Fast let down making feeding a nightmare!

[Shmerlock]

Hello! Hoping for some advice/words of encouragement/general experience of Mum's who have/had fast let down.

It's causing feeding in public to be a nightmare!! I can manage it better at home but when I'm out it's horrendous. Baby girl is fussing and crying before I've even got her latched, almost as though she's expecting it to be difficult! She screams, hits and pulls at my breast, chokes and coughs leading to her ultimately pulling off and my milk going everywhere - all over her, me and the shawl I usually use as a cover. She then ends up screaming the place down as she's freaked out, and usually still hungry!!

I'm finding it anxiety inducing now as it's such a stressful time just trying to feed her when I'm out. She kicks and wriggles too meaning I'm finding it hard even getting the positioning of feeding her right - I end up uncomfortable just as much as she is! I don't think I've mastered the art of supporting her during feeding, at home I use a feeding pillow which she finds much better but I don't have that when I'm out and neither of us are used to the feeding without it. My boobs exploded once my milk came in (went from a DD cup to a G cup) so I have to help her out as otherwise her poor little nose is smothered by boob 🙈. So it's another thing I find tricky when out as I need one hand supporting her and the other holding above my nipple down otherwise she can't breathe whilst feeding.

I try and express in to a muslin beforehand, but this doesn't seem to make a difference. As soon as she latches the letdown starts again and it's just as forceful! It really shoots out!!

I'm not sure what the solution is!? Does it get any better!? Baby is 10 weeks now and I've had this since her first week!!

Apologies if this is very rambling and thank you if you've made it this far!! Xxx

@lochmaree I'm holding out hope for a breakthrough at 3-4 months!! I usually end up in the back of the car, it's covered in milk splatters 😅.

Annoyingly, my local breastfeeding support group is still on zoom. I'm hoping it'll be face to face soon 🤞🏻

I know, I have to do the same!! I wake up drenched sometimes as they've leaked in my sleep!! 🙈

This was me with my eldest. Lots of good suggestions here and hopefully you can get some face-to-face (or zoom) support soon as sometimes adjusting the latch a little can help the baby to manage the flow. At 10 weeks it was a nightmare for us, then we got to 12 weeks and it was like someone pressed the magic switch. It seemed like a combination of my supply adjusting and the baby learning to cope with the flow all coincided and life got much easier. Fingers crossed the same happens for you!

@ButterfliesFlyingBy that's very reassuring to hear! Pleased it sorted itself out, hopefully it will for me and my girl too! 🤞🏻

This was me op. I used to pump a bit before the baby latched just to get re first volume of latch down milk and stop the baby choking. I would use a hand pump when I was out. It worked really well. Just a. Short time on the pump then baby on once after that first gush.
Hand pumps are easy to carry around and not hard use under a muslin.

I was exactly like this. The only suggestion I found that helped was to have an empty sterile bottle to hand. Unscrew the teat and hold the open bottle to your nipple when your let down reflex is in full swing. Once that initial let down has passed you don't drown them. I used nipple cups in my bra for the other breast. This collected milk too that was added to the bottle.

With my second baby the let down reflex had settled so I didn't to do anything extra. But I remember very cold nights being covered in milk until I got this sorted out.

@Waferbiscuit thank you! I'll have a look at getting a hand pump, I've got one of those haaka ones which is great but if she knocks it with her feet it loses suction abs drops - not ideal when out!

@beautifullymad I feel like I'm forever covered in milk and constantly changing clothes 🙈. My nope nipple pads are so swollen full of milk by the end of the day it's mad!!

Ah, you’ll need a new breast pad every feed, don’t try to make them last a day! I used to double them over and put them just under my nipple before I fed, to catch the excess that dribbled rather than spurted, have you tried that?

I gave up with breast pads and put pad folded muslins in my bra

also if you are using the suction on the haakaa it may increase your supply. I think the milk Meg on Facebook shared something on that before.

@AnUnlikelyCombination I am now! 😅

@lochmaree i hadn't thought of that! Thanks!