Excuse the use of 'melons' to describe my breasts, it's one of the few occasions in my life when I can honestly refer to them as such!
Right, same dreaded problem as last time I breastfed, that is that my my milk is squirted out in such force and abundance that the tiny one just can't cope. She managed initially, feeding with her little brow furrowed in concentration. But due to a protracted bout of the snuffles, feed time has become a maelstrom of gagging, choking and drenched and unsatisfied baby. She ends up with more milk all over her than in her. I tend to let down time and again throughout feeds, the flow will settle for seconds then gush again. So, I've attempted expressing at the beginning of each feed, but no sooner does she latch on than I gush again, and we're back to square one. One trick that does work is to express sporadically throughout the day to relieve the 'worst' of the pressure and build up. But, of course over time this just increases my supply and makes the whole problem generally worse. She has taken a bottle once or twice, it had crossed my mind that with my supply being so abundant at least for now, that I could transfer to EBM for all (or most) feeds, then possibly mixed feeding by bottle further down the line as supply wained, but she wont have a bottle anywhere near her now (she's 5 weeks). The snuffles are receding now, in fact she's practically clear of them, but the whole feeding thing is in a state of total disaray. She's now tense when it comes to feed times on top of everything, so am I. I even tried singing throughout a feed the other day in an attempt to loosen us both up "Babe, you really got me goin', you got me so I don't know what I'm doin'. Babe, you really got me now, you got me so I can't sleep at night." By the kinks was the only song that sprang readily to mind! So, thanks in advance for any advice, if you've none to offer, thanks purely for the much needed rant.