Mastitis
Also called lactational mastitis, lactation mastitis, puerperal mastitis, mastitis spectrum, inflammatory mastitis, bacterial mastitis
Mastitis is when a breast becomes swollen, hot and painful, most often in someone who is breastfeeding. When it comes with breastfeeding it is also called lactational or puerperal mastitis.
How it's said
Hello, I think I may also have mastitis and I'm a bit of a worrier.
I remember when I had mastitis which started over night and I genuinely have never felt so ill in my whole life before!
This is my 3rd baby and I've now got mastitis for the 2nd time with him.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- A clogged duct is one blocked milk duct with a sore lump in one spot. Mastitis is the inflamed breast, and since 2022 breastfeeding doctors count a narrowed duct as the first step on a mastitis spectrum.
Where it came from
Mastitis joins mast-, from the Ancient Greek mastós for breast, with -itis, so it means breast inflammation. English took it from the French mastite.
In the US the word usually means the version with fever, and lighter cases a few days after birth often get called engorgement. In 2022 the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine stopped treating mastitis as a single condition and described a mastitis spectrum, from ductal narrowing through inflammatory and bacterial mastitis to abscess.