4 day old baby and hot, sore red boobs

[Izzybuzzybuzzybees]

Hi. I had my baby at 1am on 31st Oct. Had a PPH and needed blood transfusion. I was warned my milk may take its time coming in. It has come in like dolly parton today which is good. However my breasts are very engorged even after a good 30 min feed on each side.

I now have a red, hot very bruised and sore feeling right breast. I have been trying to massage the red bits when he is feeding but its very painful and I'm not sure what else to do?

When should I be feeding, he seems to go quite long without feeds and I actually woke him earlier just to feed. Do I offer both sides or concentrate on clearing the painful side.

He is feeding just now. Has been since 2am with only a few breaks to change position. Help me please!

Firstly congratulations on your DS!

It sounds like your breast is engorged which means you need to feed him more on that side or express so that you don't get an infection.
How often is he feeding? Can only speak from experience with my DS but he fed every hour almost when newborn! (Was very big though) if he is going for longer than four hours without a feed I would wake and feed (or pop on boob and see if he'll dreamfeed).
Keep massaging breast and if it hurts try bath and gentle expressing / hot flannels if it gets lumpy, and speak to midwife if you're still worried.
Good luck!

Try a hot flannel to massage. Frozen cabbage leaves in your bra might help a bit too. I would feed as much as possible from the sore side tonight and take paracetemol for the pain. Phone doc in the morning if you feel any flu symptoms. I think this is the toughest stage of bf, good luck.

Congratulations on your DS! It's good he's feeding, although I bet you're tired.

If you haven't come across it before, Kellymom is a good source of evidence-based information on bfing. It has some tips on dealing with engorgement here.

Thank you. I'm finding it difficult to latch him on the painful side, its agonisingly sore and even when he does latch it doesn't feel like I'm getting a let down.

When do you count feeds, is it start of one to start if next? During the day he had a 4 he sleep then 90 min feed, then next feed he slept for 3 hours. He's been feeding frequently since 2am, then having a 40 min break between end of one feed and start of next.

I'm so sore and have been shivering non stop after the feeds and boiling hot when he's feeding.

Re dream feeding, do I wind him after? Or let him stay asleep?

Sorry for all questions. I BF my daughter for 12 weeks but I was extremely unwell so don't remember anything....except the toe curling pain at start of feed!

Congratulations on your new arrival!

You are doing brilliantly - the early days are soooo tough... I was told to count the feed spacing from the start of one feed until the start of the next.

It does sound as though you could have mastitis though with your flu-y symptoms. Definitely keep on feeding, feeding, feeding as much as you can and warm hot water bottle on your boob in between to try to shift the blockage. To help with blocked ducts I was advised to try feeding in different positions so that the baby's chin is massaging different areas of the breast - probably not so easy with a newborn though.

Could you give NHS direct a call to see what they suggest - you may be advised to take a course of antibiotics to help clear up the infection.

Biiiig hug to you and You are doing brilliantly - hang on in there and it will get better from here.

Oh poor you the shivering etc does sound like you could have mastitis. Take paracetamol, feed feed feed him as others have said. Called midwife or doctor if you get worse.
If he's asleep and you need to burp him lift him into a vertical position holding him under his arms and just hold him upright for a few minutes. No need to pat. He shouldn't need burping too much though as breastfed.
Just remember IT WILL GET EASIER and if you haven't got it already get some Lansinoh cream and smother your nipples after every feed. X

Paracetomol. And get in a warm bath. Boobs in water. And gently massage it. Some milk might come out. That's fine. Good luck and congratulations!!

Congratulations on your newborn and well done with feeding

It does get easier, and like everyone is saying, feed feed and feed some more from the painful side, and if it is too painful to feed, then try to express - this worked for me

So it is only the one breast and you have red 'streaks' ? It sounds like mastitus - you really need to get antibiotics straight away. Can you midwife drop off a prescription for you? Have a hot shower, and massage the lumps as hard as you can, you need to clear the blockage. I know it is agonisingly painful to do but you really need to do this. Also keep feeding off that side. It is a nasty, nasty infection. I got it with both of my children. The first time I didn't recognise the symptoms and ended up absolutely delirious. Take care, it does get better.

Hello, congratulations on your baby. It does sound like you may have mastitis. As a veteran of 4 bouts of the little bugger I can only tell you what worked for me:

1. empty the breast: this is key, so make sure attachment is right so the baby can drain the breast. Think about expressing if you can't get the baby to empty it.

2. massage with your knuckles during a feed. It hurts but it's worth it!

3. Take paracetamol and ibuprofen (the ibuprofen will help reduce any swollen breast tissue which can get in the way of milk coming down).

4. Rest and drink loads

5. If the above doesn't work, get some bad-boy antibiotics from the Dr. Mastitis can make you very poorly indeed so it is important that it gets sorted fairly quickly.

Is your baby 5 days old today? Will you be seeing a midwife today then? They will be working over the weekend so you should ring them if not so they can check the latch.

Good luck, I really do sympathise.

You could try warm shower - direct water over painful breast and gently massage from top and sides down towards nipple. Milk may come out. If not you can even try hand expressing for relief whilst in shower.

If you find any lumps, something that really helped me was to run a wide toothed comb over the lumpy area, again, while in the shower. This is in case of any blocked ducts and should unblock. Run the comb from the top or sides down towards the nipple.

Hope it helps. I remember this very well and how painful it was. If you start to feel unwell (fluey) get to GP ASAP - its an emergency appointment scenario as you'll need antibiotics quickly.

Congratulations! In answer to one of your earlier questions, I think you need to feed at least every three hours at this stage. You can wake him for a feed by changing his nappy or stripping him off if necessary. I personally didn't bother ww

Sorry. I didn't bother winding if dd was asleep after a feed, and it didn't seem to trouble hehe

Oh my god, bloody phone. Didn't seem to trouble her, but she wasn't a very windy baby. Good luck and look after yourself!

Another Kellymom page, this one on blocked ducts and mastitis .

Thanks so much everyone. Yes baby is 5 days old so expecting midwife.

The red streak isn't as bad this morning after some painful knuckle massage and hot flannel expressing.

He is feeding on that side just now and definitely getting milk as he was sick!

Sounds like an infection so go to the doctor. Paracetamol will help take your temperature down until you can get to GP. You could also try putting cabbage leaves in your bra (yes really!).

When timing feeds it's from the start of one feed to start of next feed. They can feed for a long time when breastfeeding so the amount of rest in between for you is barely any which is exhausting. However, if feeding on demand and baby is feeding well and regularly the 3/4 hours is just a guide to make sure the baby's getting enough hydration which is especially important if the baby is jaundiced and you may have to wake the baby to feed - but if in doubt contact the midwives who you will still be under and a breastfeeding helpline like NCT, LLL or ABM (all Googlable and NCT def open today). Those organisations may also be able to send a breastfeeding counsellor/lactation consultant out to you so do look them up.

Look up your local breastfeeding clinic or Baby Cafe and go along to get support and for practical help. Many seem to operate on a Monday (not sure why because it means they're always shut on a bank holiday ) but certainly round here they're often on a Monday but there are others on different days with a bit of travel.

When feeding offer the alternate breast each time. So, feed 1 start on left and once baby finished offer right; feed 2 start on right and once baby finished offer left etc etc

You may want to try expressing on the sore side? You can pick up a hand pump for about £25 from the supermarket if you can't get to Boots or wherever. That may help take the edge off the engorgement but not everyone gets on with expressing. Kellymom is best place ime for expressing information.

Do have a look at the NCT website for breastfeeding advice and info www.nct.org.uk - there's lots of useful information there but also get some one-to-one help.

The advice about warm baths, Lanolin cream and getting easier is all good.

Huge congratulations on your new baby!