After the birth of her baby, she thought she was finally liberated, but she didn’t know that there were more diseases waiting for her. Recently, Ms. Zhang has just finished the month, but the last few days of the month she had a particularly painful time, always feeling breast swelling and pain, local skin redness and burning, and the whole body chills, fatigue like a fever. The most disturbing thing is that her milk volume has become less and her baby cries from hunger every day, so Ms. Zhang rushed to the breast specialist for a checkup and the doctor diagnosed acute mastitis. The main symptoms include breast pain, local skin burning, redness and swelling, and further development can lead to acute purulent mastitis, which can be palpable hard nodes and obvious tenderness, while the patient may have chills, high fever, headache, weakness, rapid heartbeat, and other systemic symptoms. The patient may also experience systemic symptoms such as chills, high fever, headache, weakness, rapid heartbeat, swollen lymph nodes in the armpit, a significant increase in blood leukocyte count, and in severe cases, sepsis; if the treatment is inadequate or the condition is further aggravated, local tissue necrosis and liquefaction may occur, and foci of infection of varying sizes may fuse with each other to form an abscess. So, what are the causes of acute mastitis? On the one hand, milk stagnation is an important factor in acute mastitis, as invading bacteria can easily grow and multiply when milk is stagnant, and the main causes of milk stagnation are poorly developed nipples (too small or invaginated), excessive milk secretion or low suckling by the baby, incorrect breastfeeding posture, and poorly functioning milk ducts; on the other hand, bacterial invasion is a necessary condition for acute mastitis. Bacteria can be invaded by broken and cracked nipples. The bacteria on the human skin under normal circumstances can “peacefully coexist” with the human skin is a natural barrier against its invasion, once the body’s resistance is reduced or the local defense barrier is damaged, the bacteria will take advantage of the situation; in addition, infants develop the habit of sleeping with the nipple, the baby’s mouth bacteria will directly invade and spread to the milk ducts, and then spread to the interstitial glands. In addition, the baby’s habit of sleeping with the nipple in his mouth can cause bacteria to spread directly to the milk ducts and then to the interstitial mammary glands, causing infection. But Ms. Zhang does not understand why acute mastitis loves to bully new mothers. It is a fact that the 3-6 weeks after giving birth is the high incidence of acute mastitis, and it is more likely to occur in first-time mothers, and the number of first-time mothers is one times more than that of menstruating mothers. This is because the skin of the nipples of new mothers is too delicate to withstand the stimulation of the nipples when the baby is suckling, which often causes damage to the nipple tissue and the formation of fissures. After the nipple is cracked, the mother’s breastfeeding time is shortened because of the severe pain caused by the baby’s sucking, and the mother is even afraid to let the baby suck the nipple again, which causes a large amount of milk to accumulate in the mammary gland, resulting in the gradual decomposition of milk in the mammary gland. More patients are concerned about what to do to prevent acute mastitis. In the middle of pregnancy, the nipples can be scrubbed frequently with warm water to toughen the skin of the nipples and areola, which can reduce and avoid trauma when the baby sucks; for those with nipple invagination, correction should begin before delivery, and the nipples should be pulled frequently, or corrected with nipple invagination correctors to prevent future problems. After delivery, you should pay attention to rest, ensure sufficient sleep and adequate nutrition, so that your body can recover as soon as possible to enhance the ability to resist diseases; pay attention to nipple hygiene, the mother should diligently change underwear and bras, and wash the nipples with warm water before and after each feeding to reduce the fine insects attached to the nipple skin, and a soft, absorbent cloth can be padded inside the bras to prevent nipple abrasions; develop good breastfeeding habits, use one side of the breast to feed first each time, and after feeding, use the nipple to feed. The milk that the baby has not finished sucking must be emptied to prevent milk retention, and do not develop the bad habit of sleeping with the baby’s nipple to avoid biting it. Usually, puerperal women should also be vigilant and perform self-examination of their breasts because the development of acute mastitis is a gradual process. When a hard lump is found on the breast, followed by local skin redness and swelling of the lump, pressure pain is obvious, and throbbing pain may occur, especially when accompanied by elevated body temperature or chills, you should immediately go to the hospital for active treatment to exclude the possibility of other diseases. When acute mastitis occurs, generally do not stop breastfeeding, because stopping breastfeeding not only affects infant feeding, but also increases the chances of milk stagnation. Therefore, when you feel breast pain, swelling or even local skin redness, not only do not stop breastfeeding, but also diligently feed the child, let the child try to suck the milk from the breast, if necessary, can be used to empty the breast by suction, but also can apply the technique or apparatus milking, try to empty the milk is the most effective measure; at the same time, you can local physiotherapy and hot compresses, which is effective for early inflammation; in the above methods When these methods do not work, antibiotics can be applied as appropriate. In case of localized pus in the breast, breastfeeding should be stopped on the affected breast and the milk should be drained by expressing milk or pumping to avoid new infections caused by milk residue, while the child can still eat breast milk from the other healthy breast. Once a new mother has signs of mastitis, she should seek medical attention immediately and seek decisive treatment to prevent problems with her baby’s “food bank”. In addition, the treatment can be combined with Chinese herbal medicine to dredge the liver and clear heat and detoxify the breast, which will have better effect.