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Infant feeding

Overactive Letdown Reflex - please help :(

12 replies

phoenixrose314 · 29/03/2013 20:20

I am the very proud mummy of a 2 week old DS, and so far motherhood has come totally easily to me. Even breast feeding - my little one latched immediately after birth and has had no trouble until the last couple of days.

Whenever I feed he chokes and splutters because my milk is coming too quick for him, when he tries to keep up I can hear him swallowing loads of air and then can never get it all winded... He screams whilst feeding because he can't stay latched, and my milk just squirts him in the face when he pulls away, and he screams afterward because he has trapped wind we can't get out.

I have tried laying down, I have tried using same breast several times before switching... Nothing seems to work. I know I should persist with bfing but it is causing me (and my DS) so much pain, I just feel like a failure and like giving up. I am on the verge of tears just writing this.

Any advice or personal experience would be so very much appreciated... I am at the end of my tether here :(

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Skygirls · 29/03/2013 20:29

So sorry you're feeling like this. It does take some time for the body to adapt to baby's needs.

My only suggestion is could you try expressing some milk first ( and maybe freeze it for when you need to go out?).
Just express a bit from each boob before feeding time, so your breasts are not so full when you feed him.

I know expressing will probably make you produce more, but maybe it will regulate your flow until he's older and able to handle milk being faster flowing.
Good luck

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Rikalaily · 29/03/2013 20:33

I used to latch baby until my milk letdown, then i would quickly unlatch and let the main fast flow soak into a breastpad until it slowed down then latch baby back on. As they get bigger they can cope alot better with the fast flow.

Good luck x

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Giddyupgumdrop · 29/03/2013 20:35

I had almost exactly the same with two out of three of my DCs with very full sore boobs too. I also considered giving up but managed to feed them all til about a year old. It will settle after a while as it is still early days. I just tried to take each day and week at a time until we found ourselves in a routine and that helped.

I only hand expressed a little every now and again before putting them on the boob but also tried to use infacol too. Not sure how much that helped tho.

Hope things get better for you.

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FadBook · 29/03/2013 20:37

I've just posted on a similar thread - have a read of kellymom pages - some very good tips on there

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geekette · 29/03/2013 20:41

I also had an oald. to be honest, I just let my lo deal with it but she didn't tend to swallow air. she tended to gag.
one of her coping mechanisms was pulling off just as the milk came down. it doesn't take long for the flow to slow down, a second or two.

kellymom has more suggestions I believe.

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CappuccinoCarrie · 29/03/2013 20:41

I used to hand express a bit of milk down the sink in the early days just to relieve the pressure a bit before feeding the baby so he wasn't engulfed in a mass of jets of milk that overwhelmed him. Your supply will settle down soon so don't worry! I used breastpads for the first six months - while feeding on one side the other side would be like a fast dripping tap. It carried on until he started on solids and therefore the demand (and supply) of my milk decreased.
You're doing brilliantly, and congrats on your baby!

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geekette · 29/03/2013 20:41

x post Smile

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phoenixrose314 · 29/03/2013 21:00

Thanks for all the advice. I am hoping it settles soon as I'm so worried DS isn't getting enough and will end up refusing the breast.

I would try letting the letdown run its course but I seem to have several during the same feed! My poor DS...

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McBaby · 29/03/2013 21:34

It does get better! I had very fast let down and over supply. My LO learnt to deal with it and over time it gets better I used to have a soaked muslin at the end of each feed for first couple of months. After about ten weeks when your supply has levelled out. After about ten weeks I block fed which helped the over supply. Still at 8 months if she pulls off I spray a long way!

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Twattybollocks · 30/03/2013 09:01

I had fast let down with dd1, I found if you pinch the breast between thumb and first finger about an inch back from their lips it slows the flow to a manageable level until it slows on its own.

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GirlOutNumbered · 30/03/2013 09:09

They will get used to it... I had one too, I would unlatch baby and let it flow into breastpad for a bit. But as he got older he seemed to just take it in his stride. He now feeds in about 10 minutes, which is great.
Keep it up, you're doing great and having lots of milk is never a bad thing.

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Chandon · 30/03/2013 09:10

Oh goodness, I had this.

It sorted itself out eventually, but I often sprayed milk all over my newborn whilst he seemed bewildered at this fountain of milk...

The bigger the baby gets, the quicker he can drink, tis problem will gradually disappear.

I used to just let it "fountain" a bit and then latch on DS again. He needed a bath after feeds sometimes as drenched in milk...

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