Help - extremely engorged breasts day 3 post partum - advice needed.

[Alittleteapot]

Hello, ds is three days old and my breasts are just enormous and rock hard. I have never competely stopped bfing dd who is now 2 although really hardly at all the last few months and my milk pretty much ran out when I was pregnant so she had pretty much stopped, but she is having a bit of a go now and I wonder if this is contributing to the scale of engorgement or if it's normal second time round.

Is this just my milk coming in and will it sort itself out or am I at risk of mastitis and if so what should I do to try and prevent it? I read on babycenter that i should feed the baby every two hours even if it means waking him, but he is still at that ultra newborn stage of needing to sleep a lot and even if I did this I'm not sure I could get him to take much of a feed.

He's feeding really well though, good latch and already poos going yellow.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

its awful when they are that hard

In my experience (three times) it has literally just been the milk coming in and it will sort itself. I never had any mastitus issues from the first 'milk coming in' engorgement

cabbage leaves in your bra can help and expressing just a little (so as not to stimulate them even more) in a warm shower can help too

I had this with DS2 (and was also sometimes feeding DS1 who was 2).
I did hand express a little and put warm flannels on my boobs just to feel more comfortable.
I do think feeding little and often will help, if you have lots of skin to skin with your baby you will probably find he feeds regularly, even if he is sleepy. Perhaps try stripping him down to his nappy.

I wouldn't worry too much about infection etc, rock hard boobs when your milk comes in is pretty normal.

It's just your milk coming in. It will sort itself out in a couple of days.
I had a light bout of mastitis few days after dd was born and I spent some time under hot shower massaging the sore bit- it really helped and after few days it got back to normal.
Cabbage leaves is also a good idea.
It is a nightmare, though.

thanks all. milk has come in like holy flood. they're still hard but already bit better. off for new bras. my old nursing bras too small!