We were just talking about mastitis in regard to one of Kristen Bell’s TMI stories, about how her husband Dax Shepard had to help her with that issue. Mastitis is the infection of a milk duct when a woman is nursing. It can lead to debilitating flu-like symptoms and of course it’s especially inconvenient for a new mom, who is already sleep deprived and overworked. Lauren Paul, who welcomed daughter Story Annabelle three weeks ago with her husband, actor Aaron Paul, has already had mastitis twice. Lauren’s infection was so bad that her fever spiked to 104. We know this from Lauren’s heartfelt post, in which she described how much she loves her new baby, but how hard it’s been to get so sick from breastfeeding. She wants other new moms to know about potential issues and to be prepared.
That’s so sweet that she gave credit to single parents. I’m touched by how open and thoughtful this was and how she made it about other moms, even though she was so ill. Lauren runs a charity with a friend from college called The Kind Project. They travel to schools around the country to brings awareness to girl on girl bullying. Honestly I got a little choked up looking at the photos on their website.
I didn’t get mastitis until my son was over a year old and I was lucky in that milk wasn’t his main food source and I didn’t get very ill. It was still tough and I can’t imagine what that’s like for someone with a newborn at home. Also, I did go to local La Leche League meetings but we didn’t discuss mastitis. (I’m sure if I came to them with a problem they would have helped though.) I only vaguely remember how hard the first few weeks were. New babies sleep a lot but it’s a massive adjustment and it can feel like you’re trapped caring for them. Lauren said it much better than I can and I hope she has some relief today and plenty of help at home.
Aaron stars on The Path on Hulu, an incredible and underrated show about a modern cult. It costars Hugh Dancy and Michelle Monaghan.
I do too. I used to play nibble my babies’ little chubby folds.
She is right it is like my heart is outside of my body.
I feel their hurt and pain, and I love to watch them sleep because I know my ducklings are all tucked up and safe in their dreams.
I had an emergency c section, had IV magnesium for a day, and had mastitis twice: once when my baby was 3 weeks old and once when I started to wean. Mastitis was absolutely worse than the c section and magnesium. Having it twice in three weeks?! Poor Lauren!
That magnesium sulfate drip was the most awful thing, and I had to have it twice. No joke, I started bawling when they told me they were doing it a second time. 🙁 I can’t believe there’s something worse than that magnesium sulfate drip.
I had some weird reaction to it where the skin on my face turned all red and splotchy (not weird- that stuff makes you so hot!) and then a day or two later, after they stopped the magnesium, the skin on my face that had turned red started to peel and slough off! It was like a horrible chemical peel, except I still looked like crap afterwards!
Oh, god – the magnesium drip was the worst thing ever to me! I had to have it pre & post delivery. It made me so sick post delivery that they even took my ice chips away, and my body felt like I was hit by a truck! I never want to go through that again.
My sister went into labor at 31 weeks and they gave her magnesium….it was like watching an exorcism, she lost her mind and was literally projecting vomiting all over the room. The nurses were like “yeah she can’t handle this”, lol. I felt so bad!
Preeclampsia. I had triplets that were delivered at 29 weeks, and issues like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, etc… are common in triplet pregnancies. The magnesium sulfate is intended to lower your blood pressure to keep you out of the range where you may have a stroke our seizure. It causes you to lose control of all your bodily functions, basically. You are strapped to your hospital bed so you don’t fall out, are catheterized, and can’t eat or drink anything. Your muscle control slackens to the point where you can’t raise your arm easily, your speech becomes slurred, your thinking becomes blurry. It’s no picnic. But once the drip stops, normal function returns within a day. It’s awful, honestly, but at the end of it everyone is healthy and safe.
Congratulations, Sarah! 🙂 Best wishes for a healthy delivery.
Like tinyfencer, I also have triplets and had all the pregnancy complications- gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, etc. thankfully I didn’t have the drip (I have preexisting hypertension and was already medicated, heavily, which gave my doctors a lot more leeway). I pumped/breastfed my triplets for a year and had legit mastitis so many times and the pain was unbelievable. I also had lots of clogged ducts which were also incredibly painful. I remember so many nights having my “sleep time” in between feedings be spent hooked up to my pump desperately trying to massage out a clog. My heart goes out to her. That’s brutal.
Mastitis can happen anytime during breastfeeding, not just in the newborn phase. I’m often breastfeeding when I’m on celebitchy so I love a good breastfeeding post.
As far as this woman goes, I can’t help but feel it’s another case of a quasi-celebrity becoming a new Mom, being surprised by the challenges of parenting, and acting as though it’s her gift to the world to give advice. Leaves a bad taste.
I loved catching up on Celebitchy when I was breastfeeding! I was very lucky and only had a clogged duct or two, but it’s a nonstop, round the clock job, keeping a baby alive with your body. It’s also heavenly to sit in a cozy chair and listen to their little snorting sucking noises while reading Celebitchy. Aw, memories.
I thought her opinion was alright and I learnt something new because as someone who has never given birth, I have never considered this. In fact, I think mothers don’t share this with non mothers (they usually click with other mothers) so hearing it from a celeb makes it a good to know. Personally I feel it’s best to talk about it because a lot of female health issues are rarely talked about or just dismissed as being neurotic or over emotional. We are taught to for example, think painful periods are just a normal part of womanhood or that we are trying to get off school or work etc. Or that women should just bounce back after birth because it’s what women have been doing for ages. The US doesn’t even have mandatory maternity leave; tells you a lot that they expect women to just get through it and not complain about recovery. Also I learnt a lot about pregnancy, giving birth and menopausal issues from the Celebitches who comment on the celebs who speak about these issues. I would have never known about these because I have not undergone them. It makes me admire women more.
Lela – I feel for you. I had it twice with my first baby and was in HELL. It’s the worst, and I was worried it would happen again with my second baby – it didn’t, and nursing in general was so much easier with my second. I’ll be thinking of you! Good luck!
thank you JEM! I loved nursing, I nursed my first for 3 years, but it was so hard and the pain is just soooo excruciating, hopefully it will be easier this time around
This is why I feel like we shouldn’t be so judgemental if someone chooses to do formula rather then breastfeed. There are issues with breastfeeding in some cases. But people have been so formunla negative in recent years moms feels like they can’t use it if they need to.
Agreed. Breastfeeding can be a beast, it can be painful and there’s complications like mastitis. People should be less judgmental and more grateful that the parents are doing everything they can to make sure their child is fed, clothed and loved. Fed is best!
Yes except in the case of my friend, who decided she didn’t want to beastfeed while she was pregnant. The reason? Her mom told her babies can starve from breastfeeding. Low IQ there obviously. It infuriates me bc I had to constantly work at breastfeeding. My son was born through emergency C-section and the paediatric nurses give him formula while I was recovering, so we didn’t have a choice of breast-feeding first. Rant over!
Haha, I got a defect too! Didn’t sleep through the night until she was 3.
Aaron and his wife were so extra during their courtship but no hate here. It’s a lovely statement on her part and I believe he is totally into being a dad.
Complete OT, but omg the walkway to their home is bungalow magic.
Sounds painful….I never got a chance to breastfeed my daughter, after the first few days my milk never came in. I kept trying with her and pumping in between but nothing came of it. Started her on the bottle with formula and she wouldn’t go back to breast. It was upsetting but what can you do
I haven’t had it and am currently weaning my son (breastfeeding a toddler is basically a wrestling match and your nips lose every time) but I know several friends that have had it and it’s just miserable 🙁
My OB mentioned it twice I think? And my lactation consultant talked about it every time I saw her. So I heard about it four times total from medical professionals through pregnancy and breastfeeding.
I appreciate her talking about it, I think it’s helpful to remind moms they’re not alone because being a mom is super lonely sometimes.
After breastfeeding my son for 3 weeks which was painful and demanding as he was waking up at night every 2 hours to be feed, so just as you feel back to sleep you get dragged out of bed again, I passed a huge piece of placenta . This is scary stuff because there is lots of blood , The doctors put me on antibiotics and I had to stop breastfeeding. Lauren is right in saying you hear about the positive but nothing about complications and women need to share with each other the pros and cons of birth and recovery because you feel isolated when it happens to you. Love her and their family and wish them the best.
Still not sure if we will have kids but stories like this always scare me! I know it’s treatable and preventable BUT ahh. Spoke with my lady parts doc last week and babies came up. Since I’m getting up there in years and a pre existing condition I’d have to see several specialists if/when we got pregnant. Yes I know kids are great but it’s scary how much is involved
Thank you for saying it can happen at any baby age during breastfeeding. I had it for the first time when my baby was 10 months old. Every nurse and doctor I saw all said ‘he hmmm strange, that only happens with newborns and new moms’ and that was very frustrating to the point where they basically didn’t believe the diagnosis, but treated me ‘as though’ I had it.
It was awful. So painful. It was a hot summer day and I was shivering in bed under a pile of blankets. Later I drove myself to the doctor, and had to use 1 hand on the wheel and 1 hand to pull away the seat belt so it wouldn’t touch my chest as I drove. The pain was intense.
That is funny the doctor said it only happened to new moms. Both times I got clogged ducts were actually when my kids were older probably like 9-10 months.
Agree completely! I was shocked when my daughter didn’t naturally latch on and it wasn’t magical rainbows right away. I had cracked and bleeding nipples which made bloody “strawberry milk” as my dad called it, I cried in pain for two weeks every time she latched, and we had to use a contraption taped over my shoulder and have my mom put her finger in my daughter’s mouth next to my nipple and release the milk from a tube when she suckled properly. It was a freaking nightmare and I wasn’t prepared, also got mastitis that hit me suddenly and put me on my ass for a few days, we were eventually successful and I nursed for almost 8 months, but I almost gave up many times those first few weeks. I’m glad the reality of how hard it can be is being discussed more often these days!
Holy moly! I had it with my firstborn and it felt like my boob was going to rot and fall off. Worse, it made my whole body feel sick overall. Poor woman!! Strong mommies 🙂 They’ll suffer anything for their babies.
She and all women should keep a close eye on mastitis. I was diagnosed with it, and it turned out to be stage III inflammatory breast cancer. Always report any and all changes (not just lumps) to your doc- and diagnosis during and after pregnancy is not unheard of whatsoever, especially with hormone driven cancers. Public service announcement off/. Lovely of her to share this and honor single moms.
She is so right. Breasfeeding class and education is the only serious and extensive education the expectig mothers have to give themselves about the newborns. I was aware of mastitis and so when spending the first few days in the hospital after giving borth I would always go to nurses and ask them to help me feed my son and would always ask for advice how to check your breasts for possble milk lumps. I wod do thag every evening at home when we returned home. It’s bad enough to get so sick with a new baby to take care of, I also imagine where is guilt since our society likes to blame and shame mothers for not breastfeeding. I hope she does have a lot of help at this difficult time.
I never did have mastitis, but I did have blocked milk ducts. That was unbelievably painful, so I can only imagine how mastitis must feel! Also, breastfeeding did not happen quickly for me either. Finally got the hang of it when babe was about 3 months old. It was a learning experience.
Must be so hard for a new Mom.
and to he baby. What a cutie. Look those folds on her arm. I just love baby folds.
I do too. I used to play nibble my babies’ little chubby folds.
She is right it is like my heart is outside of my body.
I feel their hurt and pain, and I love to watch them sleep because I know my ducklings are all tucked up and safe in their dreams.
I had an emergency c section, had IV magnesium for a day, and had mastitis twice: once when my baby was 3 weeks old and once when I started to wean. Mastitis was absolutely worse than the c section and magnesium. Having it twice in three weeks?! Poor Lauren!
That magnesium sulfate drip was the most awful thing, and I had to have it twice. No joke, I started bawling when they told me they were doing it a second time. 🙁 I can’t believe there’s something worse than that magnesium sulfate drip.
I had some weird reaction to it where the skin on my face turned all red and splotchy (not weird- that stuff makes you so hot!) and then a day or two later, after they stopped the magnesium, the skin on my face that had turned red started to peel and slough off! It was like a horrible chemical peel, except I still looked like crap afterwards!
And yes, mastitis was still worse 😖
Oh, god – the magnesium drip was the worst thing ever to me! I had to have it pre & post delivery. It made me so sick post delivery that they even took my ice chips away, and my body felt like I was hit by a truck! I never want to go through that again.
My sister went into labor at 31 weeks and they gave her magnesium….it was like watching an exorcism, she lost her mind and was literally projecting vomiting all over the room. The nurses were like “yeah she can’t handle this”, lol. I felt so bad!
Why did you guys have a magnesium drip and what were your reactions?
32 weeks pregnant here, trying to absorb EVERYTHING.
I had severe preeclampsia at 34 weeks. The magnesium was given during and after my c section to lower my blood pressure.
Preeclampsia. I had triplets that were delivered at 29 weeks, and issues like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, etc… are common in triplet pregnancies. The magnesium sulfate is intended to lower your blood pressure to keep you out of the range where you may have a stroke our seizure. It causes you to lose control of all your bodily functions, basically. You are strapped to your hospital bed so you don’t fall out, are catheterized, and can’t eat or drink anything. Your muscle control slackens to the point where you can’t raise your arm easily, your speech becomes slurred, your thinking becomes blurry. It’s no picnic. But once the drip stops, normal function returns within a day. It’s awful, honestly, but at the end of it everyone is healthy and safe.
Congratulations, Sarah! 🙂 Best wishes for a healthy delivery.
Like tinyfencer, I also have triplets and had all the pregnancy complications- gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, etc. thankfully I didn’t have the drip (I have preexisting hypertension and was already medicated, heavily, which gave my doctors a lot more leeway). I pumped/breastfed my triplets for a year and had legit mastitis so many times and the pain was unbelievable. I also had lots of clogged ducts which were also incredibly painful. I remember so many nights having my “sleep time” in between feedings be spent hooked up to my pump desperately trying to massage out a clog. My heart goes out to her. That’s brutal.
Mastitis can happen anytime during breastfeeding, not just in the newborn phase. I’m often breastfeeding when I’m on celebitchy so I love a good breastfeeding post.
As far as this woman goes, I can’t help but feel it’s another case of a quasi-celebrity becoming a new Mom, being surprised by the challenges of parenting, and acting as though it’s her gift to the world to give advice. Leaves a bad taste.
I loved catching up on Celebitchy when I was breastfeeding! I was very lucky and only had a clogged duct or two, but it’s a nonstop, round the clock job, keeping a baby alive with your body. It’s also heavenly to sit in a cozy chair and listen to their little snorting sucking noises while reading Celebitchy. Aw, memories.
I thought her opinion was alright and I learnt something new because as someone who has never given birth, I have never considered this. In fact, I think mothers don’t share this with non mothers (they usually click with other mothers) so hearing it from a celeb makes it a good to know. Personally I feel it’s best to talk about it because a lot of female health issues are rarely talked about or just dismissed as being neurotic or over emotional. We are taught to for example, think painful periods are just a normal part of womanhood or that we are trying to get off school or work etc. Or that women should just bounce back after birth because it’s what women have been doing for ages. The US doesn’t even have mandatory maternity leave; tells you a lot that they expect women to just get through it and not complain about recovery. Also I learnt a lot about pregnancy, giving birth and menopausal issues from the Celebitches who comment on the celebs who speak about these issues. I would have never known about these because I have not undergone them. It makes me admire women more.
I had it 7 times with my daughter, it’s really painful. I’m pregnant now and really dread getting it again.
Lela – I feel for you. I had it twice with my first baby and was in HELL. It’s the worst, and I was worried it would happen again with my second baby – it didn’t, and nursing in general was so much easier with my second. I’ll be thinking of you! Good luck!
thank you JEM! I loved nursing, I nursed my first for 3 years, but it was so hard and the pain is just soooo excruciating, hopefully it will be easier this time around
Have you tried vibration? It does help, apparently.
You can use a toothbrush, a sonic facial brush like the Foreo or Pop Sonic brush, or any hand-held massager.
Here’s one specifically for lactation: https://lactationmassager.com/products/lactation-massager
Awww, that last picture is adorable!!
I had it and it unfortunately led me to stop breastfeeding. I really feel for her.
Hope Lauren feels better but they named their kid Story?
This is why I feel like we shouldn’t be so judgemental if someone chooses to do formula rather then breastfeed. There are issues with breastfeeding in some cases. But people have been so formunla negative in recent years moms feels like they can’t use it if they need to.
Agreed. Breastfeeding can be a beast, it can be painful and there’s complications like mastitis. People should be less judgmental and more grateful that the parents are doing everything they can to make sure their child is fed, clothed and loved. Fed is best!
Yes except in the case of my friend, who decided she didn’t want to beastfeed while she was pregnant. The reason? Her mom told her babies can starve from breastfeeding. Low IQ there obviously. It infuriates me bc I had to constantly work at breastfeeding. My son was born through emergency C-section and the paediatric nurses give him formula while I was recovering, so we didn’t have a choice of breast-feeding first. Rant over!
What! newborns sleep a lot? I must have gotten defective babies LOL
Haha, I got a defect too! Didn’t sleep through the night until she was 3.
Aaron and his wife were so extra during their courtship but no hate here. It’s a lovely statement on her part and I believe he is totally into being a dad.
Complete OT, but omg the walkway to their home is bungalow magic.
Sounds painful….I never got a chance to breastfeed my daughter, after the first few days my milk never came in. I kept trying with her and pumping in between but nothing came of it. Started her on the bottle with formula and she wouldn’t go back to breast. It was upsetting but what can you do
I haven’t had it and am currently weaning my son (breastfeeding a toddler is basically a wrestling match and your nips lose every time) but I know several friends that have had it and it’s just miserable 🙁
My OB mentioned it twice I think? And my lactation consultant talked about it every time I saw her. So I heard about it four times total from medical professionals through pregnancy and breastfeeding.
I appreciate her talking about it, I think it’s helpful to remind moms they’re not alone because being a mom is super lonely sometimes.
After breastfeeding my son for 3 weeks which was painful and demanding as he was waking up at night every 2 hours to be feed, so just as you feel back to sleep you get dragged out of bed again, I passed a huge piece of placenta . This is scary stuff because there is lots of blood , The doctors put me on antibiotics and I had to stop breastfeeding. Lauren is right in saying you hear about the positive but nothing about complications and women need to share with each other the pros and cons of birth and recovery because you feel isolated when it happens to you. Love her and their family and wish them the best.
Still not sure if we will have kids but stories like this always scare me! I know it’s treatable and preventable BUT ahh. Spoke with my lady parts doc last week and babies came up. Since I’m getting up there in years and a pre existing condition I’d have to see several specialists if/when we got pregnant. Yes I know kids are great but it’s scary how much is involved
Thank you for saying it can happen at any baby age during breastfeeding. I had it for the first time when my baby was 10 months old. Every nurse and doctor I saw all said ‘he hmmm strange, that only happens with newborns and new moms’ and that was very frustrating to the point where they basically didn’t believe the diagnosis, but treated me ‘as though’ I had it.
It was awful. So painful. It was a hot summer day and I was shivering in bed under a pile of blankets. Later I drove myself to the doctor, and had to use 1 hand on the wheel and 1 hand to pull away the seat belt so it wouldn’t touch my chest as I drove. The pain was intense.
That is funny the doctor said it only happened to new moms. Both times I got clogged ducts were actually when my kids were older probably like 9-10 months.
I really applaud women who discuss how difficult breastfeeding can be. I had a hard time and was totally unprepared for that. Bravo!
Agree completely! I was shocked when my daughter didn’t naturally latch on and it wasn’t magical rainbows right away. I had cracked and bleeding nipples which made bloody “strawberry milk” as my dad called it, I cried in pain for two weeks every time she latched, and we had to use a contraption taped over my shoulder and have my mom put her finger in my daughter’s mouth next to my nipple and release the milk from a tube when she suckled properly. It was a freaking nightmare and I wasn’t prepared, also got mastitis that hit me suddenly and put me on my ass for a few days, we were eventually successful and I nursed for almost 8 months, but I almost gave up many times those first few weeks. I’m glad the reality of how hard it can be is being discussed more often these days!
Holy moly! I had it with my firstborn and it felt like my boob was going to rot and fall off. Worse, it made my whole body feel sick overall. Poor woman!! Strong mommies 🙂 They’ll suffer anything for their babies.
She and all women should keep a close eye on mastitis. I was diagnosed with it, and it turned out to be stage III inflammatory breast cancer. Always report any and all changes (not just lumps) to your doc- and diagnosis during and after pregnancy is not unheard of whatsoever, especially with hormone driven cancers. Public service announcement off/. Lovely of her to share this and honor single moms.
She is so right. Breasfeeding class and education is the only serious and extensive education the expectig mothers have to give themselves about the newborns. I was aware of mastitis and so when spending the first few days in the hospital after giving borth I would always go to nurses and ask them to help me feed my son and would always ask for advice how to check your breasts for possble milk lumps. I wod do thag every evening at home when we returned home. It’s bad enough to get so sick with a new baby to take care of, I also imagine where is guilt since our society likes to blame and shame mothers for not breastfeeding. I hope she does have a lot of help at this difficult time.
I never did have mastitis, but I did have blocked milk ducts. That was unbelievably painful, so I can only imagine how mastitis must feel! Also, breastfeeding did not happen quickly for me either. Finally got the hang of it when babe was about 3 months old. It was a learning experience.
I like her for sharing this.