Baby threw up a huge feed - do I have milk left?!

[FlyingHighFlyingLow]

Baby fed for ages on both sides. Emptied first, good go at second, 5 weeks old. Then he threw up quite spectacularly and basically emptied his stomach over me, clothes, him, bed ... everything. So he's still hungry! But he's just emptied my breasts so what now?!

Drink some water, and just put him back on the side you fed from first. There will be something there especially in the first few weeks when baby's tend to cluster feed a lot. Try not to stress, relax.

Aw this happened to me sooo many times. Sometimes they swallow too much air or just drink it too fast and their tummy rebels. Usually for us it wasn't a bug but once it was, that was the worst.

You will have more in there and it will refill over time, so he'll probably latch and suck for a long time to get a smaller feed. Have a big drink of water for you to get the ball rolling faster. Start with the one he drank from first as it'll have a bit more in it now. If you do dream feeding/feeding lying down I found that was the best to slow them down when I was running on empty.

Your boobs are a river, not a lake… so you will have milk.

Thank you! I was panicking I couldn't feed him!

I love how @fourelementary describes it. As long as he sucks, it flows. The breast doesn't empty as such - more like a tap that he turns on and off. Hope he settles and you get some rest.

Thanks @fourelementary . I thought eventuality it became like that but first few weeks it was more of a whats there basis then swapped to made on demand like 2 months in or so!

@MrsPatrickDempsey he's snoozing on my chest unfussed. He was somewhat perturbed by us changing him again but then very bemused watching the milk provider stripping the superking bed he'd soaked, his next to me and themselves. He sat and watched quite happily before rooting for more milk.

He's a bit colicky and got mad I changed him before giving him food, I think he just had too much air from crying 😭

It's sort of the other way around - in the early weeks, you'll be making milk constantly, which is why your breasts feel different before and after a feed (because before the feed, the milk has been collecting) and you might leak quite a lot and if you express, it is fairly common to get more than an ounce out.

Once milk supply stabilises which happens somewhere between 4 weeks - 4 months ish, you'll find expressing quantity reduces, you'll not leak as much, and your breasts might feel like the "after" state most of the time, only getting to the "full" state if you miss a feed. This is normal (if nobody tells you, a lot of mums worry that their supply is lost at this point - it's not!! It's definitely still there :) )

But you'll still make milk on demand. It's some kind of biological magic - I can't explain it properly. But basically if they are latched on milk will come. Never worry that you have run out of milk. The baby can basically order more and your body will provide! They are much better at this than a pump is.