breast shells - which ones and when to uae

[Clarella]

hi - have just woken up again after only a couple of hours with drenched top!

ds will .br 5 weeks on monday and gas just started having an expressed bottle in the evening. would I be able to wear shells at night and which are Tue best?

thanks!

[Andcake]

Breast shells are brilliant but unfortunately you can't wear them at night but I swear by them for collecting milk from the opposite boob when feeding or pumping. Or in the early days popping in first thing as I seemed to leak a lot then.
I have the medela ones but I think they are all similar just get the cheapest you can.
The leaking will calm down its horrible just find good breast pads swap tops a lot have spare ones at hand in the night. Try sleeping on your back as well. It's disgusting when it gets v bad - hated it but it does calm down!

[YorkshireRose12]

I did wear breast shells overnight, in fact I wore them all the time and only took off when I needed to feed DS from that boob. I needed to wear them all the time because I had severe nipple trauma and they were the only thing that I could wear to let the air get to my nipples to heal them, short of walking round all day with no top on which would have been DS's dream - an all day snack buffet!.

The reason why wearing them overnight (or for any prolonged period of time) is not recommended is that the pressure they put on your boobs can cause blocked ducts. I knew I wasn't particularly prone to blocked ducts, was very vigilant checking my boobs for hard lumps and ensured DS drained both breasts at each feed. This worked for me and I never suffered any problems - for me it was worth taking the risk because the damage to my nipples was so bad, but you do need to bear in mind the problems it could cause.

[ChunkyChicken]

I use the Avent breast shells but they advise not to wear for more than 30mins at a time, so in just collect leakage when feeding (but have had a little break from them due to mastitis). I just sleep on a towel now, sometimes topless, as breast pads would be useless at times and make me itchy/sweaty/uncomfortable. I still leak loads when feeding, and if he goes longer between feeds, but it is starting to settle a bit at night (he will be 9wo on Sunday).

[Clarella]

thanks for all the advice - will use when notice esp engorged and feeding - tends to be in morning!