Calling breastfeeding mums - couple of questions I need answers to!!

[Elf1981]

My DD is 2 1/2 weeks old. I'm breastfeeding but have a couple of questions which I am hoping you could answer...

1. Is it possible to stop "exploding" boobs? I've been sat here for 10 minutes and my boobs have been drip drip dripping away. One boob has soaked through a breast pad, and I wondered if there was anything I can do to stop this? I've worked out if I lie on my back in bed, I dont leak at night (no pressure on the side of my boobs I think) but want to know if I can avoid leaking so heavily in the day.

2. Silly question - if I'm poorly, can I still breastfeed or will this increase the chances of my baby being poorly too?

Thanks in advance, sorry they're a bit dumb!

1. it will calm down elf; my ds is 13 weeks old now and I have just left off wearing a bra at night and don't need breast pads during the day any more (however I don't leak as much as some people). You may still need pads/bras at night etc but you may find that the leakage gets less. At the moment your body is constantly producing milk as it/your baby works out how much is needed and when.

2. AFAIK you can breastfeed when you are poorly - it won't make your baby poorly.

Not dumb questions at all!

Not much you can do about the leaking apart from wait it out in my experience - it will get better as your supply settles down. My dd is 4 months old now and I hardly have a problem with it now, in the early days I was soaked particularly in the morning. At night you could try folded muslin cloths inside your bra, but it's not a good look in the day!

I've always been told that you should just keep feeding when you're ill and it won't affect the baby at all.

Congratulations on your new dd, btw.

do you have any breast shells? (not nipple shields) they can collect the breast milk that leaks. esp when feeding from the other one, a clean b. shell means you can keep the leaking milk. At night I still used one and lying on my side or tummy, the shells didn't leak out. (I seem to remember lying on my front it did) I found that in the early days I leaked like mad. after about 6 wks, your boobs should settle down and leak a whole lot less.

If you are poorly you can still feed. In fact, baby will get the antibodies you produce while you are poorly so more protection for lo.

I had the flu when baby was 8 days old and she never had a thing. In fact, she didn't get her 1st cold till she went to nursery and got exposed to bugs I was not exposed to first .

As far as I know -

1. No, I don't think there is. It's just a good sign that you've got lots of milk I used to only offer one boob per feed, and during the feed would have a flannel / towel under the other side to catch the overflow. This seemed to drain off just enough that I didn't leak too badly when not feeding. Some people really suffer with this though, and there are really good breastpads (lilipadz?) that can help as they stop the milk coming out rather than absorbing what does come out. 2.5 weeks is still early days, it should settle down over the coming days & weeks.

2. If you are poorly still bf. You will pass on antibodies to your baby, which should prevent them being ill too. Even if you were to stop feeding, you still have enough contact that you would probably pass bugs anyway. Make sure you keep your fluid levels up even if you don't feel like eating. BFing is one of the easiest ways to comfort a baby that's under the weather as well.

Hope it continues to go well for you

not in the least bit dumb
the exploding boobs will settle down, quite soon hopefully. try not to stimulate them if you can possibly help it.

yes you can still bf when you're poorly, unless for some reason you are on drugs that are not safe for bf. if this happens to you, then if you want to carry on bf, push for bf safe drugs, or carry on expressing till the drugs are outof your system. call a bf counsellor (the NCT has them) if you need advice

best of luck and congrtulations

congrats elf on your dd.
When ds was 2 months I had an atrocious cold that dragged on for the best part of 2 weeks - recurring horrible sore and swollen throat, runny nose etc. dh had bronchitis at the same time so it might even have been from those bacteria. ds breastfed throughout and was - absolutely fine He got his first cold at just over 4 months and literally shrugged it off.
And the dripping will calm down. Good luck with the bf!

leaky boobs is not a problem I have had much of, but I know many who have and they swear by lilypadz. I think www.twinkleontheweb.co.uk sell them.

Thanks everybody. I love mumsnet!

I am a leaky one!! and with me it didn't stop till ds 1 was about 6 monthd old. I found lansinosh breast pads were excellent- even in the night. I have now discovered lilypadz and they are great too.

I find applying a little preassure on the boob I'm not feeding on stops it being quite so bad!

It's best to feed though most illnesses unless you are on medication that is not good for baby..and even then you can often request bf safe meds.

Yes you can feed whilst ill,
and your milk supply should even out soon.

Congratulations and keep up the breastfeeding

Boris