Can your breast be/get engorged if you do not breast feed?

Question

I bf with my daughter for 16 months. I just had my son and am bottlefeeding him instead of bf. Can your breast still fill up with milk even if you are bottle feeding? If so, how bad is engorgment if you are not nursing and how long will it take for it to stop?

Answer 1

Your breasts will become tender and swollen because that is what they are meant to do when you have children. It is best to use a breast pump to lessen this engorgement, or else your breasts could become sore and possibly be more out-of-shape when your glands stop producing milk. It varies greatly with each woman how long it takes to stop producing milk. These links below may help. Although it may sound strange, you can also donate breastmilk to help premature babies (see breastfeeding.com)

Answer 2

I had my children and tried to bf them all it didn't take till the last one. I was told though that if I wasn't planning on continuing with the breastfeeding to not even start because it would not engorge as much and would not be painful. But i tried with all of them and I can tell you that when they engorged it did hurt but only for about the first 24 hours. If you find that they are becoming too painful then i suggest that you express milk either by pumping or manually but only a little at a time so that your body slows down in producing the milk. The upside to this is that the milk that you express can also be given to the baby by bottle and you get the relief at the same time. If pumping is an option then you don't have to worry about the engorgement at all and the baby benefits also. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Yes. Engorgement is what happens when your breast overfill with milk. Think of it as eating too much at one time. Most of the time it will take 3 days for your breast to reduce milk production and about a week to completely stop. If you bottle fed your son from birth you should have already had engorgement in the hospital and depending on his age be past that but I am assuming that since you are asking the question your still expressing milk. If you are pumping your milk you can expect not to get engorgement however if your son is over a week old and never had breast milk I would talk to you doc.

Answer 4

Yes, engorgment is normal. When I stopped breastfeeding my son, my breasts would get very hard and sore, so I would pump out just enough milk to relieve the soreness. If you pump out too much, you body will just produce more, so only pump out what you have to. I tried to wean my son down, but once I stopped completely, it only took about 3 days or so to stop filling up.

Answer 5

it may take a year try putting a hot compress on your breast when they get engorged if you squeeze them it will cause your breast to produce more milk you have to make sure you don't like you breast get engorged because you can get an infected galn some doctors will give you a pill to dry up the milk but it is hard to get them to prescribe the prescription!

Answer 6

Breast engorgement happens whether or not you breast feed. Your body doesn't know the difference. It usually lasts a couple of days. Use an "ace"bandage to wrap your breast to help support your breasts.

Answer 7

Yes......your body knows that if you had a baby, it is supposed to make milk to feed it. You will experience the inital post-partum engorgement even if you don't breastfeed. You can take ibuprofen to help with discomfort, use ice packs (bags of frozen peas work well) and wear cabbage leaves in your bra.

I take it there's no chance you can be convinced to give your milk to your son? :-)

Answer 8

Your milk is there no matter what you choose. Your body knows it had a baby and needs to produce milk.

You can slow/stop production by stuffing your bra with cabbage (weird.. I know) but know this.. I spend a fortune on formula and wish that my milk hadn't gone away so quickly. BFing is beneficial and inexpensive even if you just do it for a few weeks. Plus it helps your uterus contract and lose the baby weight.

Answer 9

Your breasts will still produce milk even if not bf. It will take a little while for them to stop, but they will. Especially if you are not bf or pumping the milk.

Answer 10

My doctor told me with both of my pregnancys to wrap my breasts with an ace bandage and apply ice if necessary. It only took a few days to a week for them to dry up. Also, they now sell a special product at babies r us for the breasts I am not sure what it is called though.