Engorgement! Please help

[StarfishSandwich]

DS was born on Weds and has been breastfeeding really well. Latch looks good, he feeds approx 2hrly for 10-40 mins, loads of wet and dirty (almost yellow poos) nappies, no signs of jaundice and is generally a very contented baby.

My milk has come in today as evidenced by my enormous swollen boobs, the dripping, and the new habit of vomiting milk all over me! My breasts have become more and more swollen throughout the day despite good feeds (or so I thought) and my right breast in particular is now agonisingly painful and solid. It’s not red or hot and I don’t have a fever but it is very painful and causing pain that radiates into my back.

I don’t know whether to keep putting DS to the bad boob or if I will overstimulate if I do that. He’s been cluster feeding (despite clearly overfilling himself and vomiting loads!) since about 9 and so far I’ve been alternating boobs. I’ve tried hot muslins and have just resorted to a bag of frozen strawberries as we have no peas!

To make matters worse, we have been co-sleeping (following guidelines) and I have to sleep on my right to keep DS on the right side of me which I’m sure won’t help or be comfortable! He doesn’t settle at all in his co-sleeping cot at the moment so I fear sleep will be very limited.

Is there anything else I could be doing? Please tell me this will get better.

Oh gosh I feel for you. Didn't have an awful lot of this. Have you tried hand expressing enough to keep you comfy? Or sit in a hot bath and let it just flow out!

I think they say best case scenario is to let baby drain your breast. Your supply will sort itself out soon... I also co-sleep but left side and was waking up with an engorged right breast, which has now figured out I don’t need it to fill up too much overnight.

Congratulations too btw!

It's awful but will come right. I had to do some massage, hand expressing and pumping to relieve the pressure a bit. Pump if you can and save it. Sleeping on your right and therefore feeding from the right will suit you.

Yes keep putting him to the breast. Every little helps as they say!
The 'vomiting' (possetting) is normal, he isn't 'overfilling'.

Expressing will make you feel more comfortable initially but it will also subsequently encourage more milk to be produced that hasn't been 'demanded' by the baby. The hot bath/letting it flow out naturally is a good idea. Have you got plenty of breast pads?

Cabbage leaves are very good for soothing engorgement - perhaps difficult to source on a Saturday night though. Try soaking breastpads in water and putting them in the fridge / freezer. Also try multi mam compresses (amazon prime - expensive but they do work, you can use each one more than once despite what it says in the packet).

Take paracetamol/ ibuprofen to relieve pain and reduce inflammation

If your breast is painful and swollen you need it emptied, either by baby or pump. I feed from both breasts regardless of which side I’m lying on.

Baby is far more effective at getting milk out than pump. However you need to soften it enough for him to latch first. Don’t worry about overstimulating, your supply will settle down by itself soon, more important to get the lumps out to avoid mastitis.

Hot shower or bath, massage in the hot water, really rub and rub at any
lumps till they dissolve. Try to avoid sleeping on your right until you’ve got the engorgement down as you don’t want to encourage lumps there - why can’t you have him on your left for a bit? Swap sides of the bed if necessary?

Oh yes forgot, soak a nappy in water and put it in the fridge as a compress.

I actually got so bad my GP sent me to a physio who had to milk me! Really helped though. Now I have twins so no oversupply issues.

(How does one feed from the left breast while lying on the right? )

Thanks so much everyone.

He fed until 1ish and it all felt a bit better but we both woke about 4 (yay sleep!!) and were struggling with latching properly even after hand expressing a bit. I jumped in a really hot shower and massaged the hell out of them whilst DH changed DS and he’s just gone back on much better and whilst it’s uncomfortable, it is bearable now. Think we’ll have to keep alternating hot and cold and encouraging very regular feeds but we might just get there!

How does one feed from the left breast while lying on the right?

Depends on the size of your boobs I reckon - I have fairly small ones and it was never possible

Glad you are doing so much better OP. Do keep on top of any lumps or hardness. It should settle down soon.

If you find you are having very fast let down, ie your milk squirts out like a water pistol, and your DS struggles with it, feeding lying down (side or back) really helps.

Lay in a warm bath with a couple of flannels on your breasts. Gently massage them to soften the engorgement. Helped me both times.

Another vote for a cabbage leaf inside the cup of your bra. It works. Cooling and soothing. Hope you’ve got some relief by now.

Oh it's horrendous painful isn't it. Memories of those initial days!

Look up reverse pressure softening on you tube and try that. Basically lie on your bed with lots of towels under and around you, and use the reverse pressure technique on the engorged breast, particularly where you feel lumps or most pain. Milk will shoot out everywhere, it's not pretty, but I did this every couple of hours for first two days of engorgement and it really helped

Good lyck