Too much milk?

[Smeggnog]

DD2 is nearly 1mo and ebf. It's a very different experience to bfing DD1, going very well.

However, I seem to have too much milk, if that's possible. She gets good feeds and is very good at latching on etc. Loads of dirty and wet nappies. But I still feel quite 'full' after lots of feeds, and my right boob has started feeling sore. I've taken to expressing after a feed as I'm rather concerned that this could lead to mastitis.

Should I just go with this and enjoy the fact that I don't have the evening cluster feeds to contend with? I assume that trying to reduce supply at this stage is not a good idea, but I'm actually in discomfort quite a lot (swollen leaky boobs etc) and would appreciate some advice on dealing with this.

At one month supply is not established, and your body is still guessing. If you're confident she is taking a full feed (good nappies and weight gain) then expressing a tiny amount for comfort is a good short term solution.

Alternatively, could you look into storing it, either for your own use or your local milk bank?

Hope things settle down soon. Congratulations on your new arrival!

Smeggnog, I agree this is worth exploring....a call to one of the bf helplines should help you decide if this is something you need to do something about or not. If your only 'symptom' is being full and leaking and discomfort, then it might well be something that will settle down by itself....any expressing you do should be gentle and minimal to enable 'self-regulating' of supply. Serious over supply is worse than this (floods of leaks, very lumpy uncomfortable breasts, baby spluttering and hard to feed etc ), and this might happen later and be dealt with by block feeding but it's too soon to be sure of this at the moment.

Hope you get good help on the phone lines.

Bump. Oh, and is it worth using any of the supply reduction tips on kellymom at this stage? Or leave it for a while and see if it all evens out?

FYI I've been confined to the house with a manic toddler as I find hand expressing a struggle. So please help me find a solution!

I don't think your milk supply is regulated at a month.

But if you're expressing then your body will think its feeding baby and produce more-because that's what's required iyswim

I'd reduce the expressing and see if it evens out in a few days.

And agree with bf support groups.

I had infected mastitis a few weeks ago and it was agony!! (I was surprised actually because the dr was considering sending me to a and e because of my fever and fast heart rate) so mastitis isn't to be sniffed at!

Good luck op

Thanks everyone. I don't express much, just enough to relieve discomfort. I get about 50ml in less than 5 minutes, so clearly there's quite a lot there! But it has been like this since my milk came in - making up for all the struggles I had with DD1, I guess?!

I know 1 month is not enough time to regulate everything, but have also seen a friend suffer horribly with mastitis and really don't want to get it. 3forme hope you're feeling better now.

There's a local LLL support group so I'll contact them and see what they suggest too. Thank you.

Wrong number hit on keypad - I meant 3 minutes. That's fast for me, considering it took me 15 minutes to express 100 ml for DD1.

50ml is rather a lot - is that only just enough to relieve discomfort or actually emptying the breast?

Just enough - I stop when the hard, sore feeling has gone. I could honestly express loads more .

I was the same with ds and now at 8 months I have a good plentiful supply without being engorged.

I also used to express after feeding and freeze for use later (keeps frozen for 6 months) but like you, only until the engorged feeling was gone.

That really is a lot, given that at about the same age DS1 was having 120ml for a full feed.

Are you swapping breasts at each feed? If so, don't. Let her drain one.

Nope, not swapping! I used to do so for DD1, but for DD2 one is more than enough. The problem is, unless she's having a growth spurt (like today, yay!) she doesn't drain the breast she's on - I don't think she can. And she's been feeding so much today that I'll have even more milk in a few days time. Bugger. Although maybe her appetite will start to regulate things for us soon?

I think I'll also have to learn how to hand express, as sometimes she struggles to latch on properly because of how engorged I am.