Overactive/fast let down - baby starting to prefer bottle? Please help...
LO and I have been struggling with oversupply and fast let down for the last few weeks. At first, he was a great nurser. Around 4 weeks he would choke a lot when feeding, around 5 weeks he started to be really fussy after feedings and I noticed he was a lot calmer after the occasional bottle feedings. However, we would still have some BF sessions where he would do ok. I went back to work a week ago and now LO takes 3 bottles a day at day care. The last few days he seems to have completely given up on trying to keep up with the fast flow of the boob, it's almost as if he's used to the slower bottles and can't go back and forth. He just screams, fusses, and pulls off a few minutes into nursing. Any ideas? I try pumping off some first (through let down, sometimes I even just pump off 4-5 oz if I'm really full, even though I know this perpetuates the oversupply issue - just to see if he'll feed better, which he was, and now even that's not helping). We've also tried positioning him uphill, etc.
It is so hard to see LO be happier after a bottle and completely a fussy mess after BF! I'm on the verge of just pumping, but know that will be more work in the long run and don't want to lose my supply. Around what age do babies usually get used to the fast flow?
Re: Overactive/fast let down - baby starting to prefer bottle? Please help...
What flow of nipple are you using? I had the opposite problem of my LO preferred my fast flow breast and would not take a bottle at all. I was using only slow flow nipples. I switched to use medium and fast flow and it has helped immensely with our switching back and forth.
Could you switch to a faster flow nipple without overwhelming him? Maybe it could help it not be such a huge difference in between. Just a thought, I am definitely still new at this
True, good idea. I also had good luck with sidelying with a towel under LO. This way they can control how much goes in to their mouth.