Jenna Dewan is a mom of three, and she clearly loves it. As the Step Up star recently said of her youngest, Rhiannon, who turned six months(!) old in December, “I still just stare at you and can’t believe I’m lucky enough to call you mine. The way you seem to make everything better and everyone happier… something tells me you have the healing touch in this life.” Cue the awww‘s!
But Dewan is also honest about the not-so-adorable parts of motherhood. For example: mastitis. In a set of Instagram photos celebrating her return to The Rookie after maternity leave — including multiple sweet pictures of mom and baby! — Dewan included a selfie showing her reclining on a bed with what look like raw potato slices on her chest. Some fans were left confused. “Wait what do the potatoes do?” one person commented. “Are the soothing or helping with maybe stretch marks or just skin stuff in general?”
Turns out, raw potatoes may help with symptoms of mastitis, which is swelling and redness of the breast tissue, sometimes involving an infection, according to Mayo Clinic. “Mastitis can be triggered by clogged (plugged) milk ducts and engorgement,” Dr. Jessica Madden of Aeroflow Breastpumps, a board-certified pediatrician and neonatologist, and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), tells SheKnows. “Cracked nipples can also lead to mastitis by allowing bacteria to enter into the breast tissue.”
People who are breastfeeding are most likely to get mastitis, which can include symptoms like breast tenderness or warmth, breast swelling, breast lumps, a burning feeling or pain while breastfeeding, and even a fever. Per the Cleveland Clinic, mastitis affects up to 10 percent of breastfeeding people in the US.
Dewan dealt with mastitis for the first time while pregnant with Rhiannon, she told Us Weekly back in September — and she tried everything to find relief. “Anything someone DMed me, I was like, ‘I’m gonna try that,'” she explained, “because it was so miserable. It was so awful.”
And an Instagram post from August showed Dewan wasn’t exaggerating about all the remedies she tried, sourced from a supportive network of fellow moms. In addition to applying “thinly sliced potatoes after feeds,” she also used hot Epsom salt baths “to help with the shaking,” and put castor oil on her breasts with a warm compress on top. She also took probiotics, vitamins C and E, ibuprofen, and antibiotics.
In the post, Dewan said the potatoes eased her inflammation — so is it true? Well, depends who you ask. According to a 2016 report in theIOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, raw potatoes can help with pain, swelling, and redness if applied within the first 24 hours of noticing symptoms. (Per the authors, you should start with six to eight washed, raw potatoes and soak them in room temperature water before applying a few to your breasts. The slices should be replaced every 15 to 20 minutes.)
However, Dr. Madden isn’t convinced. “Although there is some scientific evidence that chemical components in potatoes may promote wound healing, mastitis occurs in the deeper tissues of the breast where components of topical potato slices will not reach,” she explains. In fact, in their most recent guidelines, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine actually recommends against applying topical products to the breast when treating mastitis. “While I don’t think that applying raw potatoes to inflamed breasts is harmful,” Dr. Madden says, “I suspect that in most cases it will not help.”
Instead, Dr. Madden recommends ibuprofen, ice or cold packs, managing breast milk oversupply, wearing a supportive and well-fitting bra, and antibiotics in some cases. It can also help to continue feeding or pumping from the affected breast, but “minimizing pumping and efforts to full empty the affected breast after feeding,” she adds.
As for Dewan, she reported in the Us Weekly interview that she thinks the potato trick worked — but not on its own. “It was kind of in combination with also antibiotics, which really worked,” she explained. “You gotta have the natural and the actual medicine work together.” Sounds like this mom of three found the combination of strategies that worked for her. If you can relate to the mastitis struggle, make sure to talk treatment options with your doctor to relieve your symptoms.
Before you go, shop these essentials for bed-resting moms-to-be:
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