How to relieve breast engorgement: Thankfully, breast engorgement lasts only a few days to a week. Though it's a sign that your breasts are filling up with milk, the pain and swelling are also a result of blood rushing to the site, ensuring that milk production is in full swing. What is breast engorgement? Once your transitional milk comes in on about the third or fourth day after birth, your breasts grow heavier and larger as they fill with fluid and swell.

The good news is most breast pain passes, and there are things you can do to make it less of an annoyance. It can be anything from general breast tenderness to your milk coming in, to something more serious such as a breast infection. Sore breasts are unfortunately often a rite of new motherhood, especially if you're breastfeeding.