What are the good ways to solve breast engorgement and how to prevent breast engorgement during lactation?

We all know that after giving birth, pregnant mothers will enter the lactation period and will often feed their babies. During the lactation period, many mothers will experience breast swelling, which will be very painful and uncomfortable. So how to relieve breast swelling during lactation? Let's take a closer look!

Why does milk swelling occur?

1. The baby can’t finish the food

The baby's stomach capacity is very small. A newborn can eat 15-30ml at each breastfeeding, and a heavier baby can eat 10ml more. However, once the mother produces milk after delivery, she will secrete a large amount of milk. The output cannot keep up with the input. The baby cannot finish the breast milk, and the milk will accumulate in the breast and cannot be discharged, which will cause milk engorgement and pain.

2. The interval between feedings is too long

Generally, the interval between breastfeeding for newborns is 2-3 hours. If the baby falls asleep, the baby should be woken up every 3-4 hours to feed. If the breastfeeding time is too long, the newborn is prone to hypoglycemia. The mother will also have breast engorgement and pain because the milk has not been emptied for too long. At the same time, if the breast is not emptied in time, it is easy to induce mastitis. If you get mastitis, it will be more serious than breast engorgement and pain.

3. Excessive breast milk secretion

Some mothers have good physical fitness, and even if they breastfeed their babies diligently, milk will still be secreted very quickly. This is excessive milk secretion. If the baby cannot finish the excess milk, it must be squeezed out and can be stored in the bottle to avoid waste.

How to relieve breast engorgement

Let your baby suck more

Because breast engorgement and pain are caused by too much breast milk stored in the mammary gland alveoli and lactiferous ducts, you can let the baby suck more. After the breast milk is sucked out, the pressure in the mammary gland alveoli and lactiferous ducts is reduced, and the breast engorgement and pain will naturally be relieved. Therefore, when a breastfeeding mother has breast engorgement, she can let the baby suck more.

Using a breast pump

Although breast engorgement and pain can be relieved by letting the baby suck more to suck out breast milk, the baby is very small and has limited strength. Therefore, when the baby is not sucking, the breastfeeding mother can use a breast pump to suck out the breast milk to relieve the pain.

Apply a cool towel or potato chips to your breasts

When breastfeeding mothers experience breast engorgement and pain, veins often bulge out on their breasts and blood vessels become more obvious. This is because the pressure in the mammary gland alveoli and milk ducts is too high. Therefore, if you want to relieve breast engorgement at this time, you need to apply cold compresses, because cold compresses can inhibit the secretion of breast milk and stimulate blood vessel contraction. Therefore, when mothers experience breast engorgement and pain, they can apply cold compresses with towels or potato slices. (However, it is worth noting that breast engorgement cannot be treated with hot compresses, only cold compresses, otherwise it will aggravate the degree of breast engorgement.)

Sleeping with the lower jaw facing the swollen and painful side of the breast

If the mother has breast swelling and pain, there will be lumps in the breasts. In this case, the mother can pay attention to her sleeping posture and put her chin towards the painful part of the breast when sleeping. This can dredge the lumps and relieve the pain.

Breast massage

When a mother has breast pain due to breast engorgement, she can relieve the pain by massaging her breasts, but the intensity of the massage must be gentle to avoid hurting the breasts. In addition, breast massage is only used to relieve breast pain. If the pain develops into mastitis, a professional massage or going to the hospital is needed.

How to prevent breast engorgement

Breast pain can be prevented. New mothers just need to pay more attention to these three situations:

Sucking both breasts when breastfeeding

When breastfeeding, do not let your baby eat from only one side, but from both sides. If your baby cannot eat that much, you can feed from one side for 10 minutes and then switch sides. Try to empty some of the milk from both breasts to avoid breast engorgement pain.

Frequent breastfeeding

Feed your baby more often, usually every 2-3 hours. If your baby falls asleep, you need to feed him again every 3-4 hours.

Eat less high-protein foods

If a new mother secretes too much milk and the baby cannot finish it, then she should avoid eating high-protein foods in her daily diet. This is because high-protein and high-calorie foods are more likely to increase milk, such as nourishing soups.

Always be ready to express milk

New mothers will have more milk, but because the baby's stomach capacity is small, they often cannot finish it. At this time, new mothers need to be prepared to express milk at any time, and try not to let the milk accumulate in the breasts. If you can't finish it, just squeeze it out, which can also prevent mastitis.

Finally, postpartum mothers need to build confidence, breastfeed more often, and maintain a happy mood, so that the quality of breast milk will be better.