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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Help with oversupply/fast letdown

26 replies

VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 13:50

I've read on kellymom what they say, but it's leaving me in pain.
I've tried feeding on one breast and the other leaks everywhere and really hurts.
If I don't feed every four hours, (DS has been sleeping six at night before I wake him because it hurts so much) I am engorged and leaking.
Tips on how to help it sort itself out without hurting me please?

OP posts:
LiegeAndLief · 04/06/2008 16:10

Much sympathy as I have been there and it's horrible. Dare I say I think you just have to wait it out? Maybe try expressing a little bit or taking paracetemol for the pain? Another suggestion I read about for over active let down in feeding on your back with the baby on top of you - I gave it a go in desperation but didn't really work for us! (and you get a lovely milk fountain if the baby slips off).

whomovedmychocolate · 04/06/2008 16:13

It's caused by high prolactin levels and sadly there is bugger all you can do but wait. It will gradually ease. I found holding a breastpad actually on the other nipple blocked the flow somewhat though.

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 16:37

Spoke to my HV today she said to help DS I should hand express a little before I feed, apart from that just wait it out, also, she says it's just bad luck he has started sleeping a lot longer at night at the same time, making it feel more uncomfortable.

OP posts:
whomovedmychocolate · 04/06/2008 18:01

I feel for you VS. I'm so looking forward to waking up with puddle tits again soon

ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 04/06/2008 18:06

Hi VS, my MW recommended Lily Padz for unwelcome milk spurts. Apparantly if you put it on the non feeding breast it stops milk shooting everywhere.

Hopefully it will sort itself out over the next week or so.

Ah, puddle tits - I remember that swimming in milk feeling

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 18:19

Puddle tits isn't as bad as having a baby that wants to sleep through the night but you can't allow him too!!LOL!

Mind you he is 13lb 10oz now (7 weeks) I suppose being such a big baby I'll have to wean him soon and get him sleeping through properly

OP posts:
ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 04/06/2008 18:22

Indeed, get the baby rice out as soon as

Can you lift ds and feed without waking him? Although I guess if you keep doing this and he wants to sleep through, your supply won't adjust, and you'll constantly be plagued with puddle tits!

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 18:26

LOL, no!
I have picked up him the last two ngihts after waiting for a good half hour for him to wake (yes, I was doing the washing at 4am this morning )
He won't do dreamfeeds at all, it takes a good ten minutes to make him open his mouth and feed.
If he feels like sleeping through tonight and I wake up I'm going to try hand expressing just enough to stop the pain.

OP posts:
ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 04/06/2008 18:32

To get ds to dreamfeed I used to wedge my little finger in first, then slip in my nipple. After about a week of doing this he seemed to know what to do and would open his mouth while still asleep.

How about those Avent breast shell things that collect your milk? It will solve the leaky tits situation, and you won't have to get up.

Am glad to hear things are going well with you both xx

Elasticwoman · 04/06/2008 18:33

VS - you can use breast shells to collect the drips (put a shell on one side when you feed from the other) and donate the milk to your nearest milk bank. I so hope there is one near you!

Human milk is especially important for prem babies, and their mothers are often not in a position to produce enough.

Early weaning from breastmilk on to anything else gives a baby a greater chance of developing allergies or intolerances; also decreases the benefit they get from antibodies against disease.

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 18:34

Apparently breast shields encourage milk production so can make it worse.
If I get Lex's mouth open he just lays there with it open and even dangling my nipple in his mouth doesn't make him close it.

OP posts:
Elasticwoman · 04/06/2008 18:35

X post ILTMIMI

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 18:35

Elasticwoman, yes there is one near me, I'm in Oxfordshire, but I was told I couldn't donate because I've had blood transfusions
I'd love to donate, Dd was prem and I found it really hard to express, so would have loved her to have had donated milk, unfortunately we were at a different hospital at the time.

OP posts:
Elasticwoman · 04/06/2008 18:35

What do you think feeding the baby does to milk production, VS??

Elasticwoman · 04/06/2008 18:37

Ah - if you're in Oxfordshire, have you contacted Sally Inch or Chloe Fisher? At the JR hospital. They might be able to advise better than I can.

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 18:38

I know feeding him makes more milk, don't worry I'm not a total imbecile
But if I was to use the breast shields on the side I'm not feeding from it makes more milk doesn't it, as if baby is feeding iyswim.
Are those ladies at the breast clinic??

OP posts:
Elasticwoman · 04/06/2008 18:48

VS could you be confusing nipple shields with breast shells? You can buy the latter from Boots; they just collect the drips, they don't suck or stimulate in any way.

Yes. Chloe might have retired by now as she was over 70 ten years or so ago when she gave a talk to our NCT branch AGM. She ran the breastfeeding clinic with Sally Inch. They both know everything about bf.

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 19:35

Hmm, possibly.

OP posts:
tiktok · 04/06/2008 20:51

Breast shells - not breast shields, or nipple shields, but breast shells - do collect drips and leaks (last I heard, not accepted as donor milk because it was low fat drip milk, but worth checking in case I have that wrong). But they do stimulate - the vacuum pressure (I think) makes it more likely that leaks will happen. It's a matter of working out which is the least nuisance.

VS - this will die down in time, and sitting it out will work. Really, really supportive bra; tee-shirt twisted and safety pinned to hoist you up and keep your firm; sports bra...all ideas worth trying but not terribly convenient, I know.

Hope it gets better soon.

Original poster
VictorianSqualor · 04/06/2008 21:06

During the day, it's fine, I'm at home most of the time and if I leak, I leak y'know?

It's more the uncomfortableness when he is missing his night feed combined, but like the HV said, if I express and let him sleep my body will still think it needs to produce!

Like I said, I'll try expressing a small enough amount just to stop the pain and shove some pads in my bra tonight if he sleeps long again and just hope it eases it enough.

I know it will ease, I know the theory and science behind it, and am perfectly happy to cope with it, was just wondering if there were any magic solutions! Oh well, Pro's and Con's weighed up, it's still the best option for me

OP posts:
Rebexus · 04/06/2008 23:18

Poor you ... I have been there .. lying in bed willing DD to wake up so I could feed her as my boobs were going to pop - and the bed absolutely swimming in milk. Thank goodness for matress protectors!
I think at the time I started making the baby feed from both sides rather than one - breaking her off and re-attaching her on the other side (despite loud squalking). This seemed to help as the breasts then seemed to start evening out the supply and not bursting from one. One problem was that sometimes I started her off on the wrong side and then she wouldn't feed anymore on the other side (full or stubborn? ... I think I know the answer now she's older) .... so make sure you put him on the bursting side first.
And it does go away soon - your hormone levels will even out as the demand changes and the prolactin levels should start start dropping off. (If you know then ignore this but the milk is produced and stored in the breasts in response to the hormone prolactin - which you produce after birth - as well as the sucking action. As the baby gets towards 6 months the prolactin levels drop away and the milk is produced in response to the sucking and is not stored in the breast so much. So the problem is short term). Probably didn't need to know that but I found it helped. Good luck with it all.

Elasticwoman · 05/06/2008 09:42

Tiktok, I have great respect for your superior knowledge and expertise, but am surprised to hear that breast shells provide
any stimulation.

If the collected milk can't be donated, at least it could be frozen for future use by VS. Sometimes oversupply can be followed by the opposite problem.

tiktok · 05/06/2008 23:14

Elastic - the stimulation is very minimal, and the encouragement to leak ditto....as I say, it's question of working out whether it is more or less of a nuisance to wear shields which at least collect the milk, or to do without and put up with the leaks and the discomfort.

I agree - the milk can be used later by the baby it was made for, and doesn;t have to be donated.

Swaliswan · 06/06/2008 14:34

I had huge problems with leaking and over supply. Breast shells were given to me as I could get through so many breast pads it was ridiculous. As Tiktok says the stimulation is minimal so I wouldn't worry about them encouraging more milk production. I used to fill a shield at least once during a feed and the milk was donated (along with expressed milk) to the NNU. The milk bank were extremely happy with it, but DD was prem so the milk is higher in fat than term BM so I don't know if this makes a difference. I found that having a long bath used to help lots as my milk let down (rather than just dripped as normal) when I was in the bath. This relieved some pressure and I don't think that it encourages more BM production. I know that some people advocate the use of nipple shields to stem the flow of a fast let down if the baby is choking on the milk but they are hard to stop using once you have started and are a bit of a faff (my DD used to choke with the shield anyway as once the space is full of milk it just squirts out anyway).

Failing all of this and a lot of patience, you could just amuse yourself by how far you can squirt your milk without touching your boobs. I used to manage an entire bath length just from taking my bra off!

claireybee · 06/06/2008 17:02

VS I did blockfeeding to reduce my supply and it was agony and I did soak everything for a few days but it really didn't take long for my supply to adjust. Clamping my hand to the non feeding nipple helped minimise the spraying everywhere while feeding problem.

I now have the opposite probelm, ds gets frustrated that it isn't fast enough now and ofetn needs 4 or 5 sides per feed