I have an overactive letdown. It's worse on my right side and I have tried a few things suggested by my lactation consultant-different feeding positions, clamping my nipple while feeding, hand expressing before and during feeding. Nothing is working and we are both really upset. Am I missing something? Have you done anything else that worked for you? I'm at my wits end here and I feel pretty defeated and really am trying to not throw in the towel. baby will be four weeks old on Thursday.
-
I had a pretty overactive let down too. What I did was hand express before. Then, when LO began to nurse and I let down I would pull him off and let it spray into a burp cloth for about a minute. Then, he could come back and nurse and wouldn't be choking!
-
It's SO hard. I had the same problem and came so close to stopping - I felt like I was drowning my poor daughter. She would projectile vomit after feeding because she was just so overwhelmed by so much milk so fast. Nothing really helped that much, but I did find that hand expressing before I fed her and then really clamping down on my nipple when I felt my letdown helped somewhat. Really she just needed to get more used to it and my supply needed to regulate. I'd say sometime around 10-12 weeks it improved dramatically. Now at 4.5 months she gets pissed if my letdown isn't fast enough, and I'm so glad we stuck it out. Hang in there mama. And if you decide it's not for you, that's totally okay too. I stopped nursing my son at 6 weeks for the same issue.
-
I used to have this problem a lot. T would sputter and gag and choke. I would let down into a towel. I will say, at 4 months old, he almost never pops off now, and has no problem with it.
-
I had the same problem. It was really hard for a long time. I did as suggested above, spray into a burp cloth until it slows down and then try to latch again. Try lots of different positions so it isn't spraying down into LO's mouth. I had to replace one feeding per day with a pumped bottle because LO would just lose patience with it by the evening.
My LO eventually got used to it, to the point that when my supply regulated at 3 months, she got upset that it wasn't coming out so fast anymore. I had to pump to increase supply to make her happy. We have a great breastfeeding relationship now. But on the other hand, my friend who has a daughter the same age as mine had overactive letdown and had to switch to EP at about 3 months because her baby just couldn't handle the sputtering and choking. So it depends a lot on the baby. Try to stick with it and see how things develop as LO gets older and more strong/skilled at eating?
-
@pinkarmadillo: Have you talked to the LC about block feeding? I had a similar issue and this really helped to manage my supply and calm the letdown a bit. The other thing you could try is laid back nursing position
-
I had this problem too - I tried a combination of a laid-back nursing position, unlatching my son when letdown happened, and block feeding. All of those things helped my little guy (and me) to cope, but really it was mostly my supply regulating and my son getting better at nursing.
-
I had this problem with ds2 but not with ds1 and was totally at a loss. I did the laid back positioning, popping him off, block feeding on one side, etc. the last month (ds2 is 2 months), I had a cold that slowed my oversupply and ds has grown a ton and nurses better and more efficiently and our choking pop off sessions have decreased by a ton. Maybe once a day? Hang in there!!
-
Same issue, worse on one side. Eventually LO got used to it and it was fine but I used to feel like I was drowning her. We've made it to a year, you can do it!
Things that helped:
- block feeding
- using a burp cloth to catch overflow
- sidelying nursingOne thing I did that helped but isn't the best solution is I found that the worst nursing session for me for the issue was in the morning, so I would pump before that session and then LO was so happy because she could nurse for a while and not be drinking out of a firehose. It did contribute to my oversupply I'm sure, but I built a good freezer stash and once LO had gotten older and my supply had regulated (4 mo I think) I weaned off that pump.
-
What all the mamas above have said ^^^ -- hand express, block nursing, reclined nursing (so you're not choking baby). It gets much better, although I have to admit even up to 12 months we were still having the occasional latch issues (lazy toddler latch, sore nipples, etc). But nothing is as bad as those first few weeks. Hang in there mama!
LO is 14 months old, still nursing a few times a day and I sometimes still will spray across the room!
-
Ugh it sucks so bad! I developed it around 5-6 weeks, but it got better after a few weeks. But so torturous during that time. I think she just learned to deal as she got bigger because she never nurses for more than 5 minutes per side.
-
I forgot about leaning back and block feeding ! Agree with all of the above !!
-
This totally brought back memories - it was the most bizarre part of BFing that I was completely unprepared for! I agree with the above.
Definitely try the hand expressing into burp cloth to relieve the initial pressure, and feeding in the lie back position. But it did stop eventually, maybe once supply regulated itself?
It didn't go on forever, in case you're worried about that!
-
I'm so sorry, I had the same thing and I would start bawling when DS would choke or throw up from too much milk. I did what previous people suggested about having my let down go into a cloth. Also I would nurse almost laying completely on my back with DS on top. Don't worry, it'll get better. Lots and lots of trial and error. Hugs
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
13 comments