Help! My Breasts Are like Rocks!

Hi Christie,

If you haven't already, please call the Pump Station in Santa Monica or Hollywood. they will know exactly how to help you.

Good luck!

I have heard of others who could not express milk until they used a hospital grade pump for a little while. Once that got the milk flowing, a regular pump worked just fine. If you go to the Medela website, you can find out who rents hospital grade pumps close to where you live.

holy moly! i was in tears my breasts hurt so bad when she was 4 days old...i was hysterical. i pumped and pumped and just kept nursing even though it hurt like heck. we eventually got passed it. also hot rags and hot showers..(no soap on the nipples)
when the real milk first comes in it was sooo painful...it passes, thank god.
breathe...i really needed to breathe.

Hi, C..

First of all, how long have you been pumping? Are you pumping for a total of fifteen minutes after you've waited 15 minutes when you nursed?

I have strictly breastfed my 11-month-old daughter. Breastfeeding and pumping requires diligence, but it's been so rewarding to see my daughter thrive.

What I would suggest is you really need some support. If you can find a lactation consultant in your area that you can get some advice, I would highly suggest it.

When I started nursing my baby, she had a mild case of jaundice and I needed a lot of help with nursing and pumping. A combination of eating 5 meals a day, lots of fluids (I was drinking about 10 glasses of water a day) and lots of pumping helped up my milk production.

I utilized the lactation consultants at the Pump Station in Hollywood. Corky (one of their lactation consultants) encouraged what I was already doing, but also told me not to be concerned about the amount of milk that I was pumping. I was only getting about an ounce from each breast which worried me. She said to continue to pump and keep up my caloric intake, liquids, as well as including milk supplements (i.e. fenugreek, Mother's Milk tea) and my milk would increase.

It took about a day and a half, but sure enough, I started to get about 4-5 ounces from each breast and at one point I got up to 7 ounces per breast.

I cannot express how important it is to make sure you eat a lot! When I say five meals a day, I was eating full plates of food, as well as having lots of snacks throughout the day, mostly fresh fruit. As a first time mom, those first few weeks, even months, are difficult to remember to eat or fit in eating in a day because you're tired and get caught up in figuring out everything.

As for the pain and hard breasts, try pumping for 5 minutes before you nurse your baby. It alleviates some of the pressure and it expresses the foremilk which babies find thirst quenching, but unsatisfying.

The letdown reflex, the tingling pain you feel in your breasts when pumping or nursing, will lessen over time. Everytime I pumped or nursed when my breasts were so engorged and hard and the letdown reflex kicked in, I thought it was the worst pain and didn't know how I was ever going to continue breast feeding for very long. I'm still nursing now after eleven months, so it does get easier. Keep trying though.

Eventually, your breasts won't be as engorged, you'll produce enough milk for you baby and it will be easier.

I wish you lots of luck and congratulations. Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed at breast feeding, whether it be friends, a lactation consultant you can call at anytime or your spouse. I know that I couldn't have made it through the first three weeks without the help of my partner, my mom and my friends who also had babies aorund the same time as I did who also wanted to breast feed their own babies. Support is so important to increase your success.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

All the best,

E.

Hi C. - congratulations on your new little guy! I wanted to let you know that there is a GREAT breast feeding support group at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, 501 S. Buena Vista Ave, Burbank, 91505, ###-###-#### - ask for Babywise. The support group is run by an excellent lactation specialist and they can answer ALL of your questions and help you with ANYTHING!! When my son was little we went every week for several months. I learned SO much and met some really great moms that I am still friends with :)
Good luck :) A.

iodine

Check out Jorge Flechas solidly researched work on the connection between low iodine and high fibrocystic breasts, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids in the uterus

http://www.iodine4health.com/overviews/audiovisual/audiov...

consuming fluoride (fluoridated water plants sprayed with fluoride as a pesticide) and bromide (soft drinks, baked goods, Bromo seltzer) will decrease your body's iodine.

As I read your cry for Help!, I sensed your frustration. I have been there and done that. I would venture to say there are multiple problems taking place, as a former breast feeder and over/under producer.

First, if your breasts are overly full and "hard", try placing a warm towel on your breasts before pumping or breast feeding. This will stimulate the release of milk from the ducts, and allow it to drop down(so to speak). This usually happens with the suckling of the baby, but is somewhat difficult when your breasts are really full, because it is hard for the child to fully grip the nipple and hard to get the right suction when pumping.

There were times when I was breast feeding that the pressure and pain was so great that I had to get into the shower, run warm water over my breast and manually express milk just to get some "room" and thus some relief until I could feed or pump.

Remember the way to greater production is through more frequent emptying of the breast, so make sure that you schedule time to "reap your harvest" and it pays off in the long run to develop some sort of schedule. Delay, as you have learned can be painfully uncomfortable.

In a nutshell, your breast have become a milk producing factory, so if you want more milk, fully express the breast more frequently. If you want less milk, express less milk. Your breast will realize the milk is not needed, as when you begin the weaning process, and eventually slow down production. Your breast take their cues from you and your child.

I might also add that if you are away from your baby during feeding time, or on a overnight or weekend getaqay, your breast have no clue that your child is not there and and continue prodution as usual, so take a pump with you and express milk according to your usual schedule. This way you can aviod discomfort and continue as usual upon your return. While it may be a little inconvenient, it is less frustrating in hte long run. This is also how you can continue to provide breast milk for regular feeding when and if you return to work. Pump, store, and freeze for later use.

Hope this info is helpful.

Congratulations! The Providence St. Joseph's group meets every Wednesday from 10am-12n. You DON'T have to be on time - don't be shy about walking in late. Just wanted you to know asap so you can make plans - will help immensely. I have a 3.5 year old and a 7.5 week old and the nurses there were so helpful!

Sounds like you are engorged. It happens to almost everyone when their milk first comes in around 3-5 days after birth. Hurts, I know. The best thing to do is to pump and put warm compresses on your breasts to loosen them up. Your breasts are hard because they are filled almost beyond capacity with milk. The more you pump, the more you'll get, because your body will produce milk to equal the demand. Get them used to a high demand right from the beginning and you will have enough for your son, plus some extra to stash away. I found the best time to pump was right after the first morning feeding.

Best of luck with your little guy and congrats on becoming a mom!!

I know lots of women who experienced this, and as far as i know, none of their husbands declined their request for help. *wink*

Call the Babywise number at St. Joseph's today!! The lactation consultants are awesome, and can sometimes get you in on short notice.

http://www.providence.org/losangeles/services/babywise/e0...

In the interim, try taking a warm shower and massage your breasts, try to get the milk flowing there, then jump out and pump or feed. I found the first couple weeks to be the hardest (no pun intended), and probably would have stopped if not for the lactation consultants! They can even give you advice over the phone!

Good luck!

Hi C.: You poor dear! (Big conrats on your new baby, though!) I've been where you're at. Call for help immediately - St. Joseph's sounds like an excellent resource as other posters have mentioned. Also, along with warm washcloths or hot packs massage your breasts a lot everywhere to get the milk flowing out of those ducts and not stuck there. After you've massaged and loosened up the milk in your ducts, nurse your baby as much as possible. There is no better solution for clearing those ducts than a really efficient nurser as God intended it to be. Take some ibuprofen or tylenol, too. It will get better! Be persisent and God bless you!

Hi C.,
I breast fed and gave my some formula at the same time. Maybe try this to help his dehydration until you get your milk supply under control. Meanwhile the other moms had good suggestions for talking to the lactation consultants at St. Joseph.

Good luck.

Congrats on the baby! Everyone has great advice on this subject. Warm showers,expressing the milk, pumping, and resting are key to fighting off breast infections. My midwives gave me great advice. They use warm cabbage leaves to rest on the breasts to relieve the pain. And, they suggested phytolacca decandra a homepathic medicine found at Whole Foods or a natural vitamin store. I still use the remedy when I feel a block or infection coming on. It is a natural medicine and is very safe for a nursing baby. You may want to join the la leche league. Here's the link: www.llli.org/Web/California.html

Good Luck!

fill a long sock with rice and microwave it for a few minutes. then put on your breasts and it will get the milk flowing and ease up that "rock" like feeling. i had to do it every morning b/c mine felt like that after a night of not feedling (my husband would give him a bottle in the night) good luck

Rent a heavy duty breast pump from a hospital. They are 100 times better than a store bought pump. Call and attend a lactation support group immediately. After spending almost $400.00 on private lactation consultants, I attended a support group at Glendale Memorial Hospital. They were a great help and saved my breast milk. Baby's feed about every 3 hours around the clock, so you need to pump or nurse for about 30 (sometimes 40) minutes every 3 hours abound the clock. But check with a lactation consultant right away. Hang in there. It gets easier.

"We also offer a weekly breastfeeding support group, "The Nursing Mother's Circle," which meets every Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m.

For more information about our women's services, please call ###-###-####. For a FREE physician referral, please call ###-###-####, or try our Doctor Finder search online."

http://www.glendalememorialhospital.org/Medical_Services/...

Given his age :-) Your milk might not have fully come in yet. I breast feed (BF) till both of my kids were 18 months (just so you know where the advise is coming from :-) My daughter was almost 10 lbs, so I supplimented with formula for the 1st 2 weeks. If you are open to that, then ask your Ped. for which one to use as this was 6 yrs ago :-)

As for the pain - Take a warm almost hot shower (I know crazy advise in this 100+ heat - LOL) and apply hot compresses to your breast - this will help with let down.

If you still have problems then call your local Le Leche
http://www.lllusa.org/web/BurbankGlendaleCA.html
The leaders will provide Free help with a vast resource of experience from others ...

Good luck and feel free to email if you have more questions I didn't answer here.

I went through the same thing...
Nurse him as often as he is willing...and spend the rest of the time in a hot shower! Eventually supply and demand will come into balance and it won't hurt anymore and all will be well! The La Leche League was a huge help to me.

K. in Los Angeles