Oversupply, please tell me it gets easier

[CrazyCatMom]

I can’t believe I am complaining about this when so many women struggle with low supply but omg

i have a major oversupply issue. Started when pregnant and could hand express 35ml of colostrum - gave up on 1ml syringes and started using 10ml.

DS now 5 weeks old, positioning and attachment are fine. When I feed him he can’t stay on the breast at first due to my let down which is literally like a hose pipe spraying him in the face.

When he eventually gets back onto the breast he is gulping and taking on air as so much milk - it is running down the side of his face and soaking us both. Having to stuff Muslins into my bra to catch it to save my t shirts/bras and I can’t keep on top of the laundry. Also have to put nappy in bra on other breast as that lets down too and there is too much for a nursing pad to handle.

then because of all the air he takes on, he is gassy and colicky and not sleeping even though I burp him when he comes off of breast and at the end of each feed and keep him upright for 15 mins after. He gained 28oz in 8 days last wk and honestly I am knackered. I have no time to eat/drink myself as when he isn’t feeding he is screaming and will only settle on me.

I tried switching to formula last week but missed one feed and was horrifically engorged- not worth the pain.

help? Advice? Anything?

I had this with all three. It was terrible. Milk was coming out of DS1 nose and he was miserable all the time. I stopped going to clinic because he was gaining so fast we were like a freak show (other breastfeeding babies were struggling to gain). We sorted it and I had a long and positive bf relationship with all 3 kids.

the advice I had 20 years ago was to only feed once side at a time and use the same side for both feeds. I expressed off the second side just enough for comfort. It worked for all three kids.

it is old advice - so it may have changed. Good luck, it does get easier.

(in my fertile years I would let down milk if I held a newborn, even if it had been 5 years since I last bf a child. I would have been a wet nurse in days gone by. I could have fed the village)

I have oversupply issues too and a fast letdown (fountains of milk!) I've just had my second baby who is now 4 weeks old. I had all the issues you mentioned with my first baby and was hoping not to have the same issues with me second baby - I still do. But she is better at coping with my oversupply and is less colicky and sleeps slightly better. I'm still feeding every 2 hours at night but she does settles fairly quickly after a breastfeed.

I did contact various breastfeeding support with regarding my oversupply/baby choking/gulping airs issues after my first baby. Healthcare professionals seem to consider that that long as the baby is gaining weight breastfeeding is going well. I persevered with breastfeeding and found that as my DS got older he could handle my milk flow much better. The upside is that feeds were always very quick. Those early few months were challenging though.

Laid back breastfeeding helped. As well as catching the letter down on a muslin before putting baby on afor a feed. Use a dummy so that baby can suckle for comfort without being drowned in milk.

I'm hoping my boobs calm down soon - I'm drenching bras/clothes etc at the moment still. This did calm down last time - I can't remember exactly when though.

I had a few weeks were I had to use a Hakka before feeding (suctioned as lightly as poss to try to not increase the issue!) then my baby could latch on happily. But yes the leaking is very annoying!!!

Try the Medela breast pads, they were the best I found (still needed to change a few times a day and still used a muslin on top when at home). After a few months mine settled to the point it wasn't embarrassing but it persisted the whole time really. Everyone kept telling me how lucky I was and it was super unhelpful! So yeah... No advice really except prepare for it to take ages to settle... You'll basically forget about it by the time they're 1 though!

When she saw my young baby splutter when first on the breast, my grandmother taught me to support the breast with my hand, placing the nipple between the first two fingers, and gently press on the aureola with my fingers. That way the first milk doesn't gush out, and baby can catch up, and you can hold the breast tissue away from baby's nose so it can breathe! Worked for me. Other side did leak a bit, but nothing a muslin couldn't cope with.
When my Nan had her 5 children, it was customary to "lay in" for 10 days, and apparently she would breastfeed not only her own child, but also any other baby on the ward whose mother was struggling. So she really did feed that village!

Just thought I would post an update in case anyone else struggling finds this thread.

DS is 14 weeks now and my supply seemed to start to settle at 10 weeks. I still have an intense let down but as little one has gotten bigger he can cope with it much better!

@Noimaginationhere we started using a dummy after reading your post and it has been a game changer!

He was last weighed at 11 weeks and was 4oz away from doubling his birth weight and has gone from 50th to 91st centile.

I’m just so glad we stuck with it, and things did get easier 💙

hi @Gomommy, this post is from April and my LO will be 9 months old next week and we are still breastfeeding! I even donated to our local milk bank which was a great feeling 💙

hopefully your advice will be useful to any other mommas who come across this post in future - oversupply feels like such a lonely problem to have