Intolerable engorgement at 2w pp
Hi everyone,
I'm 2 week pp and currently EBF. I pump once a day after the morning feed for about 10-15 min for a freezer stash. I’ve been suffering from engorgement since 4-5d pp. My breasts get rock hard and create a very fast let down for LO, but he is still able to latch. You can hear him struggling to keep up and needing to pause every few suckles. I’ve been feeding him in a reclined position that hasn’t seemed to help too much. The pain from engorgement is also becoming intolerable.
When BF, I offer both breasts, but due to the oversupply, LO spends the entire time on one breast, and doesn’t even empty the one breast completely.
I have tried hand expressing, which gives me very mild relief for a hot second and helps with LO’s feed, but then my boob refills quickly within an hour and the cycle restarts.
I recently started using the haakaa before feeds and end up needing to remove about 1oz before feeling relief.
Recently, the pedi approved that we push daytime feeds from every 2-3 hours to 3-4 hours. Evenings we just feed on demand, which ends up being around 4 hours and that has only worsened my engorgement.
I can’t take ibuprofen due to side effects (tinnitus) and am seeking help/suggestions on what to do for my situation.
edit: pedi’s recommendation about feeds - baby is gaining weight steadily (reached birth weight at 5d pp) and, to clarify, we do still feed on demand