If a mother is anemic, experiencing undue stress or fatigue, or not eating well, her resistance to infection is lowered. During these times, she needs to be especially careful not to alter her normal breastfeeding patterns and put herself at risk for plugged ducts or mastitis. When a baby cannot tolerate long feedings because the sucking causes pain, too much milk may remain in the mother's breasts so she may need to hand express or pump her milk. Incorrect Positioning or Suckling. In some cases of improper positioning or suckling, the mother's nipples become sore or cracked.
Painful nipples can cause a mother to avoid breastfeeding on the sore side.
Women with fibrocystic breasts may also be at increased risk. In very rare cases when plugged ducts or mastitis always occurs in the same area of one breast, the mother may choose to breastfeed only from the other breast. Failure to Clear a Plugged Duct. Any time a woman has a plugged duct that is not expelled or is very slow to be absorbed into the surrounding breasttissue, she is at risk of developing mastitis. A woman who treats mastitis with antibiotics and does not see improvement within twenty-four hours may want to call her doctor and request that a culture be done on her breast milk and baby's mouth to check for the possibility of a yeast infection.