Breastfeeding Engorgement – Part 1

Breastfeeding engorgement is something that most nursing mothers will experience.  You’ll notice that as the colostrum changes to mature breastmilk, that your breasts will feel warmer, fuller, and firmer.  Some of this full feeling is due to increased lymph and blood flow, but some of it is also the increased milk flow.   You may recognize it by taut, hard breasts.  It is important to deal with the engorgement to prevent it from causing plugged ducts and a possible breast infection (mastitis).  As well, when you are engorged, it will be harder to latch your baby onto the breast.  The following will give you some ideas on how to deal with the breastfeeding engorgement that you are experiencing.

It is recommended that until your milk supply is well-established (within first six weeks), that you only nurse your baby (unless your medical professional has advised you otherwise).  This will also help with emptying the breasts on a regular basis, and hence increased comfort for you.  So, you will want to breastfeed your baby often, and avoid missing feedings.  Engorgement can become worse at night, and I found that I would often wake up before my baby did, just waiting impatiently for my baby to wake up so that I could get rid of the engorged feeling.  During this time, hand expressing a bit to comfort can help.

It is also a good idea to learn different positions to nurse your baby in.  This is not only good for maintenance of  nipple health, but it also helps to empty different areas of the breast.

Before beginning to nurse your baby, hand express enough milk that it softens the areola and nipple area so that your baby will be able to latch on.  I also found that either having a warm  shower or applying warm compresses to my breasts before nursing, helped to get the milk flowing and made it easier for my baby to latch on.   You may also want to use a quality breast pump (Shop for Medela Breastpump Parts and Accessories at Nursing Mother Supplies.) to express a bit of milk before the feeding or after the feeding (if you’re still engorged), but I found that hand expressing worked just as well.

Today, I have given you a few ideas on how to deal with the engorgement that goes along with nursing.  Please read “Breastfeeding Engorgement – Part 2″ for further ideas on what you can do to deal with the engorgement.  Until then….