Oversupply of milk for prem baby in SCBU.

[notimefors]

My DS is taking 350ml per day at the moment. I am expressing 8 times a day and making about 1400ml per day.

I am a bit concerned about the huge discrepancy and how we will adjust once he is home - maybe next week. I am worried about my body reacting to the change and also whether it could affect the quality of milk for DS who is not having to work for all his feeds at the moment as he is tube fed at night and part of the day.

Does anyone have any advice? Would it be safe to pump the same number of times per day (8) but stop when I reached maybe 100ml per expression?

My instincts are telling me to try to get things more equivalent now in preparation for home. But I don't want to mess things up.

I do plan to donate milk also.

[AliceWChild]

I remember having a backlog when my baby was in neonatal. I also recall switching to bf easily. I do recall drenching bed sheets in transitional care. I know that's not very specific at all but hopefully vaguely useful that i don't recall problems.

[notimefors]

No that is helpful, other experiences are helpful.

[Gurke]

Hi - I had the same concern when my DS came home a few months ago after a 2 month stay in hospital. We only really started breastfeeding a couple of days before he came home and I had no idea how it was going to work out.

But in practice this solved itself gradually over a few weeks, as he began to drink more & more at each feed and I pumped gradually less frequently (whenever I did pump, I pumped to empty the breast). It's now 4 months later and I tend to pump just once in the early morning. (This is actually quite good to stock up my freezer again, after I had to chuck out a whole lot of milk after the recommended 3 months...)

So on the whole my supply and his demand more or less adjusted by itself. I did/do have a problem of too powerful letdown, which is often associated with oversupply, and this seemed to aggravate his reflux. In response I started to blockfeed at night (and pump the other side in the morning), and that's really helped.

My advice would be to go by how your breasts feel. The main reason for pumping is to prevent blockages and mastitis - whenever your breasts get to a point where they are noticeably full even after a feed I would suggest you pump to empty them - but once your DS starts drinking more you probably won't have to do that all that often, or at all.

[mrsv2]

i also had an oversupply when my DD came home. I froze as much as i could and kept it for mixed feeding at a later date. When DD came home and i was BFing i pumped to empty the breast and gradually decreased pumping as DD fed more. You will work out what you need to do.......and congratulation that your LO may be coming home soon

[notimefors]

Thanks - it sounds like maybe I am worrying about nothing, and things really will just sort themselves out between my breasts and my baby!

[Mama1980]

Hi I'm the same my son is in nicu well soon to be discharged hopefully and I have a massive oversupply-I've been freezing as much as I can but with my first prem baby's found the supply sorted itself out once we were home for a few weeks. You don't really want to stop expressing the supply or you risk engorgement or mastitis etc.

[Gurke]

Zombie thread! I wonder how the OP's DS is getting on, almost a year later...