Mastitis is a fairly common condition during breastfeeding and can usually be treated by unblocking the mammary glands through massage if the condition is not serious. If you don’t know how to do it yourself, you can ask a lactation specialist to help. If the breast is seriously infected, usually due to a bacterial infection caused by the baby’s nipple being bitten or blocked, antibiotics will be needed. It is important to note that antibiotics must be used under the guidance of a doctor. Penicillins and cephalosporins can be used during breastfeeding The antibiotics that are routinely used are often penicillins or cephalosporins. Both of these are medications that are safe to use while breastfeeding and are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatricians. When a breastfeeding mother takes these types of antibiotics, they basically have no effect on her breastfeeding baby, and if they do, they may only affect the flora of her baby’s intestines. We have probiotics in the human gut that are used to digest and break down food, and although they are good for the body, they are after all a type of bacteria, while antibiotics are bactericidal and do not distinguish between good and bad, they kill the bad bacteria while also killing the good bacteria. If the antibiotics in the breastfeeding mother’s body accumulate to a certain amount, some of them will also enter the baby’s body through breast milk, which may reduce the number of probiotics in the baby’s intestines. So mothers who take antibiotics should learn to observe carefully to see if their babies show symptoms of diarrhea. If the diarrhea is only mild, it means that the drug has little effect on the baby, and the mother can continue to take the medicine; if the baby has severe diarrhea, it means that the drug has adversely affected the baby, and it is best not to breastfeed, or to consult the doctor and switch to other kinds of antibiotics. Generally speaking, if mastitis is not so serious that you have to be hospitalized and your doctor has ordered you to stop breastfeeding, you can breastfeed normally. However, there are many mothers who are conservative for safety reasons and stop breastfeeding even if the doctor prescribes a safe medication. In fact, this can be done by adjusting the timing of the medication to reduce the effect of the medication on the baby. The medicine can be taken just before the baby finishes breastfeeding and goes into a long sleep. This will minimize the risk of the medicine to the baby. This is because the baby is sleeping when the drug is at its peak concentration in the mother’s body. When the baby wakes up from a nap, the peak period has passed, and the impact on the baby will become less when the mother nurses again at that time. In addition, the mother should also pay attention to drink more water after taking the medicine, which will help to metabolize the medicine out of the body faster. The more impatient you are, the more likely it is to recur. Many of my friends have asked me for help, saying that mastitis keeps coming back over and over again and what to do. One friend said her mastitis comes back once every three weeks. In fact, there are usually two reasons why mastitis comes back again and again. One is the mother’s bad breastfeeding habits. Some breastfeeding mothers do not pump their milk at work, which can lead to blockage of the milk ducts. Another reason is that not all the bacteria are killed during the first treatment of mastitis. Many patients take antibiotics to kill bacteria and as soon as they feel that their symptoms have subsided, their fever has gone down, and their breasts are not sore, they think they are well and stop taking the medication, but in fact, the bacteria are not completely killed and they may become stronger because they stop taking the medication and attack the patient again, so that the mastitis will come back. Usually, mastitis is treated with antibiotics for a course of 10 to 14 days, and it is important to use the full course of antibiotics.