Strange Cases.

It's hard to see but this is the infected breast.

Yesterday a one week old little girl came in with what could only be MASTITIS of the right breast. Her mother reported that she was able to get a lot of milk out of it the day before. When I checked, lots of milky pus was expelled. It was very strange.

I should explain that baby girls sometimes have side effects from their mother’s hormones of pregnancy. These hormones can cause her to have a ‘period’ not long after birth. Some girls have ‘witches milk’ -- or start lactating. It’s normally nothing. The period is only once and the milk goes away after awhile as the hormones make their way out of the baby’s system. But mastitis (aka: infected milk duct)? That’s a new one for me.

My differential diagnosis is a plugged milk ducts, an abscess, breast cancer. But I’m open to ideas and suggestions. My money’s on mastitis though. She’s on meds now. I’ll let you know how it goes.