Breast feeding - fussiness/over supply help

[Ajb92]

i am writing this at 4am, I have a 8 week old baby who is pretty content and happy with life. Our breast feeding journey got off to a good start - I saw a lactation consultant early on for support who identified a tongue tie and released it. In the past few weeks, he has become increasingly fussy during feeds, if started off in the evening and has gradually seeped into day time feeds. Night time were okay until tonight where he now has just screamed at me. I have gone back to the original lactation consultant who re checked his mouth and his tie hasn’t reattached. I sought advice from another lactation consultant as I have an over supply and a fast let down. She believes he is living off the let down and then getting frustrated when it slows. She said he also has a high palette and a shallow latch, he also comes on and off frequently when feeding. I’ve tried more laid back positions which don’t really help. I feed lying down at night, which was working fine til this evening. I really want to continue breast feeding but I can’t mentally cope with this battles and not knowing if he is going to scream during every feed. Has anyone been in this position and it’s got better?

I've a baby of similar age and some of the same issues as you. I assume you want to lessen supply so let down not so fast ? My consultant said to feed from the same breast as my baby takes frequent short feeds and I used to alternate breasts each feed. So if I did a feed from the left for 5-6 mins and he came off and fell asleep or was done and then and the next feed say 1-5/2 hours later put him back on the same breast as last time. This means that he gets the hind milk and stops me producing too much milk which means let down won't be loads. Also, if baby is crazy fussy, try the other breast my consultant said. It's all trial and error. Just my two pense worth, obviously our situations not the exact same so you can't go by me.. Good luck .

Do you mean block feeding?

Never heard that expression, I just googled it. Yes, sounds like that. Were you told to do that by your consultant ?

She said not to do block feeding yet..

My daughter was like this we went down fast letdown route first but it turned out to be a combination of severe silent reflux and multiple food allergies. Feeding hurt but she was hungry so she was on and off the breast screaming in the middle

What did you do to help? Stop breast feeding?

At 17 weeks she went on high dose omperazole and as much gaviscon as I could get in her. I went dairy and soya free at the same time. We saw an improvement with in a week but it took time to identify all of her allergies. Fussing during a feed became one of our earliest warning sign that I had eaten something she reacted too

Oh yes DD is now 5 months old. She had a tongue tie cut at 8 days old. I had 9 weeks of painful feeds due to her having a high pallet and a shallow latch. By week 8/9 it got less painful but then suddenly she would start crying/screaming and pulling off. Milk would spray in her face. I went to the infant feeding team (and LC) and they said I had a fast let down. They tried to advise leaning back but it didn’t help, tried koala hold but I wasn’t comfortable with it. Also said to pump to take the edge off but that wasn’t helpful really. I did keep adding 30ml into the fridge multiple times a day but I think it was exasperating the issue too. I have pumped once a day in the evening from 3 weeks in.

From week 9 onwards it took about 4-5 weeks of trying to manage it. I tried block feeding and it went badly. On week 4 of doing that (she was 13 weeks old) she went a longer stretch and slept longer. I saw no harm in it. Then she didn’t fully empty. That night I ended up with a painful breast, near my armpit. By the next morning it was inflamed and a blocked duct. So then it was ibuprofen, cold compresses, feed her on that side then my good side at each feed. By day 3 it had unblocked but my supply on that side had dropped. It took another 3 days to get it back. Also the oversupply was back again due to the frequent feeds on both sides and also she was back to screaming.

What worked for me- I then started feeding her on one side, and near the end switch her to the other side to end the feed ‘to take a small amount off’. So when she slowed down and looked not hungry I would switch her. Then the next feed switch sides. Also I pump once in the evening for DH to give her a bottle (I have done this since week 3). I empty both sides in the evening like a reset. Then the middle of the night feed I feed her on my weaker side first (breast that has a bit less milk) and by not fully emptying my stronger side I think I regulated my supply. I notice because if one night I feed her from my stronger side the next day it’s a more powerful let down. I think it’s the whole 1-6am is when the milk supply is the highest.

She has got used to the faster let down, however even at 5 months she will sometimes splutter the milk back out. She sometimes sprays it back at my face which I guess is payback. However she doesn’t cry and scream at it now.

It took a while and I didn’t understand how to manage it. It wasn’t nice with her crying while I was trying to feed her. On some afternoons while out I got desperate and after she kept screaming I would quickly hand pump 30-60ml and then bottle feed it to her. Then attempt to latch her on with a slightly slower flow. I did think what’s the point, however I’m glad we are over that. I still carry the hand pump with me all the time now just incase.