Painful / Frequent let down

rpm2009

I nursed DS for 17 months so I feel like I should know the answers to these questions, but I just can't remember and need some advice.  

I had strong let down with DS and am now experiencing it again with LO, however, this time it seems a little worse.  In addition to the let down being painful, it also seems to be strong because sometimes LO pulls away and sort of gags.  I seem to remember that some ladies had ideas about handling strong / painful let down - any thoughts?

In addition, I experience let down in between nursing.  I am nursing on demand (generally every 2 to 2.5 hours) but I still usually get at least one let down between nursing sessions.  Does this just go away?  

tokenhoser

For a strong let down, this is the advice I was given:

A couple things can help with a fast let-down - leaning back while nursing can help - you can either try the "laid back breastfeeding" position, or google "biological nurturing."  Another thing is it gently break the suction with your little finger when the first powerful let-down happens, then let that spray into a cloth/towel - but be fore-warned, some babies get mad when you take them off!  But maybe he will learn that this is a good thing, or maybe he pops off anyways. 

 

Hopefully this is just a temporary challenge for him - as he gets bigger, he will handle the flow better; plus as time goes by, your breasts will produce according to what he takes and the let-down should settle down a bit too.

 

It could be in the mornings he wants to comfort nurse more (e.g. if he is still sleepy) and yells when he gets a shot full of milk!  Soon he will be entering a growth spurt and will like all the extra milk!

 

Here are a couple links you may find helpful:

https://www.llli.org/faq/oversupply.html - especially if you scroll down to Strategies to Reduce Milk Ejection Force

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

 

As for the random let downs, I'm still waiting for mine to go away. They're not HUGE, but I have to wear nursing pads all the time because I don't know when I'm going to leak.

 

maramarrie

PP gave you lots of great advice. I had overactive letdown with both kids. The pain goes away by 2 months, I'd say. I had random let downs with DS until after 3 months (I was still wearing the breast pads daily at 3 months); with DD it didn't last as long.

For DD, I did have to nurse laying down completely until pretty much 6 weeks. It was a struggle, especially when we had to leave the house; but her latch was VERY weak and it was the only way to decrease the flow and make her work harder to improve latch (if I nursed sitting up, the milk came so fast that she'd put her tongue forward to block it and lose her latch).