A bit of an interesting question, I know, but this is causing me serious difficulty!
I am a couple of weeks after birth, and breastfeed my child. During the day, I put pads in my bra to stop my breasts leaking milk. The problem is when I go into the shower, and it is nearly time to feed the baby, and my milk starts to leak.
Is there any way of plugging the breast for 20 minutes or so, while in the shower?
I had the same issue during and after a warm shower. I breast fed 6 children and found the solution 4 days after first born baby.
Before you shower you can pump the breastmilk and refrigerate it, or you can breastfeed the baby before taking your shower, or you can set up the breastpump prior to showering and prepare to pump as soon as you see your milk let down.
Be patient with yourself... your body is doing exactly what it should be doing. Your milk production at first is plentiful because prior to your body producing actual milk, your baby was nursing on colostrum, that thick clear golden serum of antibodies and pure nutrition.
Be patient with your body yourself and your baby. It is super easy the first few weeks to worry and stress out. Just know that your body is doing a fantastic job in response to what a fantastic mommy you are, if you had not put your baby to breastfeed and suckling the way the baby should be you wouldn't be flowing with milk. You clearly are doing everything right. Take plenty of fluids and rest. Good job! I hope this helps with the options I've mentioned. Congratulations you are doing a fantastic job of rest hydration hygiene and breastfeeding natural right out of the ways to be a great mommy pamphlet! Namaste .
As a new mother, your body is still finding the balance of how much milk your baby needs. And erring on the generous side, which is a good thing.
Warm compresses before nursing are often used to increase the let-down reflex and a warm shower has the same effect, especially for a full breast.
If you can’t shower after nursing (when everything is more relaxed, literally), your breast will likely leak.
The long-term solution is patience: The leaking will get less or disappear after a few weeks or months. (There’s no fixed time frame, it varies a lot.)
For a quick fix, especially when you are not “bursting full”, you can press (not pinch!) your nipples with the palms of your flat hand, a bit like pushing towards your rib cage. This often works, at least for a few minutes. It even works during nursing, to stop the second breast from overflowing. It worked fine for me, but the effectiveness varies between women.
