Engorgement Sucks
Engorgement is enough to make even the toughest breastfeeding mom wince in pain. It’s the short period of time after birth when the message between the uterus and the breasts gets scrambled and the number of children your breasts think you had is triple what you really had.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with engorgement. Yes it hurts like hell and I feel like I can’t do anything because of these two leaking boulders throbbing on my chest. But, it’s the only time when I actually have cleavage. My barely size A cups inflate to a D and I can actually look down and see something there.
But the pain. Oh gods does it hurt.
Heat becomes your best friend during engorgement. Or I should say your breast friend? Being able to put warmth on your boobs when they are engorged is pretty much next to chocolate and sex. It eases the pain and helps some of the milk get out to lessen the swelling. A warm shower can be the best thing you can do all day when you’re feeling engorged.
Unfortunately a new mom, especially one with other little ones, can’t always just pop into the shower whenever she wants. I can barely get my teeth brushed before noon, getting a shower in takes a miracle. So the second best thing is having rice packs that you can heat and put on your breasts. Just heat them up, put them on, and soak in the warmth.
I’ve got my Booby Tubes and they’ve been like little miracles for my poor boobs. You can toss them in the microwave for 20 seconds and have soft warmth or toss them in the freezer for a comfortable ice pack against swelling. And they’re round, so they actually fit breasts. I’ve got a big rice pack that I use on the kids, but it’s rectangle shaped and doesn’t really fit well on the boobs. Though, it is a perfect shape for other postpartum ouchies.
Even after engorgement is gone it’s nice to keep something like this around in case of mastitis. Mastitis is when a milk duct gets clogged and can cause a mom to get pretty sick. Putting heat on a clogged duct can help open it up and get the clog out. You don’t want to wait with mastitis, it’s better to have something already available that you can use while waiting to see your doctor.
And, since you know I’m one of those dirty hippies I have to brag that my Booby Tubes are made with organic cotton filled with flax seed and in a Fair Trade factory. See how crunchy I am?
If there’s one more thing that makes engorgement worth it, it’s knowing that those boulders on your chest are the best weight loss supplements you could get. At 500 calories a day burned by breastfeeding alone you can trade the pain of actually trying to exercise the weight off for the temporary pain of engorgement. It works for me.
Those look awesome!!!