expressing when very engorged, its very painful

[sparklygothkat]

I had Ds2 on tuesday and he is in SCBU and being tubefed. I want to breastfeed, and have been expressing since wednesday. Yesterday I managed to get 60ml off, but today I woke to find that someone had removed my breasts and left hard footballs in their place.. Its painful to express the milk today. Its been a while so have forgotten how long it takes to settle. help

Oh poor you, tough thing to deal with but there is hope. Warm bath, or place a cloth soaked in warm water over your breast, it will encourage flow, and if possible lean forward to use gravity to make the pumping easier, if you're in hospital still make use of their electrical pumps, it works a charm, I used to get up at about 2am to express and that make a huge difference with engorgement in the mornings too.

Best of luck and enjoy the new baby!

Could you hand express a little in a hot shower (less painful) just enough to relieve the absolutely-full-to-bursting feeling, and then express milk to keep after that?

I have an electric pump and a hand one, as I found the electric one a bit forceful atm. I'll try the bath or shower one, thanks

With my last dd I remember day 3 with many hours spent sitting at a wash basin putting hot face clothes on in order to soften things up enough to express. It took ages, and some electric pumping but by the next day it was much better. Hope things soften up soon!

If you use the electric pump try to use it on the least suction - the hospital ones can be very gentle if they are on the right setting.