Milk coming in, huge boobs, nipples flat = no latching, any clever tips?

[jasmine51]

Hi
At day 5, my milk is well and trully coming in, my breasts are massive, painful and hot. I have been doing all the massaging etc so the breast care is under control but the size of them means the nipple area is pretty flat and stretched, I cant form a shape for baby to latch to and its stopping me feeding, resorting to expressing and bottle. The midwife says to massage them and hand express to soften nipple area but does anyone have any clever or top tips as this doesnt seem to work that well so far

[mummynoseynora]

nipple shields? express for a minute to take the edge off the fullness ? stimulation to make more pert?

[schmee]

I had this last time and this time round I'm planning to express slightly with a breast pump before trying to get her latched on. The problem I found with nipple shields is that then one of my babies would only feed with one on - and of course you have to keep them sterile etc, so that was a real pain. But that could just have been us as I know other people who have used them then phased them out.

[suzikettles]

I had this. A couple of things which worked (sometimes) for me:

• expressing for a minute and then latching ds on (the act of expressing made the nipple more prominent)
  
• having a bath and hand expressing a bit in the water (the warm water helps with the letdown) and then getting dh to pass me ds to feed in the water.
  

This engorgement will pass, and technically you don't need a very prominent nipple to bf successfully - mine were always pretty much flat - although it surely must make it easier to have something to aim for!

[RufflesKerfluffles]

Congratulations!
This happened to me, and I ended up cupfeeding DS for a couple of days until it passed. However, since then I've read about 'reverse pressure softening' and wonder if it would have helped. Can't link as on phone, but if you google it, you'll find it- might be worth a look.

[lilham]

Like many others have suggested, I expressed a bit of the milk out, until the breast didn't feel rock solid. I used a breast pump instead of hand expressing.

[suzikettles]

I forgot about reverse pressure softening. I got shown that at the bf clinic and it did help:

www.kellymom.com/bf/concern/mom/rev_pressure_soft_cotterman.html

[LittleMilla]

Hello - me too, I had this prob. Poor DS ended up bouncing off my enormous boobs! At the time I was so upset, but I can now laugh 7 weeks on!

I was having a bath/shower before a feed and massaging boobs non stop. I found that leaning forward meant they could drip out of their own accord. I would then massage them whilst he was latched on.

I also bought some cold compress things from Boots - bit like the sleeves you cool wine with. Were about £10 I think, but I kept them in the fridge of freezer and then put them on boobs right after feed. I knwo you said that you've got boobs in order, but I believe that these compresses helped things regulate more quickly.

Not sure about you but I was in AGONY. Most painful thing so far actually, worse than sore/cracked nips. Really p*ssed off than noone had bloody warned me about it!

Hope it passes for you soon. Congrats BTW! x

[EveryonesJealousOfGingers]

Another vote here for expressing a bit - mine were rock hard so there was literally nothing for DD to latch on to! DH was duly dispatched to Mothercare (other shops are available!) and I pumped until they were slightly softer. Did the job. Good luck and congratulations on your baby!

[LittleMilla]

Sorry, one mroe thing re:expressing. If you have a pretty abundant supply, be careful not to over-express. I've got myself in trouble a number of times over the last few weeks because I've taken too much milk. Whcih has obviously made me body go in to overdrive, meaning I end up with more engorged boobs than when I started.

Been fine hand expressing, but once I get the electric one on I get in trouble.

[devonshiredumpling]

i had the same problem but was told of a temporary nipple puller outer which worked ( it has a glass bell and rubber teat which when put over the nipple will pull it out for feeding ) go to boots they are a great help