Do you get engorged at night?

[wfall]

Hi everybody! This is my first post, but I have been reading these forums for months now.

I have a 3 month old baby boy and I am exclusively breastfeeding. Fortunately, he is a good night sleeper (but a poor daytime napper). Night sleep is good, but I get engorged almost every night! DS can not latch on properly when I am very engorged, so I pump a little in the middle of the night to relieve engorgement. Is this normal at the end of 3 months? I am afraid my milk supply will go down if I don't relieve engorgement. Also, engorgement is worse in the right breast and it gets sore while breastfeeding, I think that nipple is a little flat. Any suggestions for flat nipples, do soft shells etc. work this late into breastfeeding?

Any suggestions will be appreciated... Thanks.

[Mia31]

when my baby first started sleeping through the night, i got really engorged as well....but after a few weeks my body adjusted and I didnt have to pump early morning anymore to releave it until she got up. That's the amazing thing about our bodies...it adjusts to how much and how often your baby eats, so you should get some relief soon! Hope that helps a little....i'm not familiar with flat nipples, though, i'm sorry. (:

[JLiebCamm]

I also became engorged when DS began sleeping through the night. Your body should adjust to it after a week or so. If it is really a problem, you could always wake him up for 1 feeding before you go to bed. If he's anything like my DS, he'll nurse half asleep and then settle right back down.

Congrats on him sleeping through the night at 3 months! It took us until 10 months!

[JennyLynn]

Hi there,

My DS is about the same as yours (11 weeks) and hasn't gotten into a pattern yet so yes, the nights sleeps for more than 3 hours straight I often get engorged. I get up and pump because DS has a hard time latching on when I'm engorged. I just look at it as a chance to build up a stash of milk in the freezer. One thing that makes it easier is to have my pump assembled and ready to go before I go to bed, so if I do have to pump I am not stumbling around the kitchen.

I can't advise on the shells but if your son is able to latch on, I wouldn't worry too much about your nipples. I have noticed in the past few days that DS is getting stronger and more powerful suction and my nipples are sore like they were at first so I have started using Lansinoh again.

Jenny

[deborah_r]

Sounds like everything is normal. You want to pump just enough to relieve engorgement, because you don't want to send signals to your body that you need to make even more milk at that time.

The shells for flat nipples I think can still work at this time for you. Just wear them for a while before nursing (at least a half hour) and it will draw out your nipples, then remove them before you start nursing. If they fill up with milk and overflow, try putting a tampon in there instead of that ridiculous little sponge they provide - the tampon will soak up much more before becoming saturated.

[sntm]

deborah - that is so smart, using the tampon! i wish i had thought of that. i'll have to remember that for next time.
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shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03