Mastitis refers to an infection of breast tissue. Mastitis is most often marked by pain, redness, and swelling of the infected breast. Mastitis occurs almost exclusively among women who are nursing. While nursing, nipples may become cracked or have small breaks in the skin, into which bacteria may find its way. In some cases, bacteria may even get into the woman’s breast through the milk duct openings. It is very rare for a woman who is not breastfeeding to have mastitis, although it does happen occasionally.

Mastitis, if left untreated, can be dangerous. In the same way that any other infection can become a severe problem if it’s untreated, so can Mastitis. If you don’t properly treat the condition, mastitis can develop into an abscess of the breast.

What is an abscess? An abscess is essentially a pus-filled boil under the skin. An abscess may even need to be treated by draining, which is a procedure that has to take place in a hospital. The doctor will actually make an an incision in the breast. This is just one of the many reasons why it is important to identify and treat mastitis as soon as possible.

The good news here is that mastitis is not in any way harmful to your baby. Your baby may not nurse as fully or frequently while you have mastitis, because the infection will change the taste of your breast milk. Instead of being sweet as it usually is, your breast milk may taste salty when you have mastitis. Still, breast milk will not harm your baby when you have mastitis because of the fact that there are antibodies in the breast milk that protects your baby from various infections and diseases.

If you are exhibiting the signs of mastitis, you should talk with your health care provider. Mastitis is not a condition that will right itself on its own, and you will generally need some degree or another of medical attention to clear up the infection that is causing mastitis.

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