? fast letdown on one side ?

[baddyfreckleface]

is that likely?
Dd is 4 weeks and having real problems with wind and is often sick. One of my breasts seems to always be fuller, it looks quite a bit bigger and is very hard. It feels engorged most of the time.
When dd feeds on this one she usually coughs and splutters at first and has to come off to get her breath.
I am trying to feed her while I am laid back more and that helps sometimes.
I have been expressing twice a day to get a bottles worth so I can have one feed 'off'. I get around 2-3 oz from my fuller breast within 5-10 mins but only about half an oz from my other side.
So how do I best sort this? Am I making things worse by expressing? Think I would be very sore if I didn't. Can I get them to even up?
I tend to just feed from one side for each feed. dd often falls asleep after 5 mins and is hard to wake up and get interested again for a while which seems to get us in a toppin up cycle rather than her getting a full feed. When she has her bottle feed she finishes the lot no problem.

It's deffo normal for one breast to be bigger and to produce more than the other - a lot of mothers experience this to some degree.

Not a brilliant idea to be expressing at 4 weeks unless you have to - not when it sounds like you have a generous supply (maybe too generous on one side :) ) as you are 'asking' your breasts to make more milk. Then you have the 'time off' when the baby gets the bottle of ebm, and in the short term you will feel v. uncomfortable because the milk is made and not removed.

Not to mention the hassle of preparing the pump, using it, storing the milk and then preparing it again for the feeding of it.

Not worth it....IMO!

Bf is a lot more flexible after a couple of months or so - maybe leave things till then? Allow your 'production line' to find its own 'comfort zone' without messing it about with expressing....how about you try this for a week and see if things settle better for you?

In a healthy baby of 4 weeks, one who's gaining weight and thriving, short 5 mi feeds followed by a gap/nap, and then a further feed when he goes on the other side, and then maybe another gap/nap and another shot at feeding.....all normal :)

Thanks for your advice. I will definitely try not expressing for a week. Be lovely not to gave to wash and sterilise!

I spoke to my HV about all this and she seemed really surprised that dd often only fed for five mins, and she kept going on about hind milk and dd not getting any of it if she was feeding like this. She felt this may be what was giving her wind pains? To be honest I don't have a lot of faith in her anyway.

Glad my wonky boobs are normal. They don't look it!

Another wonky boobed experience here. DS2 found it hard going when he was tiny but later came to prefer that side. The wind may be her gulping in air at the same time as trying to swallow quickly but it sounds like you have the right idea with going against gravity.

As for the HV, well hopefully someone will come along who is more expert than me, but don't get hung up on the hind milk thing. Some babies do just feed quickly.

Have you checked out Kellymom.com?

HV has misunderstood about fore and hindmilk and underinformed about the varieties of normal bf :(

Sounds like you can safely ignore what she says.

She might be swallowing air with the fast letdown, hence wind

I found DD does this. Best position is the biological nurturing one (DD tummy down looking up towards me, I lean back) as the pressure on her tummy helps her bring wind up mid feed. She also feeds very quickly unless at night.

DD's latch isn't very good either - another culprit for taking down air - so if you can, go to a BF group to get somepractocal advice. Also nice to meet other mums too.

You can try taking your dd off once the initial rush of milk comes and put back on once it slows down?

My left boob was a killer for letdown/over supply. Right one was too but not as bad. In the end I tried block feeding but now feed DD from one side only. I wouldnt recommend such an extreme move though - DD rejected the left boob after a time so I took her lead. She's gaining fine.

Thanks tiktok and Berry
Don't need to see HV again now so will use mumsnet instead!
Having a terrible day with Dd's tummy and had a rubbish night too. She woke every hour at least screaming in pain and forcing out trumps/poo. Lasted into this morning and still going, although she is now peacefully asleep at last!
Am thinking now it's not just how she is getting her milk/swallowing air as I was really careful yesterday with feeding calmly just before I thought she would be hungry, leaning back, winding etc.
I don't think it's colic as isn't that crying for at least three hours every day? Yesterday she was very calm and happy. Poor girl!

Sounds like DD. I'm suspicious that it's my diet causing her to get the most god awful bum wind because what else canit be? She's 13 weeks and not outgrown it.

I know it's not proven, but I dont know if it's been disproved. Hover I've noticed reactions after having chilli and soya and dairy. I'm also wondering about onions/tomatoes as last night she had a screaming incident with trapped bum wind and I had onions in my lunch. I can't work out what's causing it otherwise

Think about whether things might improve with block feeding, baddy.

But it could be that just stopping the expressing will help things settle.

My thinking is you may have over supply - signs of this are

• full uncomfortable breasts a lot of the time (after the first few days)
• baby has large weight gain
• baby struggles with let down and sometimes splutters and seems very 'windy'

Easy to deal with - google or search mumsnet archives.

That's interesting iggly as that's kind of the natural position we seemed to end up feeding in last night and she did burp more than usual.
I think her latch isn't great so I might have to force myself to a breastfeeding group, although it's not something that appeals to be honest!
Would swallowing air give her pain when pooing?

I don't eat caffeine or spicy food. Have decided to cut down dairy and see as I had a lot of cheese yesterday.
Tiktok - she is following her 25th centile line but she does splutter and gulp and I do have a hard sore breast often. She never really feeds long enough to feed off both sides anyway but will look up block feeding thankyou

Do go along! I didn't with DS but did with DD and it was fine.

I dont think the air swallowed passes through the gut and out the other end so shouldn't cause pain? Not sure.

The other thing to consider is whether she's getting enough sleep. When DD was that small, she used to get very overtired and scream like she was in pain. But experience told me it was because she was knackered (as once she was settled she was fine). So watch out for that - it only takes a couple of instances of being awake for 2 hours in one day to set some babies off.

I will make myself go. I feel very uncomfortable feeding in front of people, especially when they are checking I am doing it properly ! But if it helps it will be worth it. I have a 2 year old too, will I be ok to take her?

The tired thing is true but I really think she is in pain. Her legs come up and then she straightens them out and is really rigid. I can hear her hard little tummy churning and eventually we get wind or a slightly explosive yellow poo. She goes bright red and can't catch her breath she is so upset

Block feeding is deliberately feeding on one side only, within a period of x hours, though, baddy.

Yes I think I have read about it before. Think I will try positioning and not expressing for a week first and get latch checked and then try block feeding if no joy

Some bf groups aren't suited for atoddler too - I had to get the GPsto look after DS while I went.