Printable View
My boobies are hugely engorged atm, rock solid and painful type.
Miss A is only feeding off one side per feed, which is fine but im finding i need to express the other side just to get some relief from the pain. is this a bad idea?
im worried im going to cause myself an over supply situation
Ouch you poor thing.
Express enough to make you comfy but not to empty breast. A cool compress after expressing can also help. (warm to help milk flow, cold to relieve pain)
expressing a little by hand in the shower can be great, and cabbage leaves can also bring great relief.
FX your boobies stabilise soon :hug:
My engorgement only lasted a few days last time, so fingers crossed yours is similar xx
DD2 was the same, and by about day 4/5 I ran into real problems. I expressed about half the breast she wasn't feeding from, for about 3 days, and they soon settled, plus I ended up with a grewat freezer stash! lol
Marley couldn't even latch on to them they were so hard, so I began expressing half the breast BEFORE she fed from it as well, which allowed her to ability to feed longer and latch properly, saving my nipples much heartache.
It will settle so make yourself comfy, and remember your supply at the moment is very much hormone drivem , not demand driven, so don't be too scared about creating issues with it. xx
Yeah I was the same and it took 3-4 weeks to settle down. I was in so much pain and worried that I would cause a problem if I expressed too much. But I haven't had an issue. I think because dd hasn't had to really demand much of my supply to cope with growth spurts. She has just taken the extra she needed. I expressed less and everyone was happy including as ?limesplice? said, my freezer stock! So don't stress. I expressed the whole breast at times to help me feel comfortable for over night. And my MW told me about this great technique to help dd2 latch called "reverse pressure". Essentially I would press firmly on my nipples with three fingers extended for about a half a min. It would gently push all of the extra blood and milk out of the tissues and make the nipple soft, which allowed dd2 to latch. It was great! Google it :) u should find something. Otherwise pm me cos I will still have to email my me sent me. Good luck and congratulations!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk..... I'm probably feeding my cherub :)
If your breasts are uncomfortably full and engorged it is important that you express some milk until they are soft and comfortable again. Otherwise you put yourself at risk of mastitis. Right now your milk supply is driven by the high levels of hormones in your body. You are just churning out milk, and you have to keep moving it. It's not until a bit further down the track that breastfeeding works more on supply and demand So, express some milk (or pick up the baby and feed her again) and put on an icepack to relieve it a bit.
I remember that feeling, it's awful :hug: Sometimes a one-off full express from both sides can help. I found that I still over-filled afterwards, but it wasn't as bad as it was before the full express. I also ended up with over 400ml of milk for the freezer! As others have said, mine settled down quickly after a couple of days with both boys, hopefully it will be the same for you too.