Women's World:By DR NOR ASHIKIN MOKHTAR

Practical ways to prevent and if necessary, treat breast engorgement.

ONE of the most common problems women face during breastfeeding is breast engorgement.

This condition is so painful and frustrating that many women who suffer from it usually stop breastfeeding too soon.

However, there are several practical methods of preventing and treating engorged breasts. Surprisingly, you will find that a lot of these methods stem from age-old wisdom practised by our mothers and their mothers before them!

A new mother’s breasts become engorged when they are overfilled with breast milk.

Normally, your breasts start making milk two to five days after your baby is born (the milk produced before that is called “colostrum” and your breasts are still soft then).

During these early days, you may feel some breast fullness and tenderness because your breasts are filled with milk, extra blood and fluids, while your baby has not yet settled into a regular feeding routine.

If you have to miss a feeding session, express the milk by hand or with a breast pump.

Once you have established a regular nursing routine, the feeling of fullness should go away.

However, some women go on to experience overly swollen breasts. There are several reasons this may occur. If you have established a regular nursing pattern, but you do not breastfeed as usual (due to change in routine, illness or baby starting complementary feeding), your breasts will fill up with milk and become swollen.

Of course, if you suddenly stop breastfeeding your baby altogether, engorgement will also occur because there is too much supply of milk.

Breast engorgement can be more severe if a mother waits too long to start breastfeeding, does not breastfeed often enough or gives her baby formula milk or water (baby is less likely to fully empty the breast while nursing).

It’s hard to miss the signs of engorged breasts, but besides the obvious breast swelling and pain, look out for other signs like slight lumpiness, warmness, flattened-out nipples, hardened areolas (the dark area around the nipples), slight fever and swollen lymph nodes in your armpits.

If the breast engorgement is severe, it can lead to other complications and affect your baby’s nursing.

As your nipples become flattened during engorgement, it can be difficult for baby to latch on to your breast properly. At the same time, baby’s attempts to latch on will cause your nipples to become sore and cracked.

All this means that you will be less inclined to breastfeed, and your breasts will continue to be engorged with milk. If this goes on without treatment, your milk ducts may become blocked and infected, causing breast infection (or “mastitis”).

Worst of all, your baby will not be getting enough milk throughout this period.

But don’t worry – as I mentioned earlier, there are ways to prevent engorgement and treat it if it does occur.

Here are some tips to help you prevent breast engorgement. These involve managing the “supply and demand” of your breast milk.

Start breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth.

Breastfeed whenever your baby shows signs of hunger. If possible, breastfeed eight to 12 times within a day, to prevent milk from accumulating.