LO was born on Saturday and is pretty good at feeding and had a good latch. My milk has just come in though and has made my nipples flatter and she can't seem to latch on as well anymore. Any advice?
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You can try manually expressing some milk to help the engorgement go down a little and make it easier for her to latch.
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I hand expressed or pumped for a minute before latching her
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@sorrycharlie: @mrskc: thanks for the advice... how long did u hand express for and did u do anything with the extra?
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You can store the extra in bottles in the fridge for up to 6 days, I think it is? If you express a little bit at a time, you'll have some to freeze after a while. It's definitely easier to feed a baby on a breast that has been slightly expressed than one that is hard as a rock!
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@JessLC: I only hand expressed long enough to relieve the mega swelling, so that she had something to latch onto. Also, sometimes it was shorter or longer amounts of time, but expressed long enough for the nipple to come out more. I didn't really do anything with the extra because I was totally clueless about milk storage at that point. but like @mediagirl said, as I pump at night (trying to relieve a block right now) I put each bottle in the fridge. Once they are cool I combine them and have been freezing 3oz bags.
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@mediagirl: I've heard this is bad because what comes out first is foremilk....which is sugary and watery and can bloat baby and give him bad gas.....:(
So honestly, I throw out what I express---it's usually less than or equal to an oz. -
Thanks everybody. Breastfeeding can be so overwhelming for a first time mom when there are like 5000 different schools of thought out there on this.
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Definitely pump or hand express before you feed, it will make your breasts softer and nipples easier to latch onto. Just express enough that your breasts aren't really hard, babies have difficulty latching onto rock hard breasts!
FYI: pumped milk can be stored in the fridge for 3 days. You can freeze it for up to 6 months (and is good for 24 hours once thawed).
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8 comments