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Breastfeeding - fast let down help!
F is 18 days old and we have been working hard at breast feeding and I finally feel that things are getting gradually easier. Having said that it seems that my milk comes down too fast for him to cope with at first so he's gulping and throwing himself off the breast and this goes on and on with F getting increasingly distressed. Has anyone any experience of this and have any T&T tips that might help??
thanks!
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Replies
i think i read somewhere that if that happens it can be beneficial to express a little bit before you feed
Try feeding lying down? Glad you are getting there with it! I'm still struggling a bit with feeding Cx
Yes, as above. I had the same problem. Lean back in a chair or lie down when feeding to let gravity slow down the flow.
Some great advice on Kellymom too - kellymom.com/.../fast-letdown
There are essentially two ways you can go about remedying a forceful let-down: (1) help baby deal with the fast flow and (2) take measures to adjust your milk supply down to baby’s needs. Since forceful let-down is generally a byproduct of oversupply, most moms will be working on both of these things. It may take a couple of weeks to see results from interventions for oversupply, so try to be patient and keep working on it.
That's great thank you. Am feeding leaning back at the mo and he went straight on which is unheard of! I will maybe try and hand express a bit as well although I wondered if hand expressing might stimulate flow? I wonder if a pump might be better? Will have a read online and check out that link as well. Thanks!
I have this too and have found that lying back slightly helps, also the expressing too. Sounds a bit grim but I find that he struggles particularly if milk squirts so I usually massage the duct (I can feel it cos it's a bit of a lump!) that drains it a bit and stops it squirting and he seems to latch much better. If I'm particularly full I use my pump but it's a bit of a faff so prefer to do it manually where possible, haven't found it makes too much of a difference to the flow.
I have fast/forceful let down and massive over-supply. I promise it does get better as baby gets bigger and thus able to cope with letdown more.
Honestly i find quite annoying (depressing even) that i go through a million breastpads a day, leak dramatically from left boob when feeding baby on right boob and visa-verus and have random let-downs when i'm driving the car or something which can leave my top soaking. GRRRRR. The main problem however is baby gagging/spluttering/choking on milk. Toby has now learnt to let go when the let-down kicked in and re-latch at his own convenience (Lucy used to just scream at the boob and then re-latch once she'd calmed down!). Both these "techniques" do however mean you are left spraying milk in all directions - i recommend having plently of muslins to hand.
If you are suffering over supply you can try to reduce this - kellymom has suggestions but the one i have tried and has worked a bit is to feed from left boob twice and then right boob twice iyswim.
Also suggest you look at
- washable breastpads. Otherwise you will spend a fortune on disposables.
- breastshells (when feeding, pop into bra on side not being fed from, collect milk and either pour down the sink after feed it can be stored if you sterilize breastshell beforehand).
Thank you ladies - this is much appreciated. The squirting in baby's face when they pull off doesn't help the distress they are already experiencing that's for sure!! I had F at a prolonged jaundice clinic today (he's fine) and spoke to the doc about this issue and she did say he would adapt and his feeding skills become more sophisticated as he gets older. Until then I'll try a variety of these tips. Thanks so much.