usually pain is the main complaint that will take the person to the doctor’s office.
- The surface of the breast is red
- Warmth is felt in the breast
- The breast is swollen
- The person usually has a flu-like illness or a common cold (flulike symptoms).
- Fever (sometimes high fever)
What observations will the doctor make during the breast examination for mastitis?
On examination, in addition to swelling, redness, and heat in the breast, the doctor finds that the patient does not allow the doctor to examine because of the severity of the pain.
Your doctor will also observes and examine the nipple carefully. Often during the nipple examination, your doctor will notice that most of the mammary ducts are closed, sometimes only one duct is left open. In addition, there may be a fissure on the nipple, in which case bacteria and germs may have entered the mother’s breast tissue through the baby through the fissure, causing an infection that causes stabbing pain in your breast during breastfeeding.
Important tips for treating and improving mastitis and stabbing pain
To treat and improve mastitis and its stabbing pain, pay attention to the following points:
- Use a cold compress to reduce swelling and inflammation of the breast in mastitis (hot compress increases inflammation in mastitis)
- Rinse your milk. The more milk is completely removed from the breasts, the faster the mastitis will heal.
- Have regular breastfeeding for infants, do not stop breastfeeding despite the pain
- Use ibuprofen or acetaminophen as prescribed by your doctor
- Drink plenty of fluids
- In severe cases of infection, your doctor will prescribe appropriate and safe antibiotics for breastfeeding.
If mastitis develops and is not treated, it may lead to the formation of an abscess in the breast, In this case, the doctor will first determine the exact location of the abscess by performing an ultrasound of the breast and will drain it by making a small incision in the skin of the breast.
The important point is that what is very important in improving the stabbing pain of the breast in breastfeeding is the continuation of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding helps to reduce the severity of symptoms by removing milk from the milk ducts.
Stabbing pain in breast breastfeeding
If you have shooting pain in the breast, talk to your doctor because the pain may make the breastfeeding process painful for us, you will both lose the pleasure of hugging your baby, and you may also miss out on feeding your baby because of the pain. Breastfeeding should not be stopped in any case, even with stabbing pain.