Baby not feeding at night - engorged breasts

[lii]

Any suggestions on how other mothers are handling engorged breasts if baby is not fed over night?

Do you wake up and pump? Which leaves me just as tired as if she didn't sleep over night.

Do I leave the engorgement until I wake and pump? It's not doable, but if I do awake, it's a bit uncomfortable. However, on one breast, it doesn't seem to want to pump and I can only get 1.5 ounce when it's engorged.

Any advice would be useful.

 

[msmslau]

it all depends if you want to drop your bb nite feeding.

if you do, try not to pump till you wake up. it will hurt a few days, but your body will slowly reduce its milk supply due to drop in demand.

however, if you do want to keep the nite feeding, then pump at the time when it's engorged or during your normal bb feeding time. YES, it is TIRING but this is the cost of breastfeeding. it will get better, don't worry.

for the engorged breast that does not seem to pump alot, massage that breast with warm towel before each pumping session. you can also "pump" with your hand first to encourage the let down.

 

[JennyB]

You ought to be careful about not relieving the sore breasts becuase that risks causing mastitis which is not much fun. Some people can get away with it but others can't, so watch out.

With expressing you don't have to pump much, just enough to relieve the discomfort. Then it ought to get gradually better - your breasts will adjust to the reduced demand.

Do you find your breasts are not easy to pump when engorged because they are hard and an irregular shape? If so, you might want to try hand expression. You can probably find tips on technique at www.kellymom.com. In the nighttime I don't worry about collecting the milk but just drip/spray it onto a towel, which I can do in the bathroom without turning the light on and waking myself up too much.

The other alternative is to put the baby to the breast while she is still sleeping. Many babies will not wake up but happily drink in their sleep. Best to try when she is in a period of deeper sleep i.e. not at 5am when it is starting to get light, otherwise you might find her bright-eyed and up for the day!

 

[carang]

it only happened to me once or twice... i just massaged the breasts until the let down and then squirted into the sink (i was at my aunt's house in canada and didn't have a pump with me)...seemed to work ok and it only took about 5 minutes to relieve the pressure.