Breast Engorgement Question

[MarieGx]

How can i ease it? I've read that putting cold compress on it can help. Any tips from you ladies would be lovely

 

[anothersquish]

cold or warm flannels, savoy cabbage leaves (sounds odd I know...!) sitting with them underwater in the bath or running water in the shower. All that will help. Try not to be tempoted to express any milk off unless baby is struggling to latch on in which case just the SMALLEST amount til he can manage

 

[britt1986]

Are you breastfeeding? If not, after I had my son I put on the tightest bra I had and put nursing pads in the bra and then wrapped myself with an ace bandage wrap. Get it as tight as you can. I didn't take it off unless I needed a shower. I even slept this way. It was very uncomfortable, but I would have rather been uncomfortable for a couple of days than for a week or more. I also took pain reliever to relieve the pain of the engorgement. After 2 days of wearing my tight bra and being wrapped, they went down. A nurse at the hospital advised me to do this.

 

[MarieGx]

I'm not breastfeeding as he had problems latching on i tried a good few times but he just didn't want any of it. And thank you i'll have to give that a try

 

[BBonBoard]

I'm not breastfeeding as he had problems latching on i tried a good few times but he just didn't want any of it. And thank you i'll have to give that a try

I had many many problems with my little girl latching on, I think she is finally getting the hang of it. She had a tongue tie which is what kept her from latching so we got help from the lactation specialist. Has your little one been checked for tongue tie?

 

[Dream.A.Dream]

I know everyone says not to express as it keeps your milk coming. But I was told by MW not to express, so I didn't and I ended up with blocked ducts leading to infection, as did someone else who posted in the formula section (she actually ended up with abcesses needing draining under general anaesthetic). So I personally would recommend expressing off just a tiny bit to relieve the discomfort. It might take your milk a bit longer to go away, but could save a lot of pain xx

 

[mommyhav]

this might sound very strange....but a friend of mine had troubles and didnt want to breast feed so she was told to do teh following: brew a pot of black tea, put a good 5 tea bags in and let it steep for about 3 hours! then drink a cup or two and it apparently works like a charm with no problems! havent tried it myself, but she said it worked for her within 12 hours! good luck and let me know if that works if you try it i am super curious!

 

[karenm28]

Hello

Do you still want to breastfeed? If you do then ring your local childrens centre or health visitor and see if there is a breastfeeding group or breastfeeding peer supporter who would come out and see you or you could go see her and she will help you with the latch -Please hurry though! as you would need to start getting established now. A lady can come and check the latch and give you advise on positioning, check for possible tongue tie etc

Or if you don't want to continue trying latching but want your baby to get the benefits of breastmilk you could try expressing your milk with a pump instead and feed baby your milk with a bottle. Pump at least 8 to 10 times in 24 hours to start getting your milk established and have you baby with you while you pump as it will stimulate your milk supply.

If you want to switch to formula feeding, to help with the engorgement you could have warm shower or bath and hand express a little bit of milk off just to relieve the pain. Look up hand expressing on the net to see pics of how to do it. It is easy you just make C shape with thumb and forefinger and apply light pressure from different angles to squeeze a few drops out. If you do this when they start to feel full it won't be enough to keep your milk going but will just help relieve the discomfort. It will help prevent blocked ducts and other problems. If you hand express onto a spoon and just get a few drops then feed that to your baby - don't waste it - as it is full of lovely antibodies and vitamins.

Have you thought of pumping or hand expressing off what you can and keeping your milk supply going for a few weeks or more, feeding it to baby and then topping up with formula. It will probably dry up eventually but every drop of breastmilk given to baby is a great benefit.

I had lots of problems breastfeeding in the first few weeks and couldn't have carried on without help from a peer supporter. It is very hard at first but the benefits are well worth it if you do want to give it a go.

Love Karen
x