If I had LOADS of milk first time will it be the same this time?

[soppypreggyloon]

With ds my milk was there in plentiful supply. Which was great for him as he never went hungry (every 2-3h without fail)
However due to his Tongue tie which was never properly treated I hated it as I was in pain every feed. (only discovered they'd not snipped fully when he was over a year and bf was a distant memory)

I had hugely huge boobs all the time and they ached all the time! I could only lie on my back as they were so full and sore and as for dh going anywhere near me- well you can imagine that was my idea of torture! I could express 180ml in 15 mins with a cheap hand pump and would easily soak through 10 boob pads a night (10 for EACH boob that is!)

So my question is if you had lots of milk first time will it be the same again. I need to mentally prepare for becoming Jordan again!

Ps I know I was very lucky to have so much milk but at the time it was a nightmare.

No not necessarily, I had loads of milk for dd1 (too much!) but only just enough for dd2, which was great. Maybe it was because I was more confident bfing her and I knew how to latch her on properly.

Much sympathy. I had similar problems. I'll be honest - they're worse this time round. BUT I was aware of how to cope with it and prepared for it so it's not so bad in that respect. Did your DS ever have problems with oversupply? Was he getting too much milk or was it just a problem for you?

Don't know. I needed breast pads for dd but not for ds. I just reckoned my body knew what it was doing second time round.

doricpatter - i hadn't thought it'd be worse!
he never had a problem with over supply - just colic which i think is pretty normal and stopped before i gave up bf.

I had enough milk to feed the street both times

Bad enough the first time but horrific oversupply the second time, I'm sorry to say.

No idea, but could you get a hospital to lend you one of their super-efficient electric pumps and donate the excess?

Very jealous of your superior lactation abilities.

awesome - pumping any excess off just made it worse last time so even if I had the time with dc2 and lively toddler ds I'd have no urge to increase supply even more!
I admire anyone who does tho! :)

Just to suggest some tips to deal with it should it be bad again:

1. I ended up going 12 hours on each side (ie keep using the same breast for 12 hours before switching to the other). 2 or 3 hours didn't do it, and this made a huge difference.
2. I fed mainly lying down for the first nine months.
3. Gave up on breastpads. Far too much milk. Just put a jug underneath the other one when feeding in private. Breastshells in public (changed constantly). Actually, because of 2. above, I could rarely leave the house unless I went to a friend's place and could borrow their bed!

I know people who have undersupply find it hard to imagine, but it was so stressful. In fact, I still feel like crying thinking about it a number of years on.

Oh, and agree with you, don't express. You don't need to do anything to increase supply further.
But letting the first letdown runoff before putting baby to the breast definitely helped DS cope a little better with the fast letdown.

jumpyjack are you me? that's where i am at the moment (ds2 is 6 months). the lying down/not being able to go out thing is v depressing. oh and he will not take a bottle. so i feel really trapped atm.

in answer to the OP, yes, it was the same with ds1. sorry.

Thankfully several years on Sophable, but the memories are very clear!
If it helps, things definitely improved at 9 months in terms of feeding and the leaking got significantly less at a year.
You're doing well. Hang in there!

Hmmm. I doubt I'll manage the lying down to feed and staying home with a jug!
tbh the pain of feeding plus the huge painful boobs was why I quit after 6 weeks and had dropped all bf by 12 weeks. Can't imagine I'll have anymore will power this time. :(

Hey, you can get yourself prepared this time - and it might not be so bad this time, who knows? I haven't investigated this but I think some herbs supposedly reduce supply, sage I think - you need to check that though.

I'm seeing a feeding advisor at the hospital on Friday because we suspect DD may have a food intolerance, although hard to say because it may just be that my oversupply is still upsetting her guts. If that's the case and I get any good tips I'll be back to let you know :)

Obviously it's crap that so many people have this problem but on a selfish note it's nice to know there are others! Although I'll admit my boobs don't pain me so much, and the leakage is settling down a lot now (4 months), it seems to really bother my babies.

I had loads first time round - 2 freezer drawers full for emergencies and still soaking through clothes at 10 months. The following 3 times I have leaked a little in the early months but it quickly calmed down. I do miss the freezer stash now that I am back at work and having to express twice to get 1 bottle filled-with ds1 I could fill 2 8/9 oz bottles at a sitting. I think what I am trying to say is that it may be different with a different baby.

I could have fed triplets when I was feeding Ds, but it was nothing like that with Dd, so no, it isn't necessarily the same each time.

I had oversupply and a friend recommended breast shells but I would not recommend them for oversupply. It makes sense to collect the excess milk so it's not soaking through your t-shirt or spraying across the room however I found the suction that the shell created caused me to produce more milk so I quickly gave it up.