Hi all,

    Engorgement will be more of a problem in our culture where we tend to separate babies, limit times on the breast and all the other practices that may interfere, which we lactneters are trying to change.  But there are moms who will be engorged no matter what.  With my first baby I had the typical hospital separation, baby didn't latch well all of that, after becoming an LLL I figured the with the next baby I wouldn't be engorged because I knew better.  She was a wonderful nurser, no mother baby separation, you could have called her a baby barracuda and I again experienced the extreme engorgement.  By the third child, another great breastfeeder and now I was almost an LC,  I became engorged again.  Ice packs were my friends for a few days!  
      With the first child I felt like it was my fault, everyone was telling me I just needed to nurse more often but the baby wasn't cooperating and I felt like everyone who looked at me frowned.  When I am explaining engorgement I tell the facts and then I mention that even if you do everything 'right' you still may be engorged and I go into the story of my three children and the ice packs.  Mom is already overwhelmed and when we approach engorgement as always the baby not nursing enough (which may be the case in many instances) mom may fell like it's her fault.
    If I had baby number 4 I would be engorged on day four for me that's how it seems to work.

Rene Fisher BA, IBCLC, LLL 

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