Hellobee Boards

Yep!! I would get so mad cause I couldn't sleep cause my boobs hurt so much or were leaking. It takes them a couple days and then they get the message.

It takes about 72 hours for your boobs to catch up! It's so annoying but just give it a few more days and hopefully it will not be as bad. As for pumping during the night, I would only do it for a few minutes until you have some relief. If you pump a bunch, you're telling your body to make more milk, which is the opposite of what you want!

I definitely had that problem! If you want to build up a freezer stash, pumping to relieve the engorgement is great, but it means you'll keep waking up uncomfortable needing to pump. If you just want to not be so uncomfortable at night anymore, just pump like an ounce or two to relieve the pressure.

You mention feeling bruised - where? If not right where the pump flange touches you, it could be a plugged duct related to the fact that you were engorged (unrelated to pumping). For me a plugged duct feels like a bruise deep inside the breast...I can never feel a lump itself but it seems like most people do. If it's a clogged duct you need to aggressively nurse/pump that breast and massage the clogged spot (ow) to get it unclogged...and wait until it feels better to try letting your supply adjust. Otherwise the clogged duct can develop into mastitis. I have clogged ducts for the third time in 10 months right now...for me it just feels like a bruise and I try to massage and keep that breast as empty as possible. Since I don't feel a lump I don't know if I unclog it, but my bruised feeling goes away in a couple of days.

Edit to add - I never see a bruise, just feel like I have a bruise deep inside the breast. Not sure if you mean you can see a bruise. If it's a visible bruise, I'm guessing not a clogged duct.

You'll adjust, although it might take a while and regress some as her habits change, because that's what I'm dealing with now. When he first slept long stretches, I was up in pain all night. For a while, I thought I was good, but I'm back to waking up in pain in the mornings. But it's not until morning, so I'll take it

I'm almost never able to hand express (and certainly not enough to relieve the pain), but I will pump an ounce or two just to feel better. I would avoid pumping to empty as much as you can, because it'll keep you producing that much milk. I do it sometimes anyway because it hurts too much.

Pumping will never get out all the milk so don't worry. If you pump and the baby wakes up as soon as you are done pumping there will still be milk and the milk that is still there will be the hind milk which is much thicker and fattier which means LO will probably fill up faster. Also, you shouldn't bruise from pumping. You may need to go up or down a flange size. Look in the information that came with your pump to find out how to determine what size flange you need. An LC should be able to help with that too. My other thought was that you might have had too much suction with the pump. Be careful not to turn it up too high until your breasts are used to the pump. I have found that the more I pump, the higher I need to turn the machine up. At first I didn't have it near as high as I have it now. Listen to your body. Pumping isn't the most comfortable thing but it shouldn't hurt.

Also, to answer your question, yes, this did happen to me too. After a couple days my boobs adapted and I didn't produce as much at night but I continued to produce enough to meet D's needs during the day.