Engorgement after dropping night feeds

[sophielouise]

My ebf dd is 17 weeks old and has started to sleep through from 7-5+ on occasion. Although this sounds great in theory I always wake before her with massively painful leaking breasts. My main question is when does this stop happening? At this stage I almost wish she would go back to night feeds and then we wouldn't have the early waking! We have never done dreamfeeding btw as she is always so sound asleep then.

sophie it should settle down after a few nights although this will take longer if she wakes for some nights and not others.

If your breasts are leaking you could try sleeping on a folded towel or disposable change mat. If they are painfully engorged could you try hand expressing a small amount? Just enough for your comfort, expressing to much could stimulate your body into producing more. You could always use what you express as a top up later in the day too.

Am also a bit over your sleeper too.

When DD started sleeping through, I ahd to get up at night and pump. I didn't pump as much as I could though and gradually decreased the amount over 7-10 days.

ok thanks for your tips ladies :-) I know I am lucky really but the thing I've learned with babies is that nothing ever stays the same! She'll probably started her 4 month sleep regression next week ...

I had this problem and found warm flannels on my breasts and hand-expressing a little milk out before I went to bed helped (I'd also have to get up in the night and do this if they were really painful/hard). It felt like I'd always have to do it at the time, but it does get better after a few days and your body just starts to make less milk/adjusts. I also struggled with blocked ducts, and if this happens I'd recommend you take some paracetamol and get some rest (easier said than done!!).

i struggled with this for a few nights, then my body adjusted and slowly became accustomed to 'holding' more milk. Chin up, it will ease! Though i do remember soaking the bed a few times. :)

sophielouise I empathise! DS3 is 17 weeks and I'm having similar time. Prob is that my body doesn't really get a chance to catch up because maybe one day every week he does wake for a 2/3am feed. He has been sleeping 8/9 hours a night for about 4 weeks, but the occasional night feed means I am still engorged and very sore most mornings! The leaking has subsided though...

haha! Serves me right for starting this thread - we seem to have started the dreaded 4 month sleep regression.. I was hoping we might skip that one. Back to three feeds a night again