3 day old - engorgement, help!

[FeelingHip]

Hi, Have a 3 day old baby, think i might be getting engorgement, my boobs are bigger than they were, though yet to be hard. My nipples seem to vary from flat and large (which I have been trying to 'perk up' for the last few days to rock hard, pert as bullets...Baby has been feeding a bit today, but now he can't latch on. And when he does latch on, he is falling very quickly to sleep. I need to try and fix particularly as he is slightly jaundiced so needs regular feeding. I've tried hand expressing, but I am only producing literally a few drops. How do I get through the night?! Please help x

I found cabbage leaves helped, also warm compress/massage (ask midwife as there is a specific way to do it)
I also used a breast pump to express excess milk but to also relieve myself of the milk that was making nipples to small and shallow for babies mouth.. once milk is flowing, u get ur let down reflex, then latch baby on....

Cabbage leaves are great for easing engorgement, but if you haven't got access to any at this time of night, & you don't have a breast pump (yet) then hot wet flannels over your boobs should get the milk flowing, then try squeezing some off. Even better if you can get into a hottish bath & lean forward to get your boobs under the water, it will release some of the milk.

Congratulations on your DS X

Try www.drjacknewman.com, has advice on engorgement (& much more). Helped me a lot when I was starting out BF

I was still in hospital when I was engorged - I was allowed a mild painkiller, paracetamol I think, as it was so uncomfortable, & they used frozen baby vests as a cool compress. Yes, I know that sounds weird! But they were the right size (I guess anything roughly flannel-sized would work) & after a few seconds out the freezer they are malleable enough to fit around sore boobs, much like cold cabbage leaves but not so icky. Just keep trying babe to drink & have lots of skin-to-skin cuddles & it should be all sorted within a day or two.

what sossiges said.

Thanks everyone for your replies it's been a tough night and I gave baby some formula from a cup in the middle of it. I was about to use my electric breastpump for the first time to soften my breasts and hope that baby can feed. is that a good idea and if so, how and how much should I express. It's so sad as breastfeeding was going so well for the first few days and then overnight the baby just won't take the breast at all

Engorgement at this stage is normal. But it is horrid. I found it impossible to relax enough to express normally too, the only way I could get some milk out to release the pressure was massaging my breasts in a hot shower and then hand expressing.

Once the worst of the pressure is off you should be able to pinch the nipple to allow your DS to take it more easily. Maybe try speaking to one of the breastfeeding helplines listed here.

It's fine to take a paracetamol if it gets too painful. Try not to worry, you'll probably be exceptionally tearful and hormonal today - that's quite normal when your milk comes in and it really will pass quite quickly.

Good luck, you're doing a great job.

Feelinghip the exact same thing happened to me at 3 days, I had to bottle feed dd ebm for 2 days until i saw a bf counsellor. She sorted the latch and i am still bf 8 months later so first of all don't think that you won't be able to carry on feeding. Engorgement is a horrible couple of days but passes quite quickly.

The bf counsellor told me to express for about 5 mins before offering the boob. This should make boobs less full but bot stimulate your supply too much.

She also taught me the nipple flick technique which seems to help babies latch when your nipple is quite flat and your boobs are a bit hard.

Say if you were feeding from right boob you would support baby with your left arm and with your right hand cup your boob so that your thumb is resting on the right side of your nipple. Then with your thumb gently pull your nipple to the right so that it is pointing away from your baby. When your baby opens its mouth, with your thumb flick the nipple quite quickly towards the roof of babies mouth and at the same time bring baby in quite firmly with the left arm and hold him closely to you. You need to wait until the mouth is wide open before you do it.

It sorted our latch instantly and bf counsellor said its great for big boobs and engorged boobs. It is hard to explain though without being able to show you so I hope all that made some sense! Are there any bf counsellors in your area you could see?

I was also told to take ibuprofen to reduce some of the swelling and soreness.

Good luck and congrats on ds!