Trouble latching due to engorgement

[Greycat100]

Hi, I seem to be having a difficult time breastfeeding. I am 4 weeks in and have had quite a few ups and downs. It took DD a few days after birth to latch on and there have been days when she still doesn't do this, this makes me very anxious.

She has been cluster feeding up until a few days ago. Now she has started to feed every 2-3 hours which is better but now my breasts are becoming uncomfortably full in the time between feeds. During a feed she takes one breast for about 30 mins, this means that by the time the next feed comes around the other breast is very engorged and big and baby can't latch very easily. I have tried pumping, not sure if this is the right thing to do, some say this stimulates milk production and can make the problem worse.

Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone advise me on the best thing to do?

Have you looked up the reverse pressure technique?

Shazafied, thanks, that's helpful, I will try this x

I used to hand express off Just enough so baby could latch on so it didn't stimulate increased milk production!

Or you could try doing 15 minutes each side instead of 30 mins on one side...spread the load as it were?
It will sort itself out, feels like it takes forever, but in the end it’s only a small time.
Good luck to you

I agree it does sort itself out - I had big problems with engorging. With my next 2 babies it sorted itself out much quicker.

I did the same as Random - hand express just enough to enable latch. I had engorgement issues with DS1 due to expressing for the first 3 weeks as he was tube fed. My oversupply was crazy, but it did settle as he got bigger and fed better.

I just produced gallons of milk and had a whopping hungry baby and never leaked!

Thanks for your replies and advice, much appreciated. I am now trying to do 15 minutes each side and use hand expressing. Good to know that it sorts itself out usually.