Is it normal for breast milk to squirt?

[CycleGirl20]

I'm exclusively breastfeeding my 3 month old. In the night, she drinks fine. In the day, she fusses and cries a lot. I usually end up using nipple shields for the first half of the feed. She hates that my milk squirts. It's not just initial, it's the first half of the feed normally so too much to pump or catch in a towel. I thought there was something unusual about me because of this, but then I've seen a number of women on here and in real life say the same thing. I also see that my baby can feed perfectly fine in the early morning when I have the most milk, so I think she is capable of managing it and might get better as she matures.

It was normal for me but calmed down a lot around the 4 month mark!

Very normal!

Thanks both. I was starting to think it happens a lot! A friend said she swapped to formula because her milk squirted, as if I'd think there was something v unusual.

Very normal! I breastfed all four of mine and always had a powerful let down, i would always have a muslin handy to spray the milk into if my babies struggled to stay latched on while the milk was spraying out! They would spray during sex too 🤭

This was me with my first! But currently BF my second and, oddly, the let down takes forever and never squirts. I also never need pads as I don't leak. Two very different experiences with breastfeeding only 2 years apart!

Yes, my breast milk squirted.

Yep, that was us early on, it settled soon after about this point too. Stopped feeling letdowns so much (they were grit teeth early on )

Thanks all. I'm glad Om not so unusual

My baby used to literally lie there with her mouth open and wait for the milk to squirt in. No sucking required at the beginning of a feed 😂

😂

Yes this was me too, it does settle down and they manage to cope better as they get older and their little mouths get bigger 😂 so much milk! Pumping just encourages more milk though so I wouldn't do that if I were you. What I did in the early days, was use one of the haaka pumps on the opposite side to catch the let down for 5 mins or so and if baby fussing, would swap baby and haaka.

Gosh yes mine were like shower heads