Baby never seems to have full feed from breast

[laura1306]

I am breastfeeding and he just never seems to have a full feed. My boobs will go sore and hard as rocks and each time he brings it down a bit but they'll go that way very quickly again. I just want him to go on each side for a good 10 minutes at least and drain them! He's 7 days old now and I'm worrying about my milk production tailing off too because of this!

Can you express a little before a feed to encourage him to get the hind milk?also maybe it’s difficult to latch if boobs are so hard

Hi Laura - try the Breastfeeding support and information UK group on Facebook - they are full of good advice. (I'm currently feeding my 15 week old )

He has just basically drained my left boob but left my right boob quite full still, which will become sore if he doesn't try to latch on again and go straight on that side within an hour or two. Even then because it's night feeds I can't guarantee he'll take enough for it to be comfortable again before falling asleep latched on. I usually have to hand express afterwards if he hasn't got enough for me to be comfortable but I didn't think of doing it before. He's really happy though with what he's getting and his Fontanel is raised and showing hydration. During writing this reply though I tried to hand express from my right side and I couldn't stimulate anything to come out despite how full and sore it is.

I hope you're getting on better by now but just wanted to say that it's pretty normal so early on to have full boobs as your milks only just in and plentiful. Have a breastpump handy and pump off the excess to make yourself more comfortable. You can freeze it and use it another time. I've often been glad of an occasional frozen bit of milk for whatever reason

Twiddling your nipple a bit can help stimulate a let down for you to express a little (oh the glamour!). Is he falling asleep before he has enough do you think? You could try breast compressions?

Try cabbage leaves on your breast for 20 mins to soften the breast. Thats what I'm doing as my nipple gets engorged and baby can't latch.