Avoiding Engorgement from Breastfeeding

Video Transcript

"I'm going to be showing you how to avoid engorgement, and what to do if you become engorged. Engorgement is what happens as your milk starts to transition into your new milk, or your mature milk. As some people call it, as your milk is coming in. This usually happens between day three and day five after your baby is born. What happens is that your body starts to produce your mature milk, as well as lymph fluid and blood starts to rush into the breast area. The best way to avoid engorgement is to feed your baby frequently, every one and a half to two hours, in a twenty-four hour period, so that your body is constantly releasing the fluids out of your breast. And if you end up getting engorged, even with constant breastfeeding, here's what you can do to help deal with it. One of the best things to do is a hot compress before you nurse. What happens when you become engorged is your breasts get quite swollen and they can become very hard, which makes it difficult for the baby to latch on. So you want to soften up the breast before you put the baby on. A hot compress, you can put this in the microwave for ten seconds or so, and then just go ahead and put it inside your bra for about five or so minutes, and do a little bit of massage to loosen things up in there. If that helps to soften it up, then you can go ahead and put the baby on and start breastfeeding. If you find that you're still very hard, then you can do a little bit of hand expression, or you might want to use your breast pump to just soften the breast up for just a few minutes. Now if you do use a breast pump, be very careful not to pump more than one or two minutes, just to get the flow going. You don't want to pump too much, because then that will increase your supply. After you're done nursing, if you're still feeling quite full, one other thing you can use is cabbage. And this helps if you have a blocked duct, or engorgement. Keep it in the refrigerator so it's nice and cool, and feels really good. Take off this thick part right here, just break it off, and then pull off the vein in the back. And then crumple it up just a bit, and then place this between your skin and your bra. And you can keep that in there until the next feeding. The other thing that you can do is do a cold compress, over the cabbage, for about five minutes, to help reduce some of the swelling, and that will help you avoid and deal with engorgement if you become engorged. If you do need additional help, seek the help of a local lactation consultant."