Fast letdown and oversupply leading to miserable mum and baby

[Ibu1986]

I have a 10 week ebf DS who is gaining weight well (started off on 10 percentile and now on 95 percentile!). He usually feeds every 2-3 hours except from during the night when he feeds 2/3 times in 12 hours.

I have had fast letdown and oversupply from early on. I usually let him latch on then when the letdown comes in he unlatches himself and I spray into a muslin. I sometimes hand express at the start if feeling engorged and at night I sometimes use the pump especially when he only feeds 2 times.

Usually he is fussy feeding before bed e.g. crying at breast, latching and unlatching constantly but I expect this as he's tired. This week he's started to do the same every morning. Today I offered him milk at 2 hours (we were out so wanted to feed him before driving back) but he wasn't interested. Once returning home I tried to feed him and he screamed for about 45 mins. I knew he must have been starving but every time I calmed him down he screamed again as soon as I put him in cradle position. Eventually he fell asleep and I fed him whilst he was asleep. By this point he'd gone 5 hours without feeding.

Every time this happens I'm in tears. I'm worried he isn't getting enough milk and eventually he'll refuse breast altogether. We've been giving him a bottle of expressed milk every day since week 5, but he only takes it about half the time. I literally feel like the world's worst mum who can't even feed her own baby.

If anyone has had fast letdown, does it improve and if so when?

I don't think he has reflux as he doesn't do this all the time and can lie down happily on his play mat for up to 20 mins.

Sorry for the long message- feeling very emotional right now.

It's reassuring to know I'm not the only one and that things do eventually improve. Today has been much better with the longer blocks so hopefully this will continue.

Thanks to everyone for your advice and support. I'll keep you updated.

I had oversupply and fast let down. It did improve, but I can't remember when! I ended up feeding DD for 2.5y and for most if that time it was not an issue.

I did block feeding in 4 hour blocks - that definitely helped. Also hand expressing a couple of squeezes before latching her on. I also found that feeding lying down with DD on her side helped, although she dribbled milk into the bed, so you need a thick towel with a us.in or something underneath.

I had a strong supply and let down but not as strong as yours.
However, unrelated, at about 12 weeks my ds started to fuss and not feed. HV suggested I feed after maps as he was just coming round and this worked well.
I would feed him first thing in the morning then about 90mins later rock him to sleep or let him nod off in the pram then feed him she. He woke. Same again at lunchtime and late afternoon.
At bedtime he usually would feed before sleep but only in his darkened room with lullabies.

This was the pattern we ended up in right through till weaning. It worked fine once I got into it. But I had to feed him IMMEDIATELY he woke from a nap so had to plan ahead at events and on journeys.

Hi, i have fast/forceful let down which led to very fussy feeds, choking and spluttering and windy baby.

DD is 18 weeks and feeds are now a breeze (and very quick!).

Improvement started about 10 weeks i think - let down was the same but at that stage DD got better at burping and better at carrying on feeding even if she had a bit of wind. Since then it's been a bit easier each week. Hang in there...

In the meantime, my tips

• side lying feeding worked best for us, especially when boobs were very full
• wind your baby very often, before more milk goes in on top of the air bubbles
• infacol
• ensure latch is decent (eg get checked for tongue tie)
• avoid pumping if you can
• block feeding can help (though only helped temporarily for me)

Oh and feed when the baby is not tired as they can manage the fast flow much better

Hello all,

An update and a few questions.

I've done 3 full days of block feeding (6/7 hours) and DS has fed so much better with no hysterics. When I start a new breast I pump 20/30 ml to prevent feeling massively engorged and to help him latch. Most of the time I'm feeding reclined with him lying on top of me and sometimes cradle but still me leaning back. I've noticed he's far less windier (I can't hear him taking in air)- he used to bring up several big burps after each feed but now doesn't always burp despite me winding him and he hasn't had any hiccups which he used to get several times a day. I'm feeling far more positive about it all.

The questions:

• for how long should I continue the block feeding? Should I reduce the blocks next week or carry on?
• DS used to do 4/5 big poos a day. Yesterday he only did 1! I'm hoping this is because he's getting less foremilk but I'm not sure.
• how do I incorporate pumping one bottle a day?

I'm seeing doctor today for jabs and lactation consultant next week so will ask them too but I've found your advice and experience invaluable. Thanks again x

Continue with the block feeding. Experiment in a couple of weeks.

Poos sound normal.

Why would you want to pump more than you are doing at the moment to cope with engorgement? Just collect those 20-30 mls.

Thanks Tiktok I was hoping you'd reply!

We're trying to offer him a bottle a day so that he gets used to taking one in the hope that I'll be able to leave him for more than 2 hours and also trying to preempt back to work stress next year. I have a feeling he'll be a bottle refuser though...

The milk I pump to prevent engorgement is really watery. If he has just this foremilk won't it give him a sore tummy and green poos?

There's zero evidence that giving a bottle now prevents bottle refusal, you know :) Plenty of individuals have had experiences to the contrary ie they give a bottle when the bottle is needed at whatever age, and all is well, or they have diligently given a 'practice' bottle only to encounter refusal when it really matters :)

Expressing to give a bottle is likely to make your over supply worse anyway.

Try the expressed milk - the stuff you routinely collect before a feed - and see what happens. Green poo is neither unsafe or unhealthy, anyway. You could also watch for the sore tummy thing - some parents do report that oversupply leads to what they suspect are griping pains because of the (relatively) higher lactose in the milk, but plenty of parents report no effects at all.