Expert: Sageda El-Abbasy - 10/5/2009

Question
I have been breastfeeding my son for the past 8 months.  I have had two occasions where I experience a severe blocked duct.  Usually starting with engorgement (rock hard breasts)and fever, but it was not mastitis.  Now I am really concerned because sometimes I wake my son up at night and feed him, because it feels like I'm going to end up with another blocked duct.  I don't want to be waking him up, but I also do not want another blocked duct.  I was told that the breasts regulate themselves and rarely feel full at this stage in breastfeeding.  But mine still seem to fill up and get hard.  Is this normal?  I want to let my son dictate his nursing, but I sometimes still push a feeding on him because of how uncomfortable my breasts get.  When can I stop worrying about engorgement issues?


Answer
Well, the more you take out of your breasts the more they produce.  When you wake your son up, it's like you are telling your breasts that this is the demand of your baby, so they make sure to produce enough to fill that demand.  Instead I suggest that you buy a breast pump, and emptying just as much as you need to feel like your breasts are not engorged.  Don't empty all the milk inside; just enough to make you feel better.  This way you would not need to wake your son up and at the same you wouldn't trigger your breasts to produce so much more.
Best of luck.