Mastitis prior to birth?

[lulululu]

Is it possible to get mastitis prior to having the baby? I'm 36 weeks pregnant and have a red warm area near my nipple. It is a bit sore and feels like there's a lump under the skin. I noticed it yesterday but it's more obvious today. Obviously I'm not making milk yet but there's been colostrum present for many weeks now. I've got an appointment with my midwife in a week and if it doesn't get any worse I can easily wait a week, but I dont want to leave it if it might become a problem. So, has anyone heard of, or experienced anything like this? Could it be mastitis? What else could it be? By the way, no there are no obvious lesions, pimples, infected hair follicles or any other blemish visible on the surface of the skin, just generalised redness in an oval shape - perhaps 2cm by 1cm. :confused:

[Bell & Bug]

OOOH yeah, absolutely it could be mastitis. It could aslo be a blocked duct.
Jump in the shower, and massage the lump out towards your nipple. It may hurt to start off with, but it gets better the longer you do it.
I had this a few weeks ago, I thought it could be mastitis, but it was only a blocked duct. Mastitis is a infected blocked duct, so a blocked duct could turn into mastitis.
If you have a temperature, or feel ill, go to the hospital because you will need antibiotics to get rid of the mastits, but if you are feeling fine apart from a sore boob then you are OK to just massage the lump out.

[Geniene]

:iagree::yes:

[lulululu]

Thanks for your replies Memie and Geniene, I'll give the massage a go.

[Peajae]

I agree with Memie. I had mastitis and it looked and felt exactly as you described, but I had a temp of 40 as well and felt really unwell. So hopefully yours is just a blocked duct and you'll be able to massage it out before it becomes infected.

As far as I know you can get mastitis at any time, its just obviously far more common during breastfeeding or weaning. It's any kind of breast infection. Even men can get it!

[lulululu]

well, I didn't know that! I thought it was purely a milk-making problem. You learn something new every day. Thanks for the info, Peajae, and the good news is the massage seems to be paying off - the spot is smaller and also less red I think :D

[kayla Lilyz mum]

I developed mastitis at 27 weeks pregnant, I felt very ill, the pain in my breast was like nothing I have ever experienced, temp, fever, vomiting, headache it was horrible. My breast was red and rock hard. Go see your doctor asap if you suspect mastitis to get antibiotics. Even while on the antibiotics I developed it in my other breast as well, I was sick for 2 weeks all up:(