Breasts engorged 3 days postpartum but still no milk coming out. Help!

[Anonymous]

I delivered DC on Friday with no complications. Had an vaginal delivery with epidural. Now 3 days postpartum, my breasts are engorged but there is no milk coming out. DC feeds but is not taking in any milk. A nurse at the hospital has confirmed this. No wet diapers, etc. I'm at home now and it is becoming painful. How do I get the milk out?

[Anonymous]

I understand that engorgement has to do with blood flow, not milk flow. That said, do you know whether you have a plugged duct or something? Can you feel something hard in your breast that just seems out of place?

There is nothing wrong with formula - a friend of mine was in your shoes, and her baby was hospitalized for dehydration because the idiot lactation consultant (see a GOOD lactation consultant) told her to not give a bottle, even though the baby wasn't latching.

See a lactation consultant and physician immediately. Contact your baby's pediatrician. I can't believe the hospital sent you home without a wet diaper! If I were you, I would give formula tonight, or try to use a pump to get some milk out that way, and give your baby milk through a bottle. Call the pediatrician's after-hours line to see what they want you to do - if your baby hasn't taken in anything since birth (normally they'd get some colostrum by now) you might need to give her some formula just to ward off dehydration.

[Anonymous]

Don't be afraid to give your child formula. It is okay...you can breast feed and formula feed for a while until you get the breast feeding under control. Call a lactation consultant tomorrow to get help. I am not sure where you are, but the Breast Feeding Center in Washington, DC is a wonderful resource.

Good luck and I hope that things will work out for you.

[Anonymous]

LC and dr immediately. The faster you get this worked out, the better!

[Anonymous]

http://www.babycenter.com/404_how-many-days-will-it-take-for-my-milk-to-come-in_8897.bc

OP, try putting a Kleenex in the baby's diaper. Sometimes it can be hard to tell that the baby is wet at the very newborn stage, they don't pee that much and the diaper is very absorbent but the Kleenex will feel wet. They will not have the soaked diapers like an older baby yet.

Is the inside of the baby's mouth moist? Do he/she seem alert for brief periods and does he/she suck strongly? Right now the baby should be getting colostrum, which is a gold color. The baby should not have been getting "milk" at the hospital, it was too soon. After the colostrum is gone there will be white milk. It should be tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

I'm wondering if you are so engorged that the baby can't latch well, happened with my second. Do you have a pump? If not, have someone get you a hand pump at the drugstore. It will help get things moving and will help stretch your nipples. Make sure that the baby is opening its mouth VERY wide, to take in as much of the breast as possible. You may want to pump and feed the baby a bottle to ward off dehydration. If you think that the baby seems dehydrated now, I'd call the ped. You can also give a bottle of formula.

You can always call the Breastfeeding Center for a consult
http://www.breastfeedingcenter.org/consultations.html

The free New Mom group meets at the Breastfeeding Center tomorrow (I'd call if the weather is bad) and it includes a weight check
http://www.breastfeedingcenter.org/classes.html

You can also call the La Leche League
http://www.lllofmd-de-dc.org/index.shtml

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Anonymous]

PP here, if you pump colostrum, feed that to the baby too, it's excellent for their immune system and has many benefits. He/she is fine on that before the milk comes in but it's not clear from your post that they are getting it. Are you putting the baby to the breast very frequently? Did anyone check the latch at the hospital? The day of 2 with the worst of the engorgement can really be hard when they are so tiny, I'd really try pumping.

A lot of engorgement has to do with extra fluid, be sure to drink lots of water. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Pump your breasts....it will not only relieve the engorgement, but will provide a visual amount so you can know that your baby is feeding. I wouldn't jump right to formula, you're clearly making milk if you are engorged...just a matter of getting you comfortable and baby fed right now. Also mentioned, being so full may make it difficult for your little one to latch....pumping can help soften the breast and make latching easier. PP mentioned signs of dehydration, just remember, a sunken fontanel is a very LATE sign of dehydration. Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

This initial engorgement happens to many women. Call your dr. if you think your baby is dehydrated. In the meantime, here are some ideas to stimulate letdown:
stand in a warm shower and let the water run over your breasts, use warm compresses or anything to stimulate the letdown. Pumping at this stage can actually backfire because it stimulates your body to make more milk, and it already isn't flowing! You could try hand expressing a little, anything to soften your breasts so that baby can latch. Good luck, call your dr. and lactation nurse.

[Anonymous]

I had the EXCAT same problem. I did give the baby some formula from a bottle. tried to pump and wasn't getting much out but my breat were rock hard. Then I called a lactation consultant, but not until day 4 postpartum, when she saw my breasts, she said I should have called earlier. She had me use my pump, and showed me how to massage the knots out of my breasts until they were soft enough that the baby could actually latch on.

[Anonymous]

I agree that you need to meet with a good LC immediately.

It's impossible to tell if your baby is simply not nursing effectively/not getting to the milk or if you are just overproducing.

If baby isn't nursing effectively you need to contact an LC immediately and then pump and feed the baby. If you don't pump in the meantime it will hurt your supply and baby will continue not to eat. If you can stand the extra work you may want to consider doing a SNS or syringe feeding so you don't add to the latch issues.

If it's overproducing then the answer is just power through and maybe pump a small bit out to allow baby to latch.

However, over the internet it's impossible tell so call a LC and get to the bottom of it.

Good luck and congrats!

PS - I recommend Kathy McCue. She's amazing!

[Anonymous]

Make an appointment asap and, while you wait, pump. I had this problem too and fell in love with mt pump at 3am on the third day. Once they weren't so full, I was able to feed her.

[Anonymous]

I would also try not to panic. My daughter was born on a Sunday night ... my milk didn't really come in until Thursday (after we were home from the hospital). On Thursday she was still losing weight, but not as much day-to-day as the Tues-to-Wed weight loss. The pediatrician said that the reduced rate of weight loss probably meant my milk was coming in and by Friday she would be doing great -- which was in fact the case. It sounds like your baby IS nursing, just isn't getting milk right now. If that's the case, perhaps your body will kick in to milk production mode very soon. But always worth seeing an LC and/or your pediatrician, to make sure everything is going ok with you and the baby.

And FWIW, the pediatrician's other recommendation was to drink a big glass of water after every nursing session, day or night, and to eat a small snack of fruit, cheese, nuts, whatever at the same time -- to keep up with the water and energy requirements of milk production. Kind of brutal at 3 in the morning, unless you have the water and snack at hand, which I started doing ... but helpful.

[Anonymous]

I had similar issues--HUGE rock hard engorged breasts, but milk wasn't coming in and because my breasts were so hard baby couldn't latch. basically we supplemented and kept at the feeding and I pumped. I would put warm towels on the breast, pump, feed after pumping a bit, supplement if baby needed it, then after put ice packs (because they were so painful). Milk came in at a week, but it took another week or two before baby could really latch. Also, I had to get the XL size horns for pumping--be prepared! within a few weeks I was creating milk like crazy and a few after that all had regulated. But make sure to pump and get the mlik out-_I got mastitis a couple time in the beginning because of engorgement and not pumping/feeding enough.

[Anonymous]

OP are you ME?

Exact same thing happened. Don't let the nurse fool you.

Baby's taking minimum amounts of LIQUID GOLD from your breasts and diapers won't show up wet because they're super duper absorbent. And it's OK to take just a few drops. Their stomach is very very tiny, the size of a marble.

Use a cloth diaper to know for sure. If your baby's mouth is wet he/she's OK. Or like a PP said, put a kleenex or crank up the heat and hold baby naked on you and wait to see if you'll get wet the skin-to-skin contact is wonderful for both of you.

Don't let the lack of tears fool you also. My baby didn't have tears until 6 weeks.

Pump while the baby is asleep and save it but keep baby on you at all times! Don't use a pacifier just yet. let baby suck on you for comfort to speed up the milk flow.

GL and please come back to tell us what's going on.

[Anonymous]

Learn how to hand express and massage your breasts a bit at first to soften them enough so baby can latch. Engorgement is awful and so uncomfortable. From what I remember from #1, it lasted several days. As another pp said, just keep putting baby to the breast a ton. In addition to the suggestion you talk to an LC (or LLL leader), this is a great website that has lots of information (including how to manually express): kellymom.com.