9 Quick tips and tricks for treating a Breast Infection Naturally. A nursing Mother’s guide to stopping a breast infection in it’s tracks!

Nooooo….I had one of those annoying, painful spots, a precursor of a breast infection, show up. Again! I found it in the middle of the night while nursing my two month old.

Having had experience with this before, I immediately knew that I had to take steps to nip(ple) it in the bud!

This is something that you don’t wait to take action on. You’ll get to a point that you won’t feel like doing what you need to, and then it’s downhill from there. So quick action is the best route.

In this post, I’ll talk about…

• How I recognize the signs of a Breast infection
• My favorite and most effective ways to stop the Breast Infection in its tracks and what basic items to have on hand.
• And tips to help prevent future occurrences

Since I’ve stopped every breast infection I’ve had, in the early stages, I can’t relate to how the experience of a breast infection or mastitis too far advanced to treat at home, feels like, nor can I tell you at what point medical intervention is needed, so I’m sorry if it has ever gotten to that point for you!

I hope that you are only in the beginning stages and that you’ve arrived here looking for some help, that I might be able to give you.

Note: I am not a licensed medical professional and cannot offer medical advice or prescribe in any capacity. The following tips are my own opinions and experiences and things that I have found through my personal use and actions to have helped me. Please use your own common sense and discern what is best for you and your family in any health related circumstances.

I remember the first breast infection that I had…I was nursing my first baby, and started to feel achy and generally unwell. I ended up calling my mom, who is a huge help with all things baby, health and nutrition, and told her how I felt.

She said, “it sounds like you have a breast infection.” She told me what I should do to take care of myself, and when I told her that I didn’t think I could do it, because I felt so bad and didn’t even feel like I had the will power to get up and take care of myself, and there wasn’t anyone there to help me with the baby while I showered, she said to call my husband at work and tell him I needed him to come home and take care of me, or SHE would call him at work.

I knew that she would follow through, and so I called his work and asked him to come home.

Thankfully, he had an understanding boss, who always encouraged his employees to put family first.

When he got home, I took a hot shower, hand expressed the milk from my infected breast, took some supplements to fight infection, swallowed some raw garlic and put a cabbage leaf on my breast. The infection didn’t get worse, and within the day, I felt a lot better!

We went ahead and bought a simple, basic breast pump to keep on hand after that for instances of breast infection in the future. It’s come in handy several times, as I’ve now nursed 6 babies, though I think I like an alternative route for emptying my breast, which I talk about later in this post, a lot better!

How do I know if I have a breast infection?

The first signs of a breast infection or mastitis are…

• Sore, painful hard spots in one or both breasts
• Redness on the surface of the skin
• Swelling or swollen lymph nodes under the arm on the same side as the infected breast
• An all over body achyness, or chills as if you have the flu
• Your skin is sensitive to touch

My top tips for stopping a breast infection in its tracks naturally.

~Don’t nap…yet!

That’ll come later. You’ll feel so tempted to lay down and nap, but don’t give in to it! I can’t stress this enough!

You might feel achy and like just going to bed and curling up in a ball! But don’t do it! Not yet, anyway…don’t do that until you’ve taken at least the first step of emptying the infected breast.

~Empty the infected breast.

If your baby is hungry, go ahead and let them nurse that breast first and see if they can empty it, but it’s a good idea to follow them with another of the following ideas.

To empty your breast, use a breast pump, this is the one I have and use, hand express all the milk, here is a great illustrative guide for that, either on your own or have your husband do it by hand…he’ll probably enjoy that!

If your husband’s up for it, let him suck it out by mouth and enjoy the milk and intimacy with you. Relax and let it all go.

~Rub or massage the painful spot.

I know…it hurts! But rubbing it will help to unclog the plugged milk duct, which will help with resolving the infection.

~Take a hot shower.

Let the water run on the affected breast, rubbing the painful areas at the same time.

~Take Garlic.

Either raw or in tablet or capsule form. Garlic is known for being nature’s antibiotic and is a powerful warrior against any kind of infection.

If you have some garlic capsules or tablets on hand, go ahead and use those, but if you’re able to take it raw, that would be most effective.

I use my handy dandy garlic twist, and spoon the crushed garlic into my mouth quickly washing it down with a drink.

Or you could mix the garlic with some honey to help disguise the taste, and that’s another great way to get it into you.

I don’t recommend taking more than one medium to large clove at a time, as your stomach may not thank you.

And just a fun side note…I’ve heard that garlic increases your baby’s appetite…so having garlic come through your milk, may help the baby want to nurse more, and get that duct unplugged!

~Take Supplements.

If you have any supplements on hand, vitamins C, A and E are a triple threat for any infection and I always take a good dose of those to jump start the internal warriors for infection protection.

~Stick a fresh cabbage leaf on the breast.

I don’t know why it helps, but it does. Get a cabbage leaf from your fridge, or run to the store, or have a helpful someone make the run, for a cabbage.

Trust me, it’s worth it…stick a leaf inside your bra, directly against the skin right over the painful area. Get ready for letting out a little shriek, as that leaf hits your skin! It’s like cold water on your stomach when you’re wading into a lake to swim!

~Nurse your infant in different positions.

Holding your baby in different positions so that his or her latch pulls differently at the different ducts, should help to get things moving and healing inside. There are several different positions that I try. The regular nursing position with me sitting up and having them across my front, lying down and nursing and the football hold. You will find a lot of good info on how to do these nursing holds, here.

~Drink lots of water!

Let’s keep that milk flowing! Producing a good flow of milk should help to move things through the ducts. Making sure that you are well hydrated and able to move some good liquid gold through your breast, will be very helpful.

And lastly, to help prevent needing any of the above suggestions,

Do not wear tight bras, and wireless is encouraged as well. My breast type and the shape of my chest has made it so that I can’t wear anything that doesn’t have some serious support, so I felt tied into wearing wired bras, up until recently when I found some cute and very supportive bras without wires.

Unfortunately, they aren’t nursing bras, but I went through nursing 4 of my babies using regular bras anyway and just lifting the bottom up over the breast to expose the nipple for nursing.

These are a little tougher to do that in, but it’s still possible! Plus nursing bras seem to be mostly unattractive…no fun prints and very practical looking.

Many a time, I’ve wished for some really truly pretty and feminine nursing bras. Oh well…

Nurse your baby regularly. Letting too many hours go by without nursing, can cause your breast to become over full and that’s not ideal.

As I mentioned before, I am only speaking here from my own experiences and cannot offer professional or medical advice.

I do hope that if you do try some of my suggestions, as friend to friend, you are offered relief and a quick journey back to normal!!

I’d love so much to hear if you have additional favorite helps for a breast infection situation. Share them in the comments below!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links’. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.