Engorgement
Also called engorged, engorged breasts, breast engorgement, engorgement pain, one-sided engorgement
Engorgement is when breasts get too full of milk and feel hard, tight and swollen. Parents use it most for the first days after birth, when milk comes in, though it can happen later too.
How it's said
I've had wonky engorgement when returning to work 3 times.
I did wonder how I couldn't remember this much engorgement pain with my first two!
My breasts are currently very engorged as DS is only taking quick, short feeds.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- Milk coming in is the switch from colostrum to mature milk in the first days after birth. Engorgement is the overfull feeling that often comes with it, and it can also happen weeks or months later.
Where it came from
Engorge came into English from French engorger, from Old French engorgier, and the French engorgement means clogging. In English it can mean to devour greedily, and in medicine to fill a part of the body too full with fluid, especially blood.
In breastfeeding the word means breasts overfull with milk. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine once had a protocol of its own called Engorgement. Its 2022 mastitis spectrum protocol replaced it and treats early postpartum engorgement as a separate condition that can look like mastitis.