RN Nursing · Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding · Practice question
A 4-week postpartum patient with mastitis asks the nurse if she can continue to breastfeed her infant. After assessing her symptoms and understanding her concerns, what is the nurse's best evidence-based response?
-
Pump and discard milk from the affected breast until the infection clears, then resume breastfeeding.
-
Only breastfeed from the unaffected breast to prevent spreading the infection to the infant.
-
No, you should stop breastfeeding until your antibiotic therapy is complete to avoid spreading the infection to your infant.
-
✓
Yes, you should continue breastfeeding frequently from both breasts, especially the affected one, to prevent milk stasis and promote healing.
Answer & explanation
Correct: Yes, you should continue breastfeeding frequently from both breasts, especially the affected one, to prevent milk stasis and promote healing.
Current evidence-based guidelines from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and the World Health Organization support continued breastfeeding from both breasts, including the affected breast, when a mother is diagnosed with mastitis. Frequent and effective milk removal — especially from the infected breast — is a cornerstone of treatment because milk stasis is both a causative factor and a perpetuating factor in mastitis. Continuing to breastfeed or pump frequently prevents abscess formation, reduces engorgement, and accelerates healing. The milk from the affected breast is safe for the infant; the bacterial load in milk does not cause illness in a healthy newborn, and the immune components in breast milk provide additional benefit. Pumping and discarding milk from the affected breast is unnecessary and deprives the infant of nutrition and immune factors; it also risks worsening stasis if pumping is insufficient. Feeding only from the unaffected breast leads to incomplete drainage of the infected breast, increasing abscess risk. Stopping breastfeeding entirely until antibiotics are finished is not recommended and is likely to worsen the infection due to increasing milk stasis, as well as leading to unnecessary weaning. Therefore, frequent breastfeeding from both breasts, prioritizing the affected side, is the best evidence-based guidance.
Practise Breastfeeding and Infant Feeding questions
Work through full question sets with instant rationales, timed exams, and progress tracking.
Start practising freeRelated practice questions
- A nurse is assisting a client who is postpartum with her first breastfeeding experience. When the client asks how much of the nipple she should put into the baby's mouth, which of the following responses by the nurse is appropriate?
- A nurse is teaching about how to suppress lactation with a client who is postpartum and bottle feeding her newborn. Which of the following instructions should the nurse include in the teaching?
- A nurse is caring for a client who is breastfeeding and tells the nurse that she is concerned about her newborn’s hydration. Which of the following nursing observations is appropriate to use in evaluating the adequacy of the newborn’s hydration?
- A new mother states her preference to formula feed her newborn. What will the nurse planning discharge instructions tell her to help suppress lactation and promote comfort?