 The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that acupuncture treatment hastens recovery time from inflammatory symptoms of the breast during breastfeeding. 205 mothers with 210 cases of breast inflammation commonly called mastitis during breastfeeding were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. There were two groups where acupuncture was used and one without acupuncture. The mothers symptoms were recorded at the onset of health care contact and daily until recovery. All care interventions given, including antibiotic therapy, were monitored. Women who participated were asked to leave a breast milk sample to test for bacterial growth. It was found that acupuncture did not shorten the womens contacts with health care services but did improve their symptoms on contact days 3 and 4. It was seen in this study that only 15 of women were prescribed antibiotics which was a very low rate of prescription compared to USA, Canada, Australia, Turkey and New Zealand where up to 100 are given antibiotics. Seven women 3.3 of those in the study developed a breast boil and this is a similar number to a study in Australia where many more were treated by antibiotics. This could mean that many women throughout the world are given antibiotics when in fact they may recover without them. This is an important finding in relation to the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria. 