How to relieve engorged breasts

For the first few days after you have given birth, your breasts contain colostrum.Within a few days, they’ll fill with milk. Your breasts may become larger and heavier, flushed, swollen and tender, whether or not you breast-feed. If you decide not to nurse your baby, your breasts may be engorged and hard until you’re no longer producing milk. Engorgement usually lasts less than three days, but it can be uncomfortable. Even if you’re breast-feeding, your breasts may at times overfill and become engorged.

Your breast becomes overly firm as a result of increased circulation, your increased milk supply, and retained tissue fluid. Because your areola is overly firm, it makes it difficult for your baby to extract milk from your breast, which leaves you susceptible to developing sore nipples.

You’ll know that your baby is struggling to deal with your overabundant milk supply if he gulps, chokes, or pulls away as he is trying to nurse. Some babies become so frustrated in trying to deal with the huge volume of milk that they actually refuse to nurse.

How to relieve engorged breasts

Home remedies for engorged breasts

When a mother’s mature breast milk first starts to flow, occasionally the breasts become so filled with milk that they become hard, swollen, and very tender, making them too painful to breast-feed. This situation, known as engorgement, can be remedied by expressing the milk by hand or by using a breast pump. Use one of the methods recommended below:

• To encourage the flow of milk, place hot compresses on the affected breast and massage the area with your fingers, pressing toward the nipple. These actions stimulate the release of oxytocin, which prompts milk flow.


• To hand-express the milk, support the breast with the hand corresponding to the breast. Place the tips of the thumb and first or second finger of the other hand on opposite sides of the outer edge of the areola. Squeeze your thumb and finger together using short, rhythmic motions. It may take several minutes for the milk to appear. Once the flow starts, work your fingers around the rest of the areola to
  
  help express milk from the other milk ducts.


• Express a little milk, either manually or by feeding your baby. Stick to one breast per feeding so that your baby receives more of the calorie-rich (and baby-satisfying) hind-milk that comes as your baby finishes nursing on each side. Pump to comfort on that side. If your baby is still struggling with your oversupply, start with that same breast at the next few feedings. Nurse in the side-lying breast-feeding position so that your baby can let any excess milk dribble out of his mouth. He’ll be less inclined to choke.


• Keep your fingers on the outer edges of the areola; do not squeeze the nipple alone.


• To use a breast pump to express the milk, first massage the breast as noted above, then use the breast pump.


• Apply warm compresses to your breasts right before breast-feeding in order to encourage milk flow.


• Use cold compresses in between feeding to reduce the amount of swelling in your breasts.


• Nurse frequently in order to reduce the amount of engorgement. Wear a tight-fitting bra.


• To help relieve the pain, apply cold compresses between feedings. Homeopathic remedies are also effective. How to relieve engorged breasts when not breastfeeding, massaging the breasts from the chest outward can help eliminate excess milk in women who are breast-feeding, which can contribute to breast pain. Choose a private, quiet place where you can lie down. Use olive oil to make the massage easier. Start at the base of the breast or the chest wall and move slowly toward the nipple. Only apply as much pressure as is comfortable. Massage several times daily.


• Try chasteberry: A 1998 study of 97 women with severe breast pain showed that women who took 30 drops of vitex agnus castus (chasteberry) twice daily during three menstrual cycles experienced much quicker pain relief than did women who took a placebo.


• Try fenugreek: Add 8 ounces of boiling water to 1 tablespoon of fenugreek seeds and drink up to 3 cups daily.

Ideally, nurse your baby at least eight to 12 times each day. If your baby is not nursing often enough or draining your breasts at each feeding, use a breast pump to drain your breasts frequently and often. Hand-express or pump some milk before you put your baby to the breast so your milk flow will be a little less powerful by the time your baby starts nursing. Watch for signs of a breast infection, including a fever or redness and breast soreness. Get in touch with your health care provider if your symptoms persist.

How to relieve engorged breasts