I just want to post here for awareness in case anyone else's baby is screaming non stop and you're looking for answers anywhere in the early hours of the morning.
I am breastfeeding and have a fast let down and oversupply. 2.5 week old baby got increasingly distressed over a week, obviously gas, clenching fists, legs up to stomach, rock hard belly, screaming non stop for hours and hours. He was awake for 12 hours because he couldn't sleep due to the discomfort and overtiredness. He could only pass gas if we helped, bicycle legs etc. He had SO much gas all day long. He was better on formula but still uncomfortable.
I found out about lactose overload which can happen with oversupply. Baby gets too much of the lactose heavy breastmilk (used to be called "foremilk"), and their system isn't matured enough to deal with it yet, they aren't making enough of the lactose enzyme to cope with how much lactose they are taking in.
Yesterday for the first day I:
- Expressed off the first bit of the letdown and put some (a tablespoon amount) in a bottle.
- Added colief drops to the bottle and fed to baby.
- Breastfed as normal.
As soon as he had the first drops yesterday he was a completely different baby. He just stopped crying, I could hear his digestion working and bubbling away, he slept, he passed gas in his sleep without help from us. It lasted overnight and all today as well. He's still upset if he has some gas he can't pass but we help still and it lasts 5/10 mins instead of hours. His digestion should mature eventually and we can wean him off the drops.
Hopefully this helps someone else x