Engorged but no milk coming out

haylo33

My left breast is hard and engorged. I pumped earlier because I supplemented the baby with formula as per doctors orders. The right got 2oz and the left got maybe 1/2 oz. My left breast feels like I need to pump but I tried again after about an hour and same thing, barely any. The baby was even on and I can usually see milk in my shield but again nothing. What's going on? Is the milk currently in production?

momo214

Try some warm compresses or a warm shower.

cnbean

My lactation consultant suggested soaking in a hot bath with epsom salt.

spinsoffresonance

I was having the same problem when my milk came in, my left breast was so engorged that DD couldn't latch and I couldn't pump anything out of it. What worked for me was hand expressing some milk first (lookup up videos on YouTube for proper technique), then putting a hot washcloth on it for 10min then pumping while massaging it, then putting an ice pack on for 10min. It took me a couple days of that routine until my breast was soft enough for DD to latch back on, in the mean time she ate from the right only and I supplemented with 15ml of pumped milk per feeding.

kalette

Take some ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation, then do a warm shower or hot wash cloths to help get it flowing, then pump. Once you get the swelling of engorgement to go down it should get easier to get the milk out.

momthatlifts

This happened to me. I put a heating pad on my chest and the next I knew I was leaking milk. Try some heat like others have suggested

jcf2133

What everyone else said, and my LC suggested I take my fingertips, surround the nipple, and press directly inward towards my ribs for 30 second increments. Not comfortable, but did help things loosen up so milk could flow.

jessicastanley

My LC suggested a diaper with hot water. It stays warm longer. And everything PPs said.

haylo33

Woke up this morning and the engorgement has gone away thank goodness. I was also able to pump 1oz in like 6 minutes whereas yesterday, I barely got 1/2oz in 20 min. I guess it was a second round of my milk coming in. Thanks for the advice, I think the heat helped