Please can anyone help with breast engorgement im in so much pain :(

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Gave birth Saturday night, came home at about 4pm today and my milk also came in today

My breasts are killing, they are so hard and full even walking hurts them, I am breast feeding but baby is small (5lb6 when we were released today) so his latch isn't great which has made my nipples sore. I had an over supply when I had DD 6 years ago but I never remember them hurting like this, I just used to pump the excess.

I pumped when I got home and got about an oz off each breast and they felt better although still sore for all of about 20 minutes now they are hard killing again and I'm scared keeping pumping will lead to over supply and make it worse :(

My midwife should come out tomorrow and I'm hoping she can help but does anyone have anything that might in the mean time please?

Hakkas saved me
Order two and leave them on
I got like 4oz out my aa boobs each
But less than an oz with a pump

Have a warm bath and while you're in it, cover your boobs with warm wet flannels. I did this to ease engorgement and it helped some milk to trickle out and so help with totally overfull, aching breasts.

Have you called an IBCLC or your local La Leche League leader? They will be best placed to help.

What worked for me was cold Savoy cabbage leaves from the fridge, regularly changed, reverse pressure softening to allow tiny baby to latch, and (longer term) advice to gradually reduce the massive over supply.

Poor you, it’s awful. It can be fixed, though, I went on to feed for over a year.

It is very sore when milk comes in. Warm bath, compress and express if needed. It takes time to build a supply and so expressing a little after a feed will be fine. It’s good to have a little spare anyway that you can freeze or get your partner to feed via bottle one feed a day to save issues later on. Just keep an eye out for any fevers etc, I had major issues with that with my 3rd child and I left it and left it and ended up admitted for 5 days of IV antibiotics. Sure that won’t happen and some pain is normal, I took paracetamol too

Whole cabbage leaves in your bra (not shredded cabbage!). Works, no idea why.

Savoy cabbage leaves in your bra help so much.
A warm bath so the milk can dribble out
I wouldn't pump anymore

Can't help I'm afraid but I don't think I've experienced pain/discomfort like it so I'm sending sympathy.

A friend with several babies recommended cabbage leaves, frozen.

I was so naive (and thick) I froze the whole cabbage head which was then only good for throwing at DH who had the audacity to not suffer in the same way 🙄.

My PHN was awful and I ended up burning my breasts with a hot water bottle in a desperate bid to ease the pain. She said "oh" when I told her. No advice or support.

Fwiw my baby was a decent full term weight and a good feeder from the off and I still suffered but did not suffer with the second.

Just be a bit careful with the warm bath thing - it helps most people but it can also make it worse (it did for me) so try out both heat and cold a little and see what helps for you.

Please don't do this so early on!

Warm shower and express a bit in there under the water, you don’t have to go mad but it’ll def help in the short term.
I had the worst mastitis with DC2 when they were 3 weeks old, I’d have preferred to go through birth again than that. Was awful!

Haakaa pump. I was also in a lot of pain and didn't want to stimulate by pumping... I put the milk in the freezer

Nice hot flannel, keep going with the little bits. It will get better 💐

Oh you poor thing OP! I remember this well

4 things:

1. Feed the baby non stop
2. Pump in between
3. Paracetamol
4. Hot flannels

If you start to feel woozy or flu-like call 111. Mastitis is a fucker you want to avoid it as best you can

And feel for lumps. If you find one, massage it out.

I think it sounds like you need some help with his latch. He may be small but that won’t prevent him from latching properly. If he is just sucking the end of the nipple you’ll get very sore quickly and also he won’t transfer much milk leading to engorgement. Has he been examined for tongue tie? I’d contact your midwife/post natal ward for some advice and support tonight.

Bless you, defo hot flannels (as hot as you can handle) and hot water directly onto your boobs in the shower, hopefully it’ll pass soon!

Do keep an eye out for other symptoms in case you get clogged ducts, I did not long after my milk came in and OUCH!

I had this with both of my boys and both had a tongue tie. Do you have any nipple shields? They really help them to latch when they're small. Express enough to take the pain away, you don't want to end up with mastitis. You could offer it in a bottle after you've fed the baby yourself.

Call your midwife & ask her to call tomorrow to help you with latch. Warm flannels will help. Let baby feed as much as you can.

Thank you everyone, I had a warm bath and fed baby again and there is definitely an improvement

Also try different ways of holding the baby to feed - sometimes they empty the breast better at some angles and less well at others. So switching between for example cradle hold - with baby lying across your front, and rugby hold - with baby held sort under your arm like a rugby ball - could help. You could also lie down flat and let baby lie vertically on your tummy. There’s loads of different positions that can work. Which ones are likely to feel comfortable/feasible does depend on bit on your and the size/shape of your boobs as well as the age/size/muscle tone of your baby so a bit of trial and error might be needed.

Why not??
It's what I was told to do - worked really well whilst things settled down

If you're too engorged (such that it's painful) it may be more difficult for baby to latch. Try expressing a tiny bit first so they've got a bit more flexibility to latch onto?

My second had a tongue tie and struggled to latch anyway. Nipple shields were a godsend.

It will sort in a day or so, but it can be so painful! I wouldn't worry too much about pumping and making the situation worse.

Feed baby as much as you can. Have you tried feeding lying down? With both mine (my youngest is 7 months) I fed lying down a lot in the early days when the supply could be a bit extra. My left boob is like a fire hydrant. We call it the super soaker. Lying down helps baby deal with it.

I had a wonderful community midwife show me how to feed lying down with my first and it's how we managed to start getting the latch right.

I found this was worse with my second baby too, it's like your body knows what to do the second time and my milk production went nuts. I would do west you are doing and keep trying to feed little and often. Hopefully your production will settle down quickly!

Definitely feeding the baby non stop helped me. Painkillers to take the edge off and cold compresses.