Writng this in tears almisr

[goggles43]

Hi all, I’m so upset because as of 8.30pm last night, I’ve decided to exclusively pump due to my fast let-down and my lo coughing, spluttering and choking.
It’s shitty. Time consuming, so much faff with sterilisation and altho lo is actually drinking from the bottle, doesn’t look all too pleased about it.
Lo is only 3 weeks old so still very young to handle the fast let-down. I’ve been awake every 3 hours (so not even 24 hrs) and feel like a zombie. How is this doable long term and with an older child too??

Anyway, I want to ask a few questions please.

Will my lo be able to latch onto my breast in the future, for example, at 12 weeks old after pumping and being bottle fed from now?

I only have a single electric pump at the moment. Currently, I’m pumping on one breast and collecting the let down in my other breast from a Haaka type collector. With this both, I’m getting roughly 1oz in 20 mins of pumping.
Will this be enough and increase in quantity with time?

I just fed lo via bottle and he only wanted about 30ml - which is about how much I had pumped. I then put him in his cot but he started rooting within 10 mins which surprised me.
On impulse, I decided to put him on my breast - that has been “emptied” and was extremely soft. I could hear him taking big gulps, he still remembered his latch and didn’t cough or splutter (hallelujah!). What’s more, during the 5 mins of sucking on my breast, I had let down on the other breast and had collected 1oz just from the haaka collecter. It shows how effective a baby’s suckling is compared to pumping for 20 mins.

I’m not really sure what I’m asking but I feel desperate to go back to breathfeeding. I feel like my supply is already reducing - or am I imaging it?

Any suggestions on how I should proceed please?

Thank you

You can absolutely still breastfeed OP.

It's still such early days and the 'gushing' of milk you describe is totally normal until your supply gets established and settles down to meet your baby's demands.

I had this with both of my boys (sometimes I'd look down and they'd be covered in milk!) what I sound worked was expressing a little just before latching baby (just by hand or by letting the leaking happen and settle) then I'd put baby to the breast and continue to feed.

It will stop happening, I promise. Keep putting baby to the breast when he looks hungry.

Don't forget, you can freeze any excess that you collect too.

Good luck, the early days can be so hard and confusing, you're doing great

Have you tried hand expressing into a Muslin before baby latches to lessen your let down?

Pumping is hard work and it is far easier for you and baby if you can keep feeding directly from the breast as much as possible.

At 3 weeks your boobs are still working out what quantities they should be producing. Given time your let down will settle and your baby will learn to manage it far better. With DD2 I was very similar, it's not nice seeing them splutter but they learn to handle it, you'll master a good burping technique too!

Thank you for your responses ladies. The problem is I have an overactive let down and this fast let down occurs at different intervals mid feed! Will see what I can do. Thank you for your advice again

Yes, I had this problem with my middle child and it was very frustrating but it improved with time.
There's some good information on the Kellymom website that I found helpful. I can't remember the name of the article but if you go to their website and search for oversupply or fast let down and I am sure you will find it.
Don't give up if you don't want to. The early days can be tough but hang on in there and there is a good chance that things will settle down as your breasts "learn" what is expected of them.

I have a very fast let down too and usually get at least 3 let downs per feed of which all are usually fast and furious too. Baby is 5 months now and has learnt how to deal with it- he will still pull away if he was more wanting to feed for comfort or is sleepy and I just make sure I have a Muslin on hand to catch the spray, once it settles I put him back on and he’s fine. Baby will learn to handle it and in the meantime just catch the fast spray in a Muslin or spare bottle if you want to save it then put them back on when it slows. Much less faff than pumping.

We had a big spraying letdown issue. He pulled off to splutter, I caught in muslin then we carried on

By 3 months, not even an issue as supply regulated and he was bigger

I had a very fast let down with my first, he got used to it and would just roll with it. Once supply established it stopped happening. I remember reading something which said to lay back to use gravity to your advantage, or something like that, it was easier for him to manage when I laid back.

I had fast let down. Breastfeeding whilst laying back a bit, helps.

Hopefully your let down will have calmed a bit by now but if you are still having issues there are two things that can really help - 1) holding your breast in with your fingers wrapped in a c shape and gently squeezing the ducts as you feed - this can slow the let down, down and 2) feeding so your body is lower than the baby so the milk has to go uphill iyswim - it’s actually a very nice relaxed way to feed - you lie back in a bed or chair supported by pillows at a 45 degree angle not completely flat - experiment with what feels comfortable- then your baby goes on top of you with their body in parallel with yours but face turned to side. Hope that makes sense. You might have to help them a bit to latch on then turn their head depending on how strong their neck muscles are.

Great advice from pps
I had fast let down too, usually 2-3 per breast, so 4-6 per feed. As said above you just catch the spray in a bit of cloth and pop the baby back on. By a few months old, they were only popping off for first let down and took the mid feed ones in stride.
Wanted to add, you may not be imagining your supply decreasing by pumping alone. I had to switch to pumping because I went back to work when mine were 10-11wks old. The pumping did decrease my supply and the way I kept it up was by cluster feeding on weekends and also most of my babies (3 of 4) switch to reverse pattern feeding (sleep most of day and feed all night).

Here are my 4 week old and I demonstrating albeit a bit higher up!

I had this on one breast and found it very, verh difficult and frustrating. Pumping/expressing before feeds didn't really help, baby would just end up extremely frustrated while having to wait and probably smelling the milk - although the quantities I used to get from that first let down were ridiculous! Using a dummy used to buy me a bit of time. Mastering feeding while reclined and working against gravity made a big difference, but it took baby a little while to get used to it.

I did eventually manage to feed for about a year! It got much better after around the 12 week mark, although I know that must seem like an eternity away. Ironically, at around 4 months, baby also decided they only wanted milk from the fast flowing boob that had once caused so much trouble and I had to battle to get them on the slower side! Now pregnant with #2 and hoping I don't face the same issues.

Just wanted to say have you tried feeding lying down on your side? Works really well for us. Good luck!

Hope this is helpful re: washing/sterilising. Look after yourself too - it should calm down before too long.