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Question About Engorgement

5 posts on this thread and the last post was on August 30th, 2006 9:02 PM
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me - August 29th, 2006 11:15 AM
[Original Post]

I have been breastfeeding for 5 weeks now. My milk supply decreased due to a bad latch and baby not removing enough from my breast. I began pumping and not much comes out right now, but I feel engorged. Is this engorgemnt a sign of pumping and increasing my milk, or is it from not getting enough milk out, which may decrease the supply? Please help!


bean - August 29th, 2006 12:22 PM

Wow - catch 22 question! First off, how much is "not much"? Are you getting an ounce? Don't forget you're producing as much as your lo needs to eat, and at 5 weeks he's probably eating just an ounce or so per feeding. Engorgement means you have too much milk - and pumping will just increase your supply. Personally, I would put away the pump and let your body self-regulate for a bit. You should get back on track within a week. If your son needs more, he'll suck longer and stimulate your supply. Otherwise, it'll fall back to what you need to produce. If you're in pain, try manually expressing some milk to ease your discomfort. A hot shower always gets the milk flowing as well. LLL and kellymom have a lot of great tips, as well.


me - August 29th, 2006 8:08 PM

Well,I pumped after I fed the baby and got out half and ounce on each boob. My concern is this: he falls asleep after 3 mintues. Dead asleep. He will not wake up. I read that if there isnot enough milk, be will suck hard and tired himself out, which is what I think is happening. He then wakes up about a hlaf hour later screaming for more to eat, but does the same exact thing! I feel as though I am not giving him enough to eat in one sitting, so that is why I began pumping. If he keeps falling asleep andnot emptying my breasts, then the supply will go low, whic makes him suck and fall asleep, but then he's hungry, etc... It is a vicious cycle. Any advice?


jez - August 29th, 2006 8:51 PM

My DS BF all the time (he never threw up I mean hardly ever) but was such a light sleeper than once he finished eating he would wake as soon as I'd lay him down, but as long as a boob was in his mouth he was fine. Our problem turned out to be according to the Dr he had acid reflux (where only his throat would burn but not puke) so he would drank just enough to sooth the irritation & then fall asleep but this made him eat too much which lead to a tummy ache, previcid (sp) was what our Dr put him on & he was about 5 wks at the time & at 4 mo I took him off of it & he was fine (I'm not big into meds but it worked he actually stopped eating so often)
I pumped about 5 days after he was hm trying to get him on the bottle, once we got him on the bottle more often than the boob things went a lot smoother, I always tried to drink something warm while pumping it helps the let down of your milk just like warm showers do. Also some days I just had more milk than other days. How's his weight doing? He'll probably become a little porker before long my little guy sure did. And whats your # on your Breast pump setting maybe it's not set high enough I had to put mine on a #10 & manually squeeze at the same time lol but so much more milk came out. Drink lots. As far as your supply getting low even though he's eating only a few min it's so often that I'm your milk supp is fine.
We went though alot but he did'nt have his first cold til he was 13mo old so try not to give up I know when BF it's often hard bc family look at your fussy babe & are like it must be your milk, so needless to say when his weight shot up & he was so healthy they finally realized we knew what we were doing :) If you want my email add let me know I remember how alone it seems in the mid night hrs w/ no sleep. I'm pg w/#2 & have 4gotten what those nights are like.



bean - August 30th, 2006 9:09 AM

Jez has a good point - drink LOTS of water. You need to stay very hydrated to keep your supply up. But Jez is right, if he's eating every 1/2 hour than of course there's enough milk for him. Watch his poop too - if it's green he's not getting enough hind milk. If you're really concerned, you may try expressing some milk before feeding him so you take out the thinner milk and he eats just the calorie rich hindmilk. But again, I'd just let nature take its course - relax - things will be fine!


me - August 30th, 2006 9:02 PM

Thanks everyone. I get so stressed about the whole breastfeeding thing, especially when the family does not understand. I am the first woman in my family to do this, so everyone just thinks the baby is hungry all the time. I will take your advice. Of course, any other advice is welcome too:)