[00:00:00] Dr Renee White: Knowledge is power, and we are all about empowering the mamas of the world. In each episode, we will unravel and interpret the latest research and evidence-based practices for pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood. [00:00:15] As mums and researchers ourselves, we have experienced firsthand the overwhelming complexity of information myths and those classic old wives tales.

[00:00:27] Dr Renee White: I'm Dr. Renee White, and this is the [00:00:30] science of motherhood. Hello and welcome to episode 193 of The Science of Motherhood. I'm your host, Dr. Renee White, and today's episode is proudly brought to you by Fill Your Cup, Australia's first [00:00:45] doula village. We combine over 16 years of health expertise with nurturing care.

[00:00:53] Dr Renee White: So you can recover faster, bond deeper, and embrace motherhood with confidence, [00:01:00] not chaos. If you are someone who is pregnant or has a new baby, and perhaps you are feeling very overwhelmed and out of your depth. You're perhaps feeling a bit lonely at home. You might not [00:01:15] have a lot of friends and family close by to help support you with making meals, holding your baby while you go have a nice hot shower or just lie down and rest.

[00:01:26] Dr Renee White: If you are feeling a bit anxious and you are [00:01:30] wanting someone to ask all of those questions of, is this normal? Then maybe a doula is for you. We have doulas all across Australia, including Melbourne, Hobart, [00:01:45] Sydney, Newcastle, central Coast, Brisbane, gold Coast, and Perth. If you are in one of those states and cities, please let us know.

[00:01:55] Dr Renee White: You can have a look at our services. I fill your cup.com. The link [00:02:00] is in the show notes, tap on services, and we can definitely help you out. Have a look at our birth and postpartum doula services. We make really yummy meals for you. Oh God, they're so delicious. You get to choose our meals from menu [00:02:15] each week.

[00:02:15] Dr Renee White: Uh, you get lots of phone and tech support in between sessions. We are with you every step of the way. If that sounds right up your alley and you love a bit of [00:02:30] evidence-based care, you're in the right space. I fill your cup.com. Have a look. Okay in today's check in Tuesday episode. We are diving into some really cool stuff.

[00:02:44] Dr Renee White: [00:02:45] I never thought I would, I would be here, but you know, AI, it's infiltrating all of our lives. Is it not? Well, it is and it is. It is infiltrating, I guess, mother care. We've heard about [00:03:00] how a AI is, you know, helping IVF processes and, and things like that. But in today's episode, we are gonna deep dive into the research that's shaping how we understand pregnancy, birth, [00:03:15] and early motherhood.

[00:03:17] Dr Renee White: And we're gonna be talking about something that affects up to one in 10 breastfeeding mothers, and that is acute mastitis. I am someone who has experienced mastitis before. It is [00:03:30] not a pleasant experience. If you have ever experienced that sudden onset of breast pain, the flu-like symptoms, the burning sensation during feeding, you know how quickly mastitis can derail your breastfeeding journey.[00:03:45]

[00:03:45] Dr Renee White: But what if I told you that researchers in China have developed a way to predict who's most likely to get mastitis with 84% accuracy? Today we are gonna be exploring [00:04:00] groundbreaking research that gives us new tools to predict, prevent, and understand this maternal health complication. Okay and stick around 'cause this could change the way you think about breastfeeding [00:04:15] preparation.

[00:04:15] Dr Renee White: So straight off the bat, what is mastitis now? Let's start with the basics okay. Acute lactational mastitis is essentially a breast infection that strikes breastfeeding [00:04:30] mothers. Now picture this, we've got bacteria usually, um, staph or or streptococcus, they find their way into breast tissue through tiny cracks in the nipple or blocked milk ducts.

[00:04:44] Dr Renee White: [00:04:45] Now the symptoms hit like a freight train, and I can personally attest to that. You might wake up feeling like you have the flu, fever, chills, body aches, but then you realize [00:05:00] your breast is red, hot, swollen, and incredibly painful. And for many mothers, this is their first real crisis in their breastfeeding journey.

[00:05:12] Dr Renee White: Now, here's what makes this particularly [00:05:15] challenging. The early symptoms aren't specific to mastitis, you might think you're just getting sick. That's what I thought initially, or that, you know, breastfeeding is supposed to be uncomfortable, PS it is not. By the time many women seek [00:05:30] help. Infection has progressed like sometimes requiring hospitalisation or even surgical drainage of abscesses and like that's very extreme, but it's a possibility.

[00:05:42] Dr Renee White: Now, the statistics are sobering. Research shows [00:05:45] mastitis affects anywhere from two to 30% of breastfeeding women globally. With most cases occurring in those crucial, like first three weeks, I would say postpartum. And here's the kicker, [00:06:00] it's been steadily increasing over the past decade.

[00:06:04] Dr Renee White: Now here's the research. It was featured, it's it, it's a study from China. It was published in [00:06:15] Scientific reports, and the researchers took a completely different approach to mastitis, so they kind of went, instead of treating it after it happened, they asked, [00:06:30] can we predict who's going to get it? It's very interesting, this is why this caught my eye.

[00:06:36] Dr Renee White: I was like, how is this? How is this actually gonna happen? Now? They studied 816 women 369, who [00:06:45] developed acute mastitis and 447 healthy controls. But here's where it gets really interesting. They didn't just look at traditional risk factors. They used four different machine learning [00:07:00] algorithms to analyze 12 different indicators, creating what's essentially the crystal ball for mastitis risk.

[00:07:12] Dr Renee White: Now, here are the five game changers. [00:07:15] First one, age, younger mothers, particularly those around 29 years old, showed higher risk. This makes sense when you think about it, younger mothers are more likely to be first time breast feeders. Still learning proper technique, [00:07:30] you know. Number two, nipple cracks, no surprise here, but the research quantified just how much this matters for prediction.

[00:07:39] Dr Renee White: Now here, now we're getting to the biology part. Number three [00:07:45] c reactive protein or CRP. Now, this inflammation marker was significantly elevated even before full blown symptoms appeared. So in the mastitis group, average CRP was [00:08:00] around 21 milligrams per liter compared to just 6.7 milligrams per liter in healthy mothers.

[00:08:10] Dr Renee White: The fourth factor, neutrophils, now these [00:08:15] are cells, these they're, you know, infection, fighting white blood cells, and they were mobilising, which means heading towards the site before women even knew they were getting sick. And number [00:08:30] five, white blood cell count overall. So the immune system was already responding.

[00:08:36] Dr Renee White: So for example, you know the mastitis group had a level of like 9.2 versus [00:08:45] 7.2 in healthy controls. So this multi-layer perception kind of model, think of it as like an artificial brain that learns patterns and it achieved an 84% [00:09:00] accuracy in predicting who would develop mastitis. So. I guess that's better than many medical tests we have routinely at the moment, which, you know, but here's the critical limitation, okay?

[00:09:13] Dr Renee White: There's always limitations to [00:09:15] these. These blood markers were only measured during routine postpartum checkups and at diagnosis. So while, while the model is incredibly accurate, it's not quite the early warning system [00:09:30] we'd hoped for yet. Okay, so we need to look at the limitations. Again, everything seems peaches and cream, but you know, there's always limitations to these studies.

[00:09:41] Dr Renee White: So oop, let's put our critical thinking caps [00:09:45] on. While the study is quite impressive, there are some limitations, okay, and we need to discuss those. First thing, it was a single center study in China, so we don't know if these patterns hold across different [00:10:00] populations or healthcare systems. The second, the biomarkers are only measured at routine checkups, and so really limiting the true early prediction.

[00:10:12] Dr Renee White: We are missing some known risk factors like [00:10:15] breastfeeding techniques, stress levels, sleep deprivation, all of those things. That was something that definitely cropped up for me. I didn't get my status till I was 11 months postpartum, and I guarantee you it was based around stress. It was [00:10:30] exactly the same time that I return to work, you know, kind of dropping feeds and, and things like that.

[00:10:36] Dr Renee White: So that definitely plays a role in it. And retrospective design means we can't prove causation, it's just [00:10:45] association. Okay, so I guess, where do we go from here? The mastitis researchers are already planning multicenter studies with larger, more diverse populations, and that's exactly what we wanna be seeing.

[00:10:58] Dr Renee White: They wanna track [00:11:00] biomarkers over time, maybe starting in pregnancy to like really build that true early warning system. And so I guess the future of maternal healthcare is becoming [00:11:15] increasingly personalized and predictive. We are moving from a wait and see to predict and prevent, and while we're not quite there yet, studies like these are building the foundation, I [00:11:30] guess, for a revolution in where and how we care for mothers and babies.

[00:11:35] Dr Renee White: And so you know, the key takeaways is your body is constantly communicating through biomarkers, [00:11:45] symptoms, risk factors, and the more we understand these signals, the better we can support healthy pregnancies and positive breastfeeding experiences. And if so, if you are currently breastfeeding and experiencing any concerning [00:12:00] symptoms.

[00:12:00] Dr Renee White: Do not wait. Trust your instincts. Seek help early. And remember, mastitis is treatable and it doesn't have to end your breastfeeding journey. All right everyone, until next week, I'll see ya [00:12:15] bye.

[00:12:17] Dr Renee White: If you loved this episode, please hit the subscribe button and leave a review. If you know someone out there who would also love to listen to this episode, please hit the share button [00:12:30] so they can benefit from it as well.

[00:12:32] Dr Renee White: You've just listened to another episode of The Science of Motherhood proudly presented by Fill Your Cup, Australia's first doula village. Head to our website I fill your cup.com to [00:12:45] learn more about our birth and postpartum doula offerings where every mother we pledge to be the steady hand that guides you back to yourself.

[00:12:53] Dr Renee White: Ensuring you feel nurtured, informed, and empowered so you can fully embrace the joy of motherhood [00:13:00] with confidence. Until next time, bye.