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Infant feeding

Huge and painful boobs at night.

6 replies

WinkyWinkola · 02/01/2007 15:00

My friend's baby was born in October. She's breastfeeding happily enough apart from at night. Her DS sleeps through and her boobs are huge at night and waking her up with the pain. She has to get up to express in the night. This interrupts her sleep and is getting her down. She doesn't seem to be leaking any milk in the night to relieve the pressure.

I know she's lucky to be producing so much but is there any thing she can do to be more comfortable at night? She feeds her son just before she goes to sleep but he only feeds from one breast at a time.

Would be grateful for any ideas.

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VoodooBiltong · 02/01/2007 16:19

I think her boobs will get used to it, mine take 3 days to shift up or down a gear to match dd s eating habits, sometimes through the night sometimes during, she could take a paracetamol if its really bad, but otherwise if she is feeding him right up to the last second he is awake she cant do much else. ps he sounds like a dream baby????
It got me down when my dd woke up 4 times a night for a feed...........your friend is one lucky sausage.

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motherinferior · 02/01/2007 16:21

Mine took a long time to shift, I'm afraid - about six weeks. Looking back I'm amazed I didn't get mastitis. I think the best thing is to express a very small amount - as little as possible - while her breasts adjust. I am sorry. I do remember it as very, very painful.

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WinkyWinkola · 03/01/2007 10:21

Bump. TikTok and Daisy - could you help at all?

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caygill132 · 03/01/2007 10:44

I'm no expert but I found that the more I expressed the worse my boobs got. I also found that things didn't really calm down until after about 3/4 months. My dd is still waking once or twice during the night for a feed so your friend can at least be happy that her lo sleeps through..I would give anything for mine to do that.

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tiktok · 03/01/2007 11:02

Sounds like a very generous production system she has got going there

I think this will subside on its own - this is presumably a problem only since he started to sleep through, and it will take the body a little while to accommodate it. It may take a few days, or it may take (like motherinferior) a few weeks. I don't think there is anything she can actually do to prevent it, except try feeding one sided through the day as well (if she is not already doing this) which will dampen down her supply.

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hunkermunker · 03/01/2007 11:07

How much is she expressing at night? If she expresses loads, her body will keep making it, because it will think her baby's feeding at that time.

I would try expressing a bit less each night for a few nights in a row - I'd be reluctant to go cold turkey on it because I've had mastitis.

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