Breast engorgement / Formula feeding

[FairyliquidBottle]

Please could you advise me on what to do as I am in a lot of pain. My milk came in yesterday and woke up this morning, and they're very painful/hard/full. I keep getting conflicting advice when I google, some say hand expressing will make it worse and to just leave them. Others say leaving it be will cause Mastitis. Please help. What did you do? I can't even imagine hand expressing as that seems painful! Definitely want to stick to formula feeding

Hand express for comfort (so until they're not sore). Leaving them might be fine but might lead to mastitis, and having gone through that l wouldn't recommend!

Hand express until you’re comfortable and get some Sudafed. It dries up your milk. Don’t leave them as mastitis is not fun at all.

Don't leave them. Hand express a small amount, just enough that you're no longer uncomfortable. If it's really sore, do it in the shower with some warm water running over you. This may make you leak a bit anyway which will relieve some of it.
If the pain gets bad, you get any lumps, or red patches on your breasts, or you start to feel unwell, call the GP.

Oh dear so definitely need to hand express :( okay thank you all for your advice. I will also take some Sudafed x

Hi, I’ve received contradictory advice to others. My midwife told me to completely leave my boobs alone during engorgement as they “dry up” so to speak when left. She told me if I hand expressed it would encourage milk flow🤷🏻‍♀️ of course I’m not sure whether this advice is the correct advice as there seems to be many others who advice against so don’t take my word for it! but I left mine alone and they were fine in a day or two

@Jan289 thank you for sharing that with me. Did you use cabbage leaves by any chance or did you literally just let it run it's course completely by itself? X

@FairyliquidBottle i literally just left them as they were and they’ve gone down okay luckily ( i did attempt a gentle massage but it was too painful so i was like okay im leaving them😂) x

Can you not ask for Cabergoline? My youngest is 2 and it was suggested by the consultant when I said I wasn’t going to breastfeed this time. Seems harsh to be having you needlessly suffer!

I feel you, my milk came in 3rd day and I woke up and was like wtf?! Looked in the mirror and even more shocked. Like the teen me waited for thisss. Loool. So it went rock hard and I was like the hell do I do? I desperately ordered a medela breast pump the manual one and ordered on prime delivery. It came and I used that to relieve my breasts. I ordered breast milk punches while I was at it too so I could store the breast milk and let my husband feed our baby during night time. It was very handy for the first few days and while I was trying to get used to my breasts and supply and milk etc. One day I kid you not I woke up with my bra soaking cos my milk was leaking through even though I wore breast pads. My breasts have got better at regulating milk due to supply and demand by breastfeeding my son. I only give him bottle few times throughout day and night. Hope you feel better x

I only got this because my baby was stillborn. Apparently there is no routine prescription when you choose to formula feed.

I would hand express.

So sorry for your loss.
I had DS 2 years ago in the private wing of an NHS hospital, the consultant worked on both sides and he made it sound as if it was totally standard. Maybe it’s a cost thing for the NHS and it was suggested because I was paying?? Can’t hurt to ask though, the worst they can do is say no. It’s fantastic stuff. My milk just never came in and zero side effects.

Im sorry for your loss )@gemloving

@InTheRainOnATrain i asked mw yesterday and she said they no longer prescribe them as usually the engorgement should go within 24-48 hours and then the milk should dry up by 10 days

@Jan289 my midwife popped around yday just to see us and gave the same advice you got and as i'm writing this the engorgement is actually resolving itself! Feels so much better than it did when I wrote the post lol x thank you all

@InTheRainOnATrain I do think it's a cost thing and you might have got lucky. & thanks lovely xx

@FairyliquidBottle thank you and I hope youre feeling better xx

Thank you so much @gemloving all is resolved now. It took about 24 hours for the engorgement to go down so feeling normal again now :) x