HELP please - leaking 4 weeks postpartum when exclusively formula fed

[TigerLily38]

Could really do with advice and a handhold please as I'm really worrying...I gave birth 4 weeks ago and have formula fed the whole time. My milk came in on day 3 and my boobs swelled huge and went hard like rocks, and were leaking a lot of milk both sides. This eased off after a few days and I've had no leakage for weeks. My baby woke up for a night feed tonight, and when I went to make her bottle I noticed a huge milk stain in the right side of my bra, nothing from the left.

Has anyone else had leakage weeks postpartum? I'm so confused and worried now, all I can find online is that the supply should dry up within a few days 😭 I'm going to call my Dr's surgery when it opens but I would really love to hear other people's experiences until I can get an appointment. Google only tells me it's something awful especially being one sided, my hormones are all over the place so I'm really panicking 😢😢 thank you if anyone has read this far! X

Please don’t worry, it’s only four weeks since you gave birth and your hormones haven’t settled yet. It’s perfectly normal for your breasts to be affected by your hormones, it just takes time for everything to settle down. You’ll be absolutely fine. Congratulations on the birth of your baby. 💐

Thank you so much for the reply, I wasn't expecting anyone to be awake yet 🥲 that's reassuring thank you! I was so confused how theres such a huge stain when my boobs have gone down to their normal size, I was thinking where has that come from?!

I also haven't had a period yet so I'm wondering if it could be a sign it might happen soon xx

I formula fed and leaked for about 3 months! It was exhausting everytime my baby cried I would leak! Completely normal

Ah thank you so much for your reply!! It's so helpful to know, I thought it was just the first week from everything I'd read! If you don't mind me asking, did you ever have leakage just from one side or was it always both?

I was literally about to get rid of my remaining breast pads, but looks like I'm going to need them a while longer!

It was both! One was definitely worse than the other though! It just suddenly stopped one day but did take about 3 months xx

Completely normal and definitely not something to bother the doctor with tbh! The breasts produce milk in response to baby crying so it makes sense you leaked when they woke up.

4 weeks is not a long time, this is completely normal.