- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Indiana Babies
those with nursing experience - a ?
Sooo. My milk came in and while I'm super happy (as is Grady) I'm also pretty uncomfortable in the mam region. I've been massaging and hand expressing a little from both breasts at each session and it helps. I expectes discomfort of course but I'm not sure how long I should expect this too-full feeling to last? What were your tricks to relieve some of the pressure? I'm also leaking through cotton breast pads even with expressing some but I suppose that's to be expected as well.
Let me know some things you did to ease the discomfort and what I can maybe expect over the coming weeks if ya would
I'd really appreciate it!
Let me know some things you did to ease the discomfort and what I can maybe expect over the coming weeks if ya would
I'd really appreciate it! This discussion has been closed.
Re: those with nursing experience - a ?
I don't remember really being unbearably full when I first started nursing, but my cousin swore by these. I've seen them at Target before. You could always use a warm cloth compress, or stand in a nice warm shower.
I'd say the leaking got a lot better around 12 weeks, but until then I used a Gerber prefold as a nursing pad at home (thanks for the idea Brenda!). I often had to change them once or twice a night. I stopped feeling full around 7 months pp when Isabella increased solids and decreased nursing. Since then I very rarely become engorged and I never have leak issues. HTH!Man, this is all such a blur to me - it seems like ages ago.
My best advice is to nurse as frequently as Grady can handle, and in between do what you're doing - hand-express, even pump (do you have a pump? even a hand pump might be a good inexpensive idea).
It shouldn't last too long - your supply will regulate over the next few weeks. Just make sure to empty your breasts at each nursing session to prevent infection, even if it means you have to hand-express some.
My whole physical (and emotional, for that matter!) world was sprayed with milk the first few weeks. Milk everywhere - sheets, bed frame, sofa, clothes. It was lovely. I actually miss those days, believe it or not.
GL! I hope it goes smoothly for you! And, above all, I hope you're enjoying this amazing time with beautiful Grady!
I pumped, not BF, but won't this make her supply more and make her feel more engorged??
Not at this stage. She's not at a point yet where she needs to worry about oversupply. The important thing is to drain the breasts so as not to get mastitis (which, of course, you can get anyway).
Honestly, in the first few weeks or even months no matter what you do you're going to get overfull pretty regularly. When I was going through the same thing early on, I heard on the boards over and over from those that were past that stage that there was no reason to try to reduce supply that early - and lots of women ended up like me: regretting the effort to slow it down, because then there were supply issues later.
IMO, it's worth feeling discomfort for a while if ti means maintaining supply for the long haul. I know you didn't have that issue, Kathy, but I honestly think you are a lucky anomaly!
Worst case, you have too much milk. I don't see how that's a bad thing!
Hm, yeah, I wasn't critizing, just asking because I don't know. I'm a BF newbie. I pumped every 3 hours but I feel like if I'd pumped more I would have been really super engorged (more than I was). But I guess no matter how much you BF/pump you'll be engorged at first, so maybe what your'e saying is you might as well boost your supply and empty so you don't get mastitis.
I never got engorged like I did those 2 days when my milk came in. They were hard as a rock. Sure, I got full later on, but it wasn't painful like that!
Oh well. Sorry Jac this isn't helping you! I'm just trying to learn b/c I'm curious.
Hey Lauren, I looked on Kelleymom -
These links might help Jac.
The First Week
Engorgement
I guess my exp is a-typical.
Oh I definitely didn't think you were criticizing at all! Just explaining what my experience was, and what others told me when I was dealing with the same thing.
I guess no matter what you do, you run the risk of either creating an oversupply/engorgement or killing your supply. Every woman is different (duh), but it seems very common for women to worry about it too early.
And yeah, exactly what you said: no matter how much you bf/pump you're likely to be engorged or super-full at first! I mean, G man is only 4 days old, right Jac? The dust will settle a little bit over the next few days and you'll have a better sense of what your supply/demand cycle is like.
Couldn't agree more!!
Engorgement for me was only excruciatingly painful for a couple of days, and the only relief I found was in the shower.
And ditto PP - Gerber prefolds are the only thing that saved my sanity as far as overnight milk leakage went. I soaked through our comforter one night and went to the extreme of shoving them in there (it's amazing the things you think of a 2am when you're shoving your sheets, comforter, and pajamas in the washing machine). Yeah, they stayed there for at least 12 weeks (probably more like 6 months).
If you were going to be returning to work, I'd suggest pumping to ease a little pressure (because if you're a working momma, IMO, it's never to early to start that stash!), but at this point, with you being a SAHM (for the most part, aside from your photography) I'd just suck it up (wow, that sounds mean!), and trying anything warm and/or wet (shower, washcloths, etc). Grady and your boobs will adjust soon enough and you'll find your stride!!
Congrats again momma!!
I was going to say the same thing about the shower. Aside from pumping, it was the only place that I could get relief because the hot water made it easier to hand express off enough to soften them up. I think I had pain for about a week and then every single time I went too long without feeding (ike if I was away from Maya and she'd eat a bottle instead of nursing.)
Grady is a really good nurser and will eat for a long time already. I feel sooo much better (less full) once he's finished nursing. I guess I'm naive but I didn't expect my milk to come in so full so fast. I thought it might be more gradual but wow, yesterday afternoon it's like I blinked and there it was! It'll certainly take some getting used to these even more enormous than usual boobs! I look like I went in the hospital to have a baby and came out with a boob job. Haha.
LOL!! I remember those days. :::sigh:::
My milk came in overnight and when I walked out to the living room, DH was looking at me with these huge eyes. I hadn't noticed really but when I looked down, I was shocked. I felt like a porn star!! The engorgement started shortly after and hurt for around 4-5 days. I fed her frequently but didn't want to create an over supply (ouch to more engorgement) so I just hand expressed a little. Advil helps with the swelling sensation some. I was told to avoid doing many hot showers because it makes the swollen tissue worse. Using ice instead was recommended.