Been BF for 6 wks now and woke up engorged - eek!

[ChubbyScotsBurd]

When LO was new I had mega engorgement issues - poor LO couldn't find enough nipple to latch onto cos my boobs were like globes. Anyway, lovely midwife, hot showers, chilled savoy cabbage and plenty massage and all was eventually well.

However, the last couple of days I have had blocked ducts again, which have been very full and painful. From experience I knew they took a long time to settle down so I wasn't too worried. However, I seem to have gone into milk overproduction and this morning my right boob (which wasn't too badly affected with blocked ducts) was completely rock hard! Thankfully LO is now an artful latcher so he's relieved my agonies for now but I'm a bit worried about where all this milk's suddenly come from. I don't think he's had his 6 week growth spurt yet - if anything he's feeding slightly more frequently in the night (every 2-3 hours now) but less frequently in the day (3-4 hours).

I feel more confident to deal with it now (and HV is reasonably clued up so if problem continues will call her) but have no idea why this has happened again. Does anyone have any clues?

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Not really - but if you're producing more he must have been demanding more! More feeding in the night would indicate that he's hungry and needs more, wouldn't you think?

At least he knows what to do so he can relieve you.

I so well remember that feeling - hanging over the cot willing them to wake up so I could feed them!

[Miaou]

Chubby, don't worry about it - your LO's feeding habits are still erratic enough for your body not to have got into a rhythm yet. My ds2 is 5 and a half weeks now and I quite often find I am engorged at seemingly random times of the day or night! You sound like you are doing all the right things to combat problems though so it should settle down fairly soon

[Amethyst8]

Have you tried using a breast pump. Am still breastfeeding DD at 11 months and things do settle down. Never get engorged now but certainly in the first couple of months it was horrendous. If she was asleep and didnt look to be waking up I would just express some out to give me some relief. Just enough to deflate things somewhat .

[Elffriend]

Don't worry - the real explanation is just that your body is still working out the supply and demand chain - takes a while to iron out the kinks! just need to grit your teeth You are doing great to battle through the engorgements. Do you have a pump? Are you able to express? If so, this can help to releive the pressure. Failing that, I always found that it helped to massage the knots whilst lo was feeding or when I was expressing. Also, it is safe to take one plain paracetemol and that can really help to calm the fever and pain. Good luck.

[ChubbyScotsBurd]

Thanks folks. I have a diddy hand pump which is ok for the odd couple of oz but I REALLY know what they mean when they say 'no pump's as good as a baby'!

Also suspect I have caused the blocked ducts by sleeping on my front doofus!