What is "let down"?

[RGPargy]

Evening all.

Am planning on BF when my LO comes along in 5 weeks and have been doing alot of reading on this forum about BF, good points and bad points, etc. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.

However i keep hearing the term "let down" but i really dont know what it is. Can someone please explain?

TIA!

[Papillon]

That is the feeling you have in your breasts when the milk starts producing... hence to let down milk.

thats my unscientific explanation ;) All the best.

[liath]

Baby sucks nipple which stimulates release of a hormone which makes breasts "release" or let down the milk. Some women feel it as a tingling or sometimes quite uncomfortable sensation. HTH

[notnowbernard]

The feeling of your milk 'letting down' from inside your breast through to the nipple.

The suckling of your baby releases a hormone that triggers this response of the milk 'letting down'.

You can feel it happen. It's a weird (but not unpleasant) sensation. Sometimes other things trigger a 'let-down': another baby's cry, birds squawking, looking at your baby.

Don't think I've explained it in a very biological fashion, so apologies!

[StrawberryMartini]

I had a really strong feeling when my milk was about to come down. I would call it painful for the first few weeks. Even after a year it still tingled. I used to think it felt like an orgasm in my boobs!

[coleyboy]

My letdown for the first few weeks was uncomfortable, but then the discomfort disappeared. Not everyone gets it.

Good luck xx

[Papillon]

I still get it sometimes that feeling and have not bf for 8 months now!

[ScaryScienceT]

You'll know it when it happens. It's when your milk suddenly becomes available. Your breasts get very tingly and hot all of a sudden - you might even leak a bit (or a lot!). This is in the early days - by the time your baby is about 6 weeks old, you hardly notice it.

[Olihan]

NNB, I get it if ds2 hasn't fed for a while and I start thinking 'ooh, he hasn't fed for a while, I'm feeling full, he'll need to feed soon' then the prickling feeling stats and I get two lovely little damp circles on my t'shirt!

RGP, you can get more than one letdown during a feed, the basic gist is that the initial letdown lets the baby remove all the milk that's collected behind the nipple, then the sucking triggers another one (or more, depending on length of feed) and the fattier hindmilk is released from further up the milk ducts. I can only ever feel the first one but I know from expressing that ds2 gets at least 2, if not more. It all makes more sense when you're doing it though!

[RGPargy]

Ah right, that makes sense. Thanx everyone!

[notnowbernard]

Yes, various experiences triggered a let-down for me.... birds shrieking, talking about feeding(!) hearing other babies cry... the human body is a marvellous machine

Not so keen on the leaks, though...

[MurderousMaveta]

I´d heard of this and it took me ages to really be able to connect the feeling to what I´d read about. When he was still very small (weeks old) it was just a strange feeling I´d get just before I leaked (mmm. nice), I guess tingly would cover it.. but in the last couple of months (he´s 6mo now) I actually get a very strong emotional/sad feeling.. it´s a bit strange really as I´ve only ever heard it described as tingly or painful but for me it´s really sad

[melpomene]

You may also notice changes in the baby when the let down happens, eg you can hear/see them swallowing the milk in big gulps.

Personally, I rarely felt the let down; when I felt it, it was a tingling.