need info for my sister - bf over-supply is drowning her and baby!

[Alambil]

She had her second baby 4 days ago; feeding is going mostly ok but sometimes is a real pain (literally and figuratively)

she has an abundance of milk; the mw said this is because she hasn't fed her DS1 (which seems odd to me, but anyway)...

Is there anything she can do to stem the flow to help baby get a less slippery latch and not drown?

Is she over lactating foremilk, I had that problem, let some run off before baby lathes on. As long as baby gets some foremilk to quench thirst.

Is the problem that there's loads or is it that it squirts the baby forcefully? I had the latter and the oversupply was caused by a poor latch, getting the baby's tongue tie cut helped.

If it is a very strong and sudden let down of milk making the baby initially choke a little, she can express a tiny bit to get past this initial rush, but be careful about expressing too much as breast feeding is a supply and demand system, the more milk you use the more you produce so you don't want to go expressing much if you have over supply as your body will just make even more.

she's been told the tongue tie won't be cut until / unless it interferes with speech?

I was wary of telling her to express due to the supply/demand thing - I think the issue is a major over-supply of foremilk; she told me she can go through two breast pads, her bra and whichever top as soon as he wimpers and her mw said there's just so much milk in her breasts.

I've though of looking for the early signs of hunger to see if that helps, but she thinks he's a lazy baby and won't suckle if he's not hungry enough.... I am going to visit tomorrow to see if I can help (had bf training via work, but not covered over-supply issues!)

I am not sure what's going on - he's got terrible wind/hiccups constantly and yet goes 3+ hours between feeds which seems a LONG time for a 4 day old

Alambil, I think this is one for the midwife, seriously....not for a talkboard, sorry.

This is not something to help with at one remove - it's not even you with the situation.

At four days postnatal, the whole thing could be very temporary and resolve itself by tomorrow. Maybe her milk has come in, she has some engoregment, and the baby is just learning to cope with this initial surge, On the other hand, maybe it's a situation that does need some intervention. Or perhaps some temporary comfort measure. I have no idea, and nor can anyone but your sister working with the midwives who can see it all and talk to her.

Please discourage any labelling of him, though, when you do see her....no one can have the foggiest idea if he is being 'lazy' or not, he's only been here two minutes (well....you know what I mean!) and 'won't suckle if he's not hungry enough...' WTF???? All sorts of reasons why a baby might not feed at any particular moment, but fixed behaviours and fixed preferences just don't happen as early as this. Everything could be different in a few hours :)

Thanks tiktok (been around a long time and appreciate your input) - panic not though, I told her to not be daft when she mentioned lazy and will tackle the stuff about not suckling when I see her!

Glad you have taken it the right way, Alambil :)

Hope things get better soon.

Oversupply
I had this problem for 10 months so here's lots of tips: Biological nurturing (leaning back) worked for me too, possibly you can look at it on youtube or get expert advice to find a comfortable position? Also feeding lying on my side facing ds. Also lansinoh breast pads (ocado) are the best. I also bought silicone cups from medela that catch excess milk, I used them to catch the spray sometimes while feeding & poured it into a nearby container. I also bought nursing clothes with two complete layers of fabric at the front, you lift the first up where it stays clean then feed, so any drips etc from feeding are then hidden away when you finish feeding. www.mamaway.co.uk/?action=products_detail&prod_id=1315&color_code=B I also bought lots of cheap bibs at mothercare that were towelling on the front and waterproofed at the back. In public I could spray against the bib when ds moved away to cough. Block feeding didn't work for me, I found it impossible to get a balance between too much & too little supply, I ended up donating milk for special care babies for 6m-very rewarding. And it does get better as your supply will either settle down or your baby will grow to handle it better. Ds never fed longer than 20mins and grew very big very fast-sure he'll be great at downing pints in his teenage years!

Just a quick one - that tongue tie advice your sister had sounds way off. Get that tongue tie snipped asap I say unpleasant memories of dd1 having eating difficulties and general anaesthesia for tongue tie correction aged 2