Engorgement issue

proudparent2b · July 2016

I exclusively pump due to latching/weight gain issues early on. Recently, LO has started to sleep through the night, but my breasts haven't gotten the message. I've tried cutting out the middle of the night pumping, but wake up engored, severely overheated, and nauseous. It takes an hour to empty my breasts and several hours to feel okay again. However, I hate to think I'll have to keep getting up at 3-4 am to get that extra pump in.

Any thoughts/ideas? Anyone else in the same boat?

lalala2004 · July 2016

I've heard that if that happens to just pump a little bit, not enough to drain, but just relieve engorgement. If you drain the breast, you're signaling your body to make more.

missnc77 · July 2016

Yep, I don't empty. I manually pump an ounce or ounce and a half out if I wake up extremely engorged. I had to do it twice last night unfortunately, but if I were to empty, they'd never get the memo.

tgortney · July 2016

You could always use a block pumping method. Look up "block feeding" and apply that to pumping. Also, use hand/manual expression to take the edge off and use cabbage leaf compresses to relieve the pain (sometimes it can cause a drop in supply but I was desperate and it helped a ton, also didn't affect my supply).

I had a ton of engorgement issues/oversupply issues due to EPing for 6 weeks and pumping way too much. My boobs got excited about making milk. My body eventually regulated itself using those methods and now, I get full but not painful engorgement like the early days. I EBF now but will pump/BF when I go back to work.

Kellymom has some really good articles for engorgement and manual expression! It'll be painful to not empty but your body will eventually get the memo (I love cabbage leaves). It's temporary pain for lasting relief. But it still sucks. Good luck!

littlebb22 · July 2016

I dealt with engorgement/overproduction on one side and pumped only an ounce or two to relieve the pressure as PP suggested and it worked remarkably fast. My boob had regulated within a day or so!

JennyS86 · July 2016

You could try gradually lengthening the time between pumps. I am engorged in the morning, but I don't have other symptoms like you are experiencing, so I just feed LO & pump the other side so that the relief comes quicker! my boobs have woken me up before LO a few times - it is so annoying because sleep is precious!

I EP'd for the twins, and gradually, I got up to 8-9hrs between pumps at night. It took months.

st3lla · July 2016

In having almost the same issue. I was mostly pumping and bottle feeding due to BF issues but now LO can latch so I'm EBF. I seem to have about the right amount of milk in the afternoon/evening (when LO feeds frequently) but WAY too much overnight and in the morning. It's making baby choke and have very small fast meals. It's also screwing up his sleep schedule. I am totally engorged all night and morning. I've been pumping a little still to remove the pressure but not empty my breasts. I was told by a LC to gradually reduce the duration of my pumps but It's been 1.5 weeks and I'm still having problems with extreme engorgement and therefore haven't been able to wean off the pump. Any advice would be welcome.

Edited to add that LO recently started sleeping a 5 hour stretch at night (before he fed every 2.5-3h) so my situation is similar to the OP except with the added complication that when I was pumping I was in charge of the timing but now LO is in the driver's seat my body seems reluctant to adjust.

proudparent2b · July 2016

Thanks ladies! I tried reducing to 'only' 15 min. at 4 am but still felt a little bugged afterward to not be empty and had a tough time getting comfy enough to fall back to sleep.

I think I'm going to try gradually reducing pumping frequency overall to see if that helps. Currently I pump 7 times per day (once overnight and every three hours during the day). I'm hoping to move down to 6 times when LO turns 3 months, and 5 times when he's 4 months. Maybe by 5-6 months of age, I'll be able to drop to 4 times, which should hopefully train my breasts to go longer without pumping?

Bellodomani · July 2016

proudparent2b said:

Thanks ladies! I tried reducing to 'only' 15 min. at 4 am but still felt a little bugged afterward to not be empty and had a tough time getting comfy enough to fall back to sleep.

I think I'm going to try gradually reducing pumping frequency overall to see if that helps. Currently I pump 7 times per day (once overnight and every three hours during the day). I'm hoping to move down to 6 times when LO turns 3 months, and 5 times when he's 4 months. Maybe by 5-6 months of age, I'll be able to drop to 4 times, which should hopefully train my breasts to go longer without pumping?

If I were you, I would just look at what a typical feeding schedule would look like for each age, and just pump however often that would be, for however many oz your son is typically taking at that time. That way you can taper down to more of a true supply & demand relationship.

st3lla · July 2016

proudparent2b said:

Thanks ladies! I tried reducing to 'only' 15 min. at 4 am but still felt a little bugged afterward to not be empty and had a tough time getting comfy enough to fall back to sleep.

I think I'm going to try gradually reducing pumping frequency overall to see if that helps. Currently I pump 7 times per day (once overnight and every three hours during the day). I'm hoping to move down to 6 times when LO turns 3 months, and 5 times when he's 4 months. Maybe by 5-6 months of age, I'll be able to drop to 4 times, which should hopefully train my breasts to go longer without pumping?

I think tapering gradually makes sense and is what most LCs would recommend. I found it challenging to never feel like my breasts were "empty" after LO started breastfeeding and I wanted to reduce the pumps but apparently that's the only way to reduce your supply. If you don't want to reduce yours then you might want to increase the amount of time you pump at other times of the day. But if you're more than keeping up with LO's appetite then it might make sense to start reducing your supply slowly before it becomes an issue.

Theres a great article on this on exclusivepumping.com: https://exclusivepumping.com/dropping-pumps/.

JennyS86 · July 2016

Another idea would be to freeze your excess breastmilk and donate it to a Milk Bank. Milk Banks provide life-saving milk to micro-preemies and other sick infants and children. In preemies, breastmilk reduces the incidence of NEC by 79%, an infection that is often deadly or debilitating.
Here's a link if you are interested:
https://www.hmbana.org/donate-milk

Thanks for considering, Love, a preemie mama

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