Engorged Breasts
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In the early days it is better to stay close to home so you can rest when your baby sleeps and so that you have time to get to know each other. This is nature’s way of giving you time to recover from the birth. Periods of skin-to-skin contact are absolutely vital and will actually stimulate you to produce the perfect amount of milk for your baby. If you are rushing around the chances are that you will not produce sufficient milk and its possible that your baby will not thrive.
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What is the best treatment for engorged breasts?
Clare Byam-Cook saysWhen the milk first comes in (around day 4) it is fairly common for some women find that their breasts become extremely hard, painful and engorged with too much milk. Most breasts will gradually settle down of their own accord so it is generally best to do nothing other than wear a good supportive bra and put cold cabbage leaves or special gel pads (available from chemists) into your bra to help reduce the pain and inflammation. But if your breasts get so engorged that you are in agony and your baby can’t latch on, you should use a pump to empty your breasts until the engorgement subsides. You should only need to do this for one or two feeds. |
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Don’t forget that there are lots of available resources for breastfeeding information including National Childbirth Trust and the Department of Health.
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