Need breastfeeding advice! Help please!

[Samantharaexee]

My DS was born 10 days ago. He has jaundice and was very lethargic and wouldn't latch on until day 5 despite my best efforts. During that time I was expressing and giving breast milk in a bottle.

I've continued to express and breast feed as DH helps out with some night feeds. My concern is that I'm producing too much breastmilk now from pumping? I usually express between 4oz - 6oz every 6 hours alongside breastfeeding.

My problem is that last night DS fed continuously for 3 hours and would not settle. In the end he puked everything up and I could hear his tummy was very windy. Eventually I would like to solely breast feed but I have read up on the hind/fore milk imbalance and I'm worried that my oversupply is causing him to feel poorly :(

How do I move forward with this? If I don't express I feel engourged and also worried about mastitis anencephaly blocked ducts

Help please :(

By expressing and feeding that much you a ‘tricking’ your body into believing it is producing what your baby is eating. Milk tends to come in 3/4 days after so if you established feeding on day 5 you may also have an influx of milk at the minute. Try cut down on the expressing, if you feel engorged don’t pump (again you are stimulating more production) have a hot bath and gently press your breast to let out some of the milk - don’t fully hand express. It does get better, and if you get fed up and FF that’s fine too. ( I’m on month 18 of BF) x

Eventually your body regulates itself to make as much milk as your baby needs, for example I can go all day at work (10 hours) and not feel engorged when baby has usual routine. She has been poorly recently so been on the breast a lot more, so I’ve found towards the end of my working day my breasts are screaming to be milked haha! But I know in a few days it will be back to normal, and just let out a bit of milk if I need to.

What do u use to express ? If it's a machine try hand expressing .its not as stimulating .how often do u express ?

Clusterfeeding for hours like that is very common, think of it as baby ordering the amount of milk they'll regularly need you to produce. As PP say your expressing will be making your body believe it needs to produce that much constantly. If baby is feeding well consider reducing the expressing and offering one bottle per day (I personally would stick to offering a bottle of expresses milk as both of mine bottle refuse and it makes it tough to get a bit of a break if you're unwell, or just massively exhausted)

10 days is really very early, your supply is unlikely to settle until around 6-8 weeks so you are likely to have a fast let down for that time, it will ease and as baby gets bigger they will be able to cope more too.

There are things you can do to make life a little easier:

Hand express a little before beginning a feed - either into a bowl or muslin depending if you want to keep it or not.

Try to find a laid back/reclined feeding position that works for you, either tummy to tummy or you reclined and the usual cross body hold

Wind your baby regularly and thoroughly, part way though feeding and at the end.

Ultimately the first 12 weeks are pretty tough but it does get easier. Be kind to yourself and if at all possible head along to a local breastfeeding peer support group for positional support but also tea, cake and sharing of stories so you know you're not alone if you find it tough. You're doing a brilliant job
There is an app called "timeline of a breastfed baby" that you may find useful.

Take care

Some babies are just windy, I wouldn't think it was because you were expressing. Burp him often and try not to worry if he's sick, if he's hungry you have more milk.

If you're worried about foremilk/hindmilk, and I wouldn't be, express before rather than after feeds.

If you want to stop with the bottle then start by only offering it after he's breastfed for as long as he will, even if that's 3 hours. Eventually he shouldn't be hungry for it anymore. Then just reduce the volume you express every few days, so stop once you have 4oz, once that starts leaving you comfortable stop once you have 3oz, basically don't express more than the day before.