HELP! very sore right breast - is it enorged?? What can i do to sort it out?!

[ara]

My baby is 4 weeks old tomorrow and for the past three nights she has fed for most of the evening before a long sleep (still feeding twice between 1am and 8.30am though) -i'm starting on the opposite side each time but over the last couple of hours my right boob has swollen up, is hot and hard and very painful. I've fed DD from it and bathed it in cold water - any tips or advice hugely appreciated!!!!
TIA

Youch! Sounds like a blocked duct which can lead to mastitis. Really need to get it unblocked: several ways to try. Your baby's your best friend in this as their suck is far more effective than anything else. Try the delightfully named "dangle feed" for some added help from gravity. If there's one particular area that's more sore than the rest, try to position yourself over your baby so that her lower jaw is working on the worst bit. If she's sleeping and you need some relief now, run a warm bath and try massaging the breast and then gently hand expressing (make a C shape with thumb and first two fingers on the outside of the aureola and gently squeeze forward and down, chasing milk out of the sacs behind the nipple). See kellymom for much better info than I can give! Best of luck with it.

Thank you so much for your post - it is v painful!! DP actually made me call NHS 24 for advice as developed a bad headache and was crouched by the fire with boobs out squashed up against a pack of frozen peas!

Have been prescribed antibiotics and have had a nice hot bath (DD has kindly gone to sleep long enough to allow me a decent soak) and have expressed a bit and massaged the sore area.

I also phone LLL who were fantastic and are sending me a helpful email.

Thanks again for your post, hopefully it will all clear up fairly soon.

Ouch, i've had this ara. Hope it gets better soon sweetie! x

Ara,

Just had a look at your pics and they are absolutely beautiful. Your LO has sssooooo much hair, she is gorgeous.

She's amazingly hairy isn't she!! she had little monkey ears when she was born too but they've gone now. People keep telling me it might fall out - i hope not - it's so soft and lovely!!

Boob feeling bit better today but still got horrid headache. Phoebe doesn't seem to be feeding quite so voraciously today either and we had a great night with her which has helped.

Thanks everyone