19 weeks and my breast are full with milk

[hartmel]

I'm pregnant with Dc2 and my breast are full already. And if I don't hand express a little bit I notice that they are getting heavy and lumps start to form..

I'm scared that if it continues that by the time baby arrives I'm fully pumping milk..

Anyone had/have the same experience? What did you do?

I'm almost 17wks pg with DC2 and in the past few weeks my boobs have got HUGE! this morning I noticed they were even bigger and feel really full, and I can see a sort of ridge down the sides, like when I was bfeeding in the early weeks and my milk was coming in, or after a few hours of not feeding when they were really full, that kind of thing.

I hadn't thought about expressing, and I'm not leaking or anything so I guess I was imagining more a case of lots of new bras in ever increasing sizes, and just sitting it out?

Maybe try contacting a bfeeding help line or la leche league?

I did but they settled again. I would try leave alone but straight to gp if getting red and hot or feeling unwell

Do not express! Seriously. Stimulating your boobs like that could trigger early labour. My midwife recommended against hand expressing before 36 weeks for this reason. Speak to your midwife about other solutions.

Don't express, it will only make things worse. I got a blocked milk duct a couple of months before the birth of my second child and the midwife suggested hot flannels and gentle massage, but NO expressing. She was very firm on the point. It passed pretty quickly. I'm 23 weeks and have giant rock hard boobs already, but I've just started wearing my bigger bras a bit early and trying not to 'stimulate' them at all. Ahem.

it's a hormone reaction, you won't actual produce full milk until after baby is born and you've delivered the placenta. That's what triggers your milk to come in, until then you will produce colostrum. Unless you are still breastfeeding your older baby.

It's fine to hand express to release pressure by the way during pregnancy. The only women at risk of preterm labour are those who have been told they are already high risk. Many women carry on breastfeeding older babies just fine during pregnancy without a problem.

Warm compresses well help, hot showers. But try not to stimulate them to much of your not feeding.