This lactation situation.....

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I have a lovely 9 day old newborn baby and am very pleased that we have had no problems establishing Breast Feeding...

However i am overwhelmed with milk. Especially at night.

He is feeding from about 2am until about 7am with a few little breaks. I have been able to put him down in his moses basket for a couple of hours sleep during this feeding frenzy...not every night as he can be fussy.

My boobs are leaking everywhere. My clothes are saturated, the breast pads look (and smell) like a pair of mini babybels that have been let in a warm puddle after about half an hour. I came home from the shops yesterday with milk leakage on my clothes. My elbow was particularly badly sacturated.

Duvet cover is, after two days rancid and needs changing.

He is quite a sleepy feeder and will latch on and suck then drift off but not want to let go! I stroke his cheek to remind him to feed.

Will this end? Am i doing o.k? Will I ever be able to go out?

My MIL recommended breast shells and I've seen them in Boots. They catch leaking milk and she swore by them as she produced so much she was able to donate it to other mums. No idea if they still have this service now. We're still waiting for our dc1 to arrive so have no real experience to offer but so happy to hear its going well so far with baby!

It'll calm down soon. I used to stuff a whole muslin in each bra cup when I was at home!

Yes I used the muslins for quite awhile.

I found reusable pads a bit better then disposables. Somehow they didn't feel so gross. I slept on towels and also kept muslins near me to reach for spills.
It gets better :)

Ah yes I slept on towels too, I lost a stone of water retention in the first week, mostly through sweating, so between that and the excess milk the bed was like a swamp!
Block feeding can help-feeding from one side until it's totally empty feeling before switching to the other. Switching back and forth can over stimulate supply.
Give it a fortnight and it'll have calmed down.

Thanks everyone.

Yes, i've been swopping between boobs during feeds as he gets a bit frustrated and shakes his head about like a baby bird version of Stevie Wonder. I think this is when the milk is coming too fast.

silly I have looked up block feeding and only used one boob at the last feed and when the milk came to fast just used a muslin and let it flow off for a few seconds. He seemed a lot happier then.

I am also really sweaty at night...definitely going to weigh myself later as i'd be very happy to lose a stone right now!

I'm glad it's going to calm down.

Re the Sleepy feeding? Is this o.k or should i be encouraging him to be awake? TBH he has fallen asleep feeding in the night and i have dozed off too. Is this o.k or am i making problems for us?