Baby keeps choking on breast milk

[1NuDad]

Hi.

Our LO is almost four weeks old.

He's been feeding really well, has put on plenty of weight and is pooing normally.

But over the last few days he seems to have a problem with too much milk and has choked during or at the end of a number of feeds. It's terrifying for my partner and she is very upset because she feels she can't nurse him properly as she's scared of choking him.

I've read stuff about an overactive flow, and have found some tips but wondered if anyone had any? And how should we deal with the choking??

Thanks.

Oh your poor partner, it's a horrible, guilty feeling when you end up choking your own baby!

I had this - my milk would shoot out with too much force. I had to work to reduce my supply. This involved not feeding from one breast for 6 hours, then not feeding from the other one for 6 hours, etc., for about 3 days. They got painful and leaked, but after that my supply reduced sufficiently that the 'let down' wasn't so extreme that it choked him. He still got plenty of milk. Hope that helps!

Yes I second coffeecuppa - block feeding can help massively.
When your baby chokes, take him off the breast and pat his back / soothe him until he is ok. If you can do this when you are around then your partner can express some of the fast flowing milk into a muslin. You should then be able to re-attach baby without it happening again. Your partner could also hand express into a muslin before a feed so that the fast letdown has already happened before baby latches. Make sure your baby isn't crying when he latches - mine always either choked or latched very poorly if he was agitated. This should all settle down between 6-8 weeks - I hardly notice my letdown now.

Happened to me too, think it's normal. Try getting her to lie back a bit

Had this too
Recline whilst feeding to slow flow
Take baby of breast after inital latch and let the let down spray into a muslin
Block feeding to reduce supply.