Many new moms are familiar with the symptoms of engorgement: sore, swollen breasts that are often painful to the touch and are as hard as rocks.
Engorgement is a common problem for nursing mothers. When your breasts become too full of milk, they can become hard, painful, and may even leak milk.
Engorgement can happen at any time, but it is most common in the first few days after giving birth as your milk comes in.
You may also get engorged when your baby starts sleeping through the night or when you start weaning, as your baby will nurse less often.
No nursing mother likes to be awakened in the middle of the night by engorged breasts. Not only is engorgement incredibly painful, but it can also lead to mastitis, which is a serious infection of the breast tissue.
So, how can you prevent engorgement overnight? You can do a few things to prevent nighttime engorgement or at least ease the pain.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss 10 ways to prevent engorgement during the night so you can have an undisrupted sleep.
Before we go ahead, I want you to remember that we are all so different and that one piece of advice might not apply to everyone.
Keep this in mind as you read through the solutions proffered here, and try another tip till you find what works for you in your breastfeeding journey.
Please note that this article may contain affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of this page.
10 Simple Ways To Prevent Engorgement Overnight
So what can you do to solve overnight engorgement and prevent mastitis?
Fortunately, there are many easy and accessible ways to keep your breastfeeding journey going smoothly and to keep you and your baby happy and well-rested!
Read on to discover ten easy ways to avoid breast engorgement!
#1 Use a Haakaa Pump
The Haakaa pump is a wonderful tool many mothers use to avoid engorgement and prevent breast milk wastage.
The Haakaa is a manual suction pump that you can attach to one breast while your baby feeds from the other.
It collects the milk that might otherwise leak, so it truly puts all of your “liquid gold” to good use!
Plus, by quietly removing excess milk from your breasts, it takes the edge off thus preventing engorgement.
So, not only does this pump help to prevent or relieve engorgement, it helps you to build an extra supply of milk effortlessly.
SEE: 8 Causes of Salty Breast Milk
#2 Hand Express Milk
Hand expression is a great option for mothers who are not pumping but need relief from engorgement.
Pumping regularly can signal your body to make more milk, but hand expression can remove just the milk needed to avoid engorgement.
Even just a few minutes of hand expressing can prevent engorgement and help you to regulate an oversupply of milk.
To hand express, start by relaxing and massaging your breast to get the milk flowing.
Then, compress your breast with your fingers and push toward your nipple. Soon, you should start to see the milk flowing out.
Alternate on both sides as needed until you begin to feel some relief.
#3 Place a Towel on Your Bed
If you’re experiencing engorgement, you may also have some leaky breasts.
You may need to wear breast pads to catch any daytime leaks.
You can also place a towel underneath you at night thus preventing engorgement by allowing the milk to leak into a towel.
Additionally, if already engorged, you can place a warm, damp towel or compress over your breast to relieve any pain from engorgement and to loosen any clogged ducts to get the milk flowing more smoothly.
#4 Pump to Relieve Sore Breasts
As previously mentioned, the Haakaa pump and hand expression can provide relief.
But sometimes, using an electric or manual pump is most effective at avoiding nighttime engorgement. Any breast pump will do, and many options are available!
If you pump regularly, you may want to use an electric breast pump that you can attach and let it do the work for you.
A simple hand pump may do just fine if you need to pump less frequently. Either way, pumping as needed is an effective way to prevent pain from engorgement.
To avoid having to wake up at night to pump, it is recommended to pump after feeding the baby and before going to bed to empty your breasts for the night.
#5 Use Cold Packs
Cold packs or ice can relieve pain and swelling from engorged breasts, especially after breastfeeding or pumping.
The cold can signal to your body to produce less milk, so while the cold provides relief, it also can help with oversupply and engorgement.
You can find small cold packs that can comfortably fit into your bra after feeding. This should help your supply to regulate more quickly.
#6 Co-sleep
Co-sleeping, if done safely, can be an effective way to prevent engorgement.
Many parents enjoy having their baby sleep in the bed, which can be a comfortable option for breastfeeding mothers.
When your baby wakes up to feed, you can attach them to your breast without even getting out of bed and fall back asleep with the baby.
This way, your baby feeds throughout the night, preventing any engorgement that might occur.
If you choose to co-sleep, you must follow co-sleeping guidelines to keep your baby safe.
#7 Lie on Your Back
Another easy way to prevent and relieve engorgement is to breastfeed on your back called Laid-back nursing. This can help your body not to overproduce milk.
Doing so can reduce some of your let-down reflexes and make the baby work a little harder to get the milk.
Your baby will still drink the milk they need, and your body will adjust its milk supply.
#8 Relieve Pain with a Hot Shower
As mentioned above, cold can provide relief, but so can heat!
The warm water relieves painful and swollen breasts and encourages the let-down reflex, making hand expression or pumping easier and more effective.
Just 15 minutes of hand expression under a hot shower can do wonders for relieving engorgement pain.
Alternatively, you can apply warm compresses to your breasts for a similar result.
#9 Feed your Baby Regularly
In the early weeks, babies need to feed every 1-3 hours.
Make sure you are not going too long between feeds because not only will your baby become hungry and fussy, you are more likely to have engorged breasts.
A regular feeding schedule throughout the day and night should prevent this.
Also, feeding your baby on demand – whenever they seem hungry, even if it’s very frequent – can keep your milk flowing regularly and prevent engorgement.
#10 Give it Time
Be patient with your body! Learning to breastfeed and regulate milk supply takes time, especially in the first few weeks after birth.
Newborns’ feeding habits can be unpredictable. You may find yourself cluster-feeding around the clock or suddenly going longer stretches at night without feeding.
Most mothers experience breast engorgement at some point in the early days of breastfeeding. As the baby gets a little older, its schedule should naturally start to regulate, and so will your milk supply.
Breastfeeding can be especially difficult initially, but if you keep at it, it will soon become second nature!
Conclusion
Every mother’s breastfeeding journey is full of ups and downs, rewards, and challenges.
Most mothers face engorgement at some point, and while it can be painful, it is nothing to be afraid of because it can easily be solved.
Hopefully, these suggestions help you get past engorgement smoothly and quickly and allow you to enjoy feeding your precious baby every moment!
You may also like to check out this related post – can I go 8 hours without pumping?