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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

I would love to know what this feeling is

18 replies

hotcrumpets · 15/09/2007 20:49

I have wanted to ask somebody this for ages (ever since I bf DD) but didn't know how to put it and I have never heard or read about anybody else getting it so wasn't sure if I was v strange bf freak or not! So here goes

I have always had a very strong let down reflex which is very painful, with DD it lasted until 9mths until it was just a pins and needles feeling. Even when I am not feeding my milk lets down every 30 mins or so and leaks everywhere, with DD this also went on for 6 months or so.

But just before my milk lets down, I get a very strong rush right through my body, kind of like adrenaline but the opposite because I feel so calm, relaxed, and zoned out but really really strongly. If I am honest it feels like I am on drugs for 20 secs or so and then my milk lets down. This happens everytime before my milk comes down and carried on until about 6mths with DD. I did mention it to my LLL leader and she had never heard of it, but said it could be the oxytocin or endorphine rush sp?

I would love to know if anybody else has experienced this. It is such a lovely feeling!

OP posts:

determination · 15/09/2007 21:03

Yep i have and do still.

I get the exact feeling almost like i am in a bubble.. then when i let down i can actually feel the milk rushing from the ducts down towards my nipples before it leaks. I feel like my breast enlarge slightly and start pulsating. It is very strange but also very nice.

Original poster

hotcrumpets · 15/09/2007 21:11

Oh good, not just me then!

It is a lovely feeling though isn't it

OP posts:

SpawnChorus · 15/09/2007 21:14

Yes - I had this for the first 6-8 months or so. It's an amazing feeling isn't it? Kind of like a rush of warmth and love. It used to happen regularly when I was having a shower lol. It was handy to have about 30 seconds warning to grab a muslin or whatever before the milk started pumping out!

I am 99% sure it's the oxytocin (aka the 'love hormone'). It's weird when you look back at the newborn bonding of the early days, and you wonder how much of that intense hyper-real emotion is actually just your body being flooded with chemicals.

Original poster

hotcrumpets · 15/09/2007 21:17

It is very handy for grabbing a muslin! That is what made me ask in the first place, I was speaking to a friend recently who is bfing and she was saying how her milk comes and she doesn't realise and leaks everywhere.

I couldn't believe that she couldn't feel when her milk was going to come!

ahh feel very happy now that I am not bfing freak

OP posts:

Othersideofthechannel · 15/09/2007 21:20

Yes, I had that and am sure it is oxytocin too. You've made me feel all nostalgic about breastfeeding now.

The la leche league counsellor also told me that hormones produced by breast feeding make it easier to cope with sleeping in short segments. It has proved true for me. It's worse getting up several times a night for a poorly child than several times a night to breastfeed a newborn. Anyone else?

determination · 15/09/2007 21:22

So, does your breast feel like they are slightly larger/firmer as though they have been blown up slightly, whilst the tingling, rushing pulsating feeling is all happening just before letdown???

Original poster

hotcrumpets · 15/09/2007 21:23

I think that really is true, I fall asleep so easily after feeding DS, but if DD gets me up for water/cuddle etc I find it takes ages to get back to sleep.

Maybe it is designed so that you have to sit down and chill/relax and feed your lo.

OP posts:

Original poster

hotcrumpets · 15/09/2007 21:24

I get the rushy feeling as that is going very strong pins and needles and breast go hard and I can feel the milk moving down towards my nipples, both feelings last for about 30 secs or so.

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determination · 15/09/2007 21:27

i have just started weaning as dd is 6 months and every spoonful i think OMG thats one step closer to the end of mu bfing relationship

determination · 15/09/2007 21:27

i just love it so much

FranMay · 15/09/2007 21:32

Yes, chill, relax feed and 'make a cup of tea?!' I used to get exactly this comfort feeling just before let-down that translated into me thinking 'could really do with a nice cuppa tea'. Strange, strange I know! Something to do with the association of comfort with a cup of tea?? It was so subconcious that it used to fool me each time and then the let-down would happen and I'd think, 'oh yes that again!'

SpawnChorus · 16/09/2007 07:58

Oh yes, it always brought on an fierce thirst with me too....like my body was telling me to drink up to replace fluids lost in the milk.

StealthPolarBear · 16/09/2007 12:39

weird! Although i do get the thirst. Sometimes i decide i don't need water before sitting down for a feed, then 30 seconds in I'd chop off my arm for a cold glass of water.

Teaandcake · 16/09/2007 13:19

Ooh this sounds lovely!
I have no sensation whatsoever with letdown and never have. I worried about it endlessly in the early days, quite convinced that DS was not getting any milk at all.

Lucky you!

Determination - I feel exactly the same about weaning bringing BF to an end. Hopefully not for while yet but I know what you mean.

StealthPolarBear · 16/09/2007 13:41

I have a tingly feeling in the other breast when bf and this would coincide with when I start to leak or soak his vest so I assume that's letdown but have never had the drugged feeling

andiem · 16/09/2007 14:11

I get the tingly feeling in the other breast and the extreme thirst one.

determination · 16/09/2007 15:09

It feels like im in a deep daydream of tingling loviness during letdown and im slowing sinking into my surroundings! Sometimes when im NIP i notice people looking at me funny as though they think im falling asleep or on drugs or something!

Original poster

hotcrumpets · 16/09/2007 16:14

determination, that sinking feeling is such a good description, I always feel like i am slumping down into the sofa

Lovely, lovely, lovely

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