[Submitted Question]

Help. Something is wrong. I just got back from the hospital with my new baby. There nursing went fine. But now suddenly my breasts feel hard as a rock and really hurt. What is going on and what should I do?

[WombToBloom]

Your milk has come in. The milk that came out when you nursed at the hospital is called colostrum. It is the early breast milk that is available for very newly born babies. It looks and is very different from regular breast milk. Usually, a few days after your baby is born, your body’s postpartum hormones will spark real breastmilk production. And when it comes, it means business!

The first thing you need to do is relieve the engorgement. Your nipples are probably stretched flat which will make it hard for the baby to latch on. Ice packs (or even bags of frozen vegetables) will help with the swelling. Then before you begin breastfeeding, you should express a little bit of milk to reduce the hardness of the breast – you can do this by massaging your breast and expressing the milk with your fingers or you can start the process with a hand pump or electric pump.

The engorgement problem should get better as the days pass and your body and your baby match up their supply and demand relationship.