Oversupply/ Too Strong Letdown?? Help!

Try pumping a little before feeding him so it isn't so forceful to him. My friend has to do this also and it works for her. Good Luck

one thing right now; relax. everything is fine, you are still adjusting to breastfeeding, and its ok to have rough periods. you will not starve your child. its ok.

FIRST: go to www.llli.org. search for a la leche league leader or group near you. i had to drive an hour to get to mine, but it is SO worth it and its usually only once a month. they will have a HUGE amount of resources and other moms who may have been through this.

one thing i know, if you try to self-express or pump the "top" off of your milk, it wont be so strong right away. it sounds like you should also burp often to see if you can reduce some of that gas, or just pick up some gas relif stuff for babies.

thank you for breastfeeding - and keep it up! the la leche league will help you tremendously from issues to just keeping strong when people tell you that you dont need to keep breastfeeding... :)

i didnt have this problem but i have heard that some moms have had success with nursing while laying on your back. put the baby on your tummy so that gravity is helping the flow slowdown, just do it to start then you can sit up and finish feeding him. i also agree with the pumping first.

I read to pump a little first just to get rid of that letdown.

I sometimes have the same problem. If I can tell that I'm extra full, I will pump an ounce or two before I start to nurse. It also seems to help if I recline a little so that my son is sitting higher than my breast. I will also stop frequently to let him burp and catch his breath.

I had this same problem with my now nine month old twins. So much so that when one of them would pull off I would spray my husband with milk across the bed. They did slowly learn how to handle it. I think pumping works, but it was too much for me to make 2 crying babies while they waited for me to be "primed". So I expressed some milk manually into a clothe while I was getting them situated or when they pulled off in frustration. This sounds silly, but I also tried really hard to relax and "slow down" my let down. I don't know if it worked, but at least I didn't get as stressed about the situation. Really it seems that by 6-8 weeks we had adapted to eachother. Now they are healthy and growing, but still really fast at nursing. I wish you the best.

Sounds like he might be getting a lot of air in when he's nursing. You might try pumping out just a little milk before latching him on.

Hi V.,

Try pumping a little before nursing, that should help. Good luck & hang in there, you're doing a good job :)

Same thing happened to me...get him started and then right before you really let down take him off. Use a towel and place it next to your breast and wait for your let down to stop or if your ambitious catch it in a bottle and save it for later. Then you can put him back on and you'll be fine. When he gets a little bit older he'll manage your flow better. I used to spray milk and it took me a while of choking my son for me to figure it out. Good Luck.

I disagree with the pumping before nursing, unless you want to continue with the over supply and super strong letdown. Pumping before you nurse tells your body that you need that much milk and that big of a letdown.

You need to let him latch, and when you let down, unlatch him and let your letdown spray into a towel (or a cup if you wnat to keep it) and when it slows or stops, then relatch him. This tells your body to slow on the letdown because your body isn't getting sitmulation while its letting down, so it will slow the letdown. Only nurse him on ONE side per feeding, don't switch to the other breast. Let him fully empty one breast at each feeding, never switching. This allows him to get the hindmilk which he needs to grow and thrive.

THe foremilk, in the letdown, is watery and thin. It quenches the baby's thirst. Then the milk changes to hindmilk, which is thick and full of fats and nutrients that the baby needs to grow and thrive. If baby only gets foremilk, he will be fussy, gassy, and eventually not grow as well as he should be.

A breastfed babies poops should be yellow and seedy, like dijon mustard. If they are green, mucousy, and stringy, look like wet lettuce, he's getting too much foremilk and you need to let him nurse on one breast only.

I hope this helps. I had the same problem with both my boys and once I learned to let the letdown into a towel and then relatch when it stopped spraying,.... problem solved. If you pump through the letdown, its stimulating your body to continue the letdown, but if you let it spra into a towel with no body stimulation, then it tells your body to slow the letdown, and it will, usually within a month.

Hi V.,

The exact same thing happened with my little girl and I freaked out! But, don't worry... there are things you can do. What worked best for me was a nipple shield... they can be bought at Target or other similar store.... the shield allows the milk to pool inside the shield and then the baby is able to take the milk from the shield at it's own pace. It worked wonders for us!! But, it is also advised to then wean the baby from the shield as soon as possible so that he won't get "nipple confusion". I weaned after a week or so of using it and everything was back to normal... I remember (this was 2 years ago) also going on a website called "kellymom.com" or something like that and this problem was talked about and had some good suggestions for when you wean from the nipple shield-give the baby breaks and reassurance and such.

I hope this works for you as well as it did for me!! Hang in there :):)
Jen

I totally agree with the last person who wrote. Let it spray into a towel. I had this issue as well when I was breastfeeding, and it helped tremendously. Also try leaning back, and having the baby above your breast while feeding. Sometimes that works too. If you're still having trouble go see a lactation consultant. The ones at Abbott NW are FABULOUS, and they've got lots of tips and tricks, and can ease your mind about what's going on. I lived at their office the first month of boy my boys BF :) Hang in there, and don't give up. I did, and I really regret it now. :(

I did the same thing to my 3 girls when they were babies. I found that pumping before nursing helped. I would just hand express my initial let-down into a large cup. After the surge would slow, I'd have baby latch on. I would combine the let-down milk for the day and either freeze it or sometimes I would resort to using it when the baby was "starving hungry" and I had not hand-expressed in time to offer a breast that had a weakened let-down.

It did subside at about 6-7 weeks time, when the baby had a growth spurt and could handle the strong let-down.

Pump before hand and get some of that foremilk out of the way. If he's gainig he may bbe getting enough but eating too fast. You can express milk w/o pump with your hands but it's slow.

He may have reflux!!! If pumping before doesn't help call his ped. for an appointment. They'll give him a prescription for it. Feed him at an angle. If you have boppy place top half of baby on it but let his but slide lower or you can hold him this way. You can bend you legs up to help hold the baby without the boppy.

I'd agree with the previous poster. Pumping first helped with my kids. Just don't pump too long (only a minute or so) or you'll just perpetuate the problem. Hopefully in time your body will adjust to the amount your baby needs instead of producing in hyper-drive.

Don't give up! You can always call your hospital's lactation nurses or your local La Leche League if you need more help too.

I had this problem with both my kids, we ended up using a nipple sheild to slow the flow for the first couple months, then weaned them off, one used it till 4months, she was the littler baby, and the second, my big boy only used it till 6 weeks. but i would say if you have oversupply, don't pump beforehand, it can aggravate the issue - so unlatch the baby as you feel the tingle of letdown start an let it spray into a towel or burp cloth.

If he is still gassy and stuff even after fixing the letdown issue, and you feel he is not fully empting your breast at a feeding, first of all try only feeding one side per feeding session, if that is not enough to slow down the production, or totally empty the breast, do one side only for two feeds in a row....I had to do that for a couple months with each baby....then you switch to the other side for the next two feedings.

Feel free to send me a message with any more questions, I nursed each of my babies almost exclusively for 9 months, in spite of lits of issues in the beginning!

Good Luck!

jessie

My first suggestion would be to pump for a couple minutes or express some milk before you breastfeed. If he his still hungry after eating what you have left, you can give him what you have expressed, until your body regulates. Because the pump is not as effective as your baby's latch, your body should adjust and not produce quite so much milk for each feeding. I hope this helps!

I had the same problem with my youngest, and 5 weeks is about when I started noticing it too. I only ever fed him from one breast (he never wanted more than that), and I read (Kellymom and La Leche League) that to decrease the supply you can keep feeding from the same breast for a longer period of time (which lets the other side get full and get the signal to decrease production). My baby usually would eat every 3 hours during the day, and if he seemed interested in nursing more frequently I just put him back on the same side. You can gradually increase the time (by 30 minutes) if necessary. This helped in just a few days, and by 7 weeks my baby was like a different child. (I think just time itself will help too - the baby gets older and better able to handle the milk flow and your milk production naturally settles down.)

I had the same problem. Other people mentioned letting him latch on until you feel let down, then take him off and let the milk go onto a towel or into a container. This worked really well for me! I called Le Leche League at about the same point you are at and they gave me that suggestion. They also said babies who are struggling with oversupply from the mother usually outgrow it and are able to handle the flow between 6 and 8 weeks. That was true for my son. Right in that time frame he didn't have the problem anymore. So, at 5 weeks, you might be almost through this tough phase!

Also, you said he gets gassy. I found the infant anti-gas drops (simethicone/Mylicon) to work to well. They seemed to work instantly when he was struggling with gas pains.

Good luck and good job!

R.

V.,
Try leaning back in a chair when you nurse. Also, when you suspect he may be getting hungry, pump or manually express some milk before he eats. These two things should work well. If not, consult a lactation specialist in your area and maybe they can give some further advice.
Good luck,
S.

I also had over suppy and strong letdown issues. Two things to try -- if you have a pump, you can pump just a little before you nurse. You don't want to pump too much because that will only increase your supply, but pumping a little will releave some of the pressure so the flow isn't so strong for your little one. Another thing to try is reclining slightly or leaning back when you nurse. By leaning back and pulling your baby to you (rather than leaning forward to meet him) you will slow your flow down. Finally, if you find the problem is too much for you to solve on your own, I very highly recommend seeing a lactation consultant. They are super helpful! Good luck! S.

Try pumping a little before nursing him. That should take away the strong let down and he should be able to nurse more comfortably. Don't give up, you are doing a great thing for him and for you. :)
S.

what worked for me (i had this problem too, advice was from a book or a website or....but it worked) was as soon as i would start to feel the letdown, i would unlatch and let it just kinda spray on a towel i always had handy, until it slowed down a little (only ever took a few seconds, you know how it sprays then turns to dripping, so you don't "miss" the letdown for the kid's eating either:) ). the strength of it went away and didn't affect our nursing at all, in fact as soon as the letdown lessened i no longer had to unlatch for it. the trick is to unlatch before they get upset so they will relatch, took only a couple of times to get the "new routine" down