Swelling during breastfeeding is, unfortunately for many women, a very common thing. In some instances, swelling during breastfeeding simply comes because your breasts are full of milk. In more rare cases, this fullness that causes swelling turns into pain, and can be a sign that you are experiencing engorgement. You’re most likely to have swelling during breastfeeding during those early days of breastfeeding, during that time in which your body is adjusting to your baby’s need for milk.

The good news is that there are some things you can do to reduce swelling during breastfeeding:

• Use a cabbage leaf compress for swelling during breastfeeding. Literally for centuries women have been able to use a compress to help ease swelling during breastfeeding. In former years, cabbage leaves may have been used, and those work fine for some women today. Simply use a green cabbage, rinse the leaves and dry them, and then cool them in the refrigerator. remove the base, gently pound them, and you can then use them to soothe swelling during breastfeeding.
• Try a herbal compress. Herbal compresses may use any number of herbs to help soothe swelling during breastfeeding. Chamomile is a popular ingredient, as are black tea leaves.
• Consider a hot towel. Many women experience relief from breast feeding using a hot towel. Do make sure that the breast is cooled before your baby latches on to feed, however, as you don’t want to accidentally burn your baby’s mouth.
• Feed more frequently. Obviously you need to balance your baby’s need to feed against your need to address your swelling during breastfeeding. However, some women find that feeding more often relieves the swelling.
• Express your breasts or use a pump. If your baby isn’t hungry, express your breasts until they are soft, but not until they are empty.

You should also be vigilant about infection. Watch out for the signs that your breasts have become infected, and make sure that the swelling isn’t the result of such an infection.

Many adoptive mothers bottle feed their babies because they believe that’s the only choice they have. While we applaud all adoptive parents, regardless of how they choose to feed their babies, the truth is that adoptive parents are often able to breastfeed their adopted children through relactation or induced lactation.

The process doesn’t work for everyone, but many adoptive mothers, including those who have never breastfed or even been pregnant, are able to breastfeed their babies. Nearly all women lactate and produce breast milk on some level. Here are some of the techniques used by adoptive mothers to increase lactation to the point that they can provide at least some of their baby’s nutrition through breastfeeding:

• Using a breast pump. Adoptive mothers should ideally begin using a breast pump every two to three hours before the baby arrives. If baby is already here, you can still start. The more stimulation your breasts receive, the more likely you will be to be able to produce enough milk for baby’s nourishment.
• Lact-Aid. The nurser training system basically allows baby to feed at your breast while receiving formula through a tube while is attached to your nipple. In a best case scenario, this will help you to lactate while still offering baby adequate nourishment. In a worst case scenario, you will still be able to enjoy the bonding and closeness of feeding baby at your breast. While the formula does not offer all of the health benefits of breast milk, it does offer the opportunity to give you and your baby many of the emotional benefits of breastfeeding.
• Medela SNS: The supplemental nursing system, or SNS is similar to Lact-Aid. The difference is that Medela was specifically designed to help adoptive mothers lactate. It can also be used to give baby supplements both short term and long term as needed.

If you decide to try to breast feed your adopted baby, you are to be highly commended. One word of caution, though. You need to understand that it can be a trying experience, and often frustrating. Don’t be hard on yourself if you aren’t able to produce enough breast milk to supply all of baby’s needs. Consider joining a breastfeeding support group to keep yourself encouraged.

Most adopted mothers can produce at least some breast milk, but very few can produce enough to give baby all of the nutrition she needs. Know that every little bit helps, and you are doing a very good thing for your baby.

One of the more common problems that can come as a result of breastfeeding and/or pregnancy is mastitis. In fact, it is tremendously rare for someone who is not breastfeeding to have mastitis. Mastitis is, in the most basic sense, an infection of the tissue of the breast. Some of the common symptoms of mastitis include swelling, redness and pain of the breast that’s infected.

Mastitis occurs when bacteria work their way into the breast. In some cases, this happens through the openings for the milk ducts, but in other cases it comes along with small cracks or breaks that can occasionally occur in the breast during breastfeeding.

Mastitis is dangerous, if it is not treated. It is an infection, and like any other sort of infection you might get it can turn into quite a problem. Eventually, untreated mastitis might lead to a breast abcess. An abscess refers to a boil under the skin that is filled with pus.  This abscess may even need to be treated by draining it in a hospital, via an incision in the breast.  This is why it is important to identify and treat mastitis earlier rather than later.

Mastitis isn’t, however, harmful or dangerous to your baby. Chances are pretty good that mastitis will interrupt your breastfeeding cycles, largely because the infection changes the taste of your breast milk. Instead of being sweet as it usually is, your breast milk may taste salty when you have mastitis.  Still, breast milk will not harm your baby when you have mastitis because of the fact that there are antibodies in the breast milk that protects your baby from various infections and diseases.

If you show some of the symptoms that go along with mastitis, talk with your doctor. Like other infections, mastitis is not a condition that will right itself on its own, and you will generally need some degree or another of medical attention to clear up the infection that is causing mastitis.