I've been exclusively breastfeeding my 8 week old daughter and I noticed last night that one of my breasts is engorged. I haven't noticed her feeding dropping off significantly, but I guess that is whats happened. Any ideas or suggestions? It hurts :(
Thanks for all the feedback ladies :)
I just fed her off that breast when she was hungry. It really seems like her appetite has dropped quite a bit, but four hourly feeds is what I've been waiting for I guess.
I felt a bit sick earlier on and was worried about mastitis, but it's all good now.
Thanks again :)
Yeah, that sometimes just happens. You can try showering with the shower directly on it, you can try compresses, you can try massaging. The only thing that worked for me was to pump that breast for 5 minutes. My pediatrician had a lactation consultant, maybe it's worth giving her a call?
You've gotten good advice on the self expressing, definitely do that. I used to have one breast that would occasionally get hard on the side, so I would massage (self express) it while baby was nursing and it always got rid of the hardness and felt SO much better ;) BTW, congratulations on baby!
Feed her on that side first. Also, get in the shower, relax, think happy thoughts, and try to express some of the milk, just enough to stop the engorgement. Your body will adjust. Sometimes kids sleep longer or have been eating more.
I experienced that for the first few months with my daughter. I just started her on the "harder" breast at each feeding and pumped when she was finished. That way I was comfortable, she was well fed and I started building a freezer supply. I eventually stopped becoming engorged and then longed for the days that I had so much extra milk. Good luck and enjoy your new baby!
Just Nurse her from that side (if your breasts are not too hard...)... or to avoid getting hard as a rock and pain... self-express it.... in a warm shower.
If a breast is hard, and engorged, a baby cannot latch on, well.
In the beginning of breastfeeding, engorgement happens. Your body will adjust too... by 6 months old, there will be no engorgement, or leaking usually.
Your supply, is changing... the older a baby gets, their sucking/intake/amounts changes too. Even if you can't 'see' it. Output reflects the baby's intake... AND a baby will often do what is called "cluster feeding" in which they NEED to feed every single hour, they get hungry and it reflects growth-spurts, which in a newborn, occurs every 3 weeks. So, ALWAYS feed on-demand.
NOT by a schedule. Your body/milk output, has to go with your baby's growing and intake/hunger needs.
ALSO, per each feeding session, nurse from both breasts. That is what I did and what my Doc and the nurses told me to do.
My kids as babies, DRAINED each breast, per session.
all the best,
Susan
The advice you got so far is great, and yes the cabbage leaves work!
Also, if you do notice a small lump it could be mastitis, then try to have baby latch on with her lower jaw pointing towards the lump, her sucking will help get rid of the blockage in your milk ducts! Painful but if you pay good attention to your body you can usually nip it in the butt form the beginning.
Way to go on nursing exclusively, and please keep going for as long as you can! I am still nursing about 4-5 times a day and my darling daughter is 18 months old tomorrow!
While she suckles on your normal breast, express from your other one while your let down is working, you will get a lot out that way. Have a good towel handy ;)
express, warm shower and I can say this I used to use cabbage leaves in my bra for that and it sounds strange but helped.
same advise as previous person.....
If it were me, I would pump the engorged side to help build a supply of frozen milk. Cabbage leaves will dry you up, if that is what you want. Personally, I wish I'd pumped more when I was engorged; when my supply dropped and I started having trouble pumping excess, I wished I'd pumped more when I had it (pumping will cue your body to keep producing excess which I wished for as she started growing and eating more. Since I didn't, we'd have a few frustrating days of not enough supply when she'd be growing and wanting more)!
Also, my left side still produces more than my right -- it's pretty common to have unbalanced supply for whatever reason. I usually start her on my right side so she suckles at that side for EVERY feeding and only sometimes on the left (more time on the right side will tell that side to produce more). However, I don't have engorgement issues on the left, so I do'nt need to empty that side for comfort, as you may.
As another mama said, if the left breast gets too engorged and hard, you may need to pump or hand-express a little from that side before she can latch on.
