Breast engorgement is a condition where a woman’s breasts feel overfull with milk. After a point, this condition becomes painful and very hard to live with. This condition generally happens a few days after childbirth. The most common reason is an imbalance between the infant’s demand for milk and the mother’s milk supply. The mother’s milk glands overproduce milk which remains in the breasts leading to pain and discomfort.
The good news is that breast engorgement is not permanent but temporary and this gets adjusted once your body adjusts to the milk production as per the need of your baby. Every new mother produces colostrum in the initial days after delivery. Once this colostrum is replaced with breast milk, some mothers tend to produce more milk that is needed by the baby resulting in engorgement issues.
In This Article
- What is Breast Engorgement?
- Causes of Engorged Breasts
- Symptoms of Breast Engorgement
- Diagnosis of Breast Engorgement
- Treating Engorged Breasts
- Home Remedies For Engorged Breasts
- Preventing Breast Engorgement
- When to See a Doctor?
- FAQ’s
What is Breast Engorgement?
Breast engorgement is a condition where a new mother experiences swelling, pain, heaviness, tightness, and increase in the size of their breasts. This happens when she is producing more milk than her baby needs. Overfilling of milk in her breasts and hence this makes them heavier, tighter, and bulkier. A woman also feels pain in her breasts.
Immediately after birth, your body starts producing colostrum, which is yellowish and thick milk full of nutrients and proteins. This is early milk that will keep your baby nourished right after their birth. Soon after 3-4 days of childbirth, your body will witness hormonal changes and hence this will further lead to the production of white milk. Overproduction of this milk can lead to pain and inflammation in the breasts or breast engorgement.
Breast engorgement can also happen when the baby is feeding lesser due to health issues, has a less appetite or is making a shift to formula or solid foods.
Causes of Engorged Breasts
The reason behind causing engorged breasts is the production of more milk than usual in women’s breasts after childbirth, and more blood and lymph fluids. Below mentioned are some of the causes of engorged breasts
1. The Baby is Not Latching Properly
One of the main reasons why your breasts seem overfilled with milk is that your baby might not be latching properly for feed. The production and flow of milk increase after 3-4 days post-delivery. If your baby is not able to latch and empty the milk in the breasts, then your breasts would feel full and heavier. This can even make it more difficult for your baby to latch.
2. Weaning The Baby Early
If you have started feeding your baby with other foods than the mother’s milk, then it is likely that your breasts might be engorged. Your breasts need some time to adjust and decrease milk production.
3. An Ill Baby
Well, when your baby is sick, they are likely to feed lesser and infrequently, and hence this can result in building up of milk in the breasts and this can lead to breast engorgement.
4. Too Much Gap in Feeding Sessions
Well, this might not normally happen but when you are having a party session at home or you and your baby have gone to attend some occasion, you might not be having a proper time to breastfeed your baby. In such circumstances, you would only be feeding your baby with formula milk and hence this would lead to the gathering of breast milk which will lead to breast engorgement.
Symptoms of Breast Engorgement
So, how do you identify the condition of breast engorgement? Here are a few symptoms to look out for.
1. Flat Nipples
Your baby might face some kind of difficulty in latching milk from your breasts. The areola, which is a dark area around the nipples, becomes hard and this creates difficulty for the babies to suck milk from the breasts.
2. Redness And Warmness on Your Breasts
Well, when there’s some kind of redness on your breasts, it can be painful and hence this can even turn tender and warm. This causes excessive pain when your baby tries to latch. In such circumstances, it’s better to consult your doctor immediately.
3. Swollen Breasts
If you have engorged breasts, they will seem very lumpy, tender, and heavy and hence this might result in enlarged growth of your cup size. Swollen breasts look more enlarged than normal breasts and it may take longer than usual for them to return to their normal sense.
Other symptoms include blocked milk ducts, less milk supply and breast infection in some cases.
Diagnosis of Breast Engorgement
There are no specific tests to diagnose this condition. Women suffering from the symptoms of engorgement such as pain, warmness, and swelling may approach the doctor who will then diagnose based on the symptoms and a physical examination.
Treating Engorged Breasts
When you approach a doctor for engorged breasts, they may do a physical examination and rule out the possibility of infections such as mastitis. In the presence of an infection, they may prescribe antibiotics to reduce the infection.
The rest of the treatment invovles using home remedies to reduce and relieve pain while the body works on reducing the milk supply to the breasts.
Home Remedies For Engorged Breasts
Here are some home remedies that will help you deal with engorged breasts and reduce pain and inflammation and the milk supply as well.
- Taking shower in warm water for letting the milk down
- Feeding your baby more frequently, after every one or two hours
- Massaging your breasts while nursing,
- Applying a cold compress to prevent breast swelling.
- Placing the cabbage leaves inside your bra and letting them be there for a while to reduce breast engorgement.
Preventing Breast Engorgement
The treatment of breast engorgement would purely depend upon the breastfeeding patterns which you are following. Get help with how to treat engorged breasts below.
1. Feed Your Baby as Frequently as Possible
Well, when you feed your baby frequently, your breastmilk would be empty before the production of more milk. That is why it is possible to breastfeed as frequently as you can. You can breastfeed after every two hours and hence this would also put your baby off to sleep. You should keep your baby in contact with your breasts as this would make them want more breastfeeding.
In case your baby is not feeding, you can express excess milk to avoid pain and swelling.
2. Put on a Cold Compress
If your breasts still feel tender or swollen after breastfeeding, you may use a cold compress such as an ice pack, frozen cabbage leaves, etc to bring down the swelling and pain in your breasts. Do this for at least 15 minutes, until you feel alright again.
When to See a Doctor?
If you have tried all the remedies and preventions, but still, you are not getting any relief with your engorged breasts, it’s time to see a doctor. Even when your breasts start hurting you and you are experiencing breast swelling, redness, shiny skin, or even pain in the breast, do not wait until it gets worse. Call your doctor now.
FAQ’s
1. How Long Does Breast Engorgement Take to go Away?
In most women, breast engorgement goes away very quickly but for some, it might take some time. If you are nursing and pumping well, you might get rid of it at the earliest of 2 weeks.
2. Should I Pump to Relieve Breast Engorgement?
Yes, engorgement can be relieved with pumping. It might be becoming too hard for your baby to latch and that is why breast engorgement must be occurring. It’s better to pump your breasts as it would be easier for your baby to connect with your breasts.
3. Is Heat or Cold Better For Engorged Breasts?
Both are better for engorged breasts. A warm compress helps in the widening of ducts so that the milk can easily flow into the ducts in the breasts. Whereas cold packs can help in releasing swelling from the breasts.
