Anyone with over active letdown???

duffmaker

Hi ladies! So DD and I have been adapting to my over active let down for the past few weeks and I had a question for other mamas that are dealing with this. I get this horrible pain in my nipples that make me cringe and tense my entire body. It feels like DD is sucking barbed wire out of my boobs!! Sharp, ripping, intense pain. My initial reaction was "ow get her off! bad latch!" but she would have a perfectly fine latch and when I did pull her off BM wouln't just be leaking, it would be spraying out in multiple strong streams! Like compare a garden hose to a pressure washer and that's the intensity of my letdown. It only happens a sec or two after she starts nursing and goes away after 20-30secs. So I feel safe to assume it's my letdown. Does anyone else deal with this? Have you gotten any tips or tricks to helping it? Or do you just cringe and deal until it mellows out? Oh and it doesn't just happen when they are engorged, it happens every nursing session.

TIA

hlc820

This is me. I block feed which helped somewhat. I still usually have the garden hose stream but by second or third session it's not too bad. As for that pain it's 75% of my initial latch and I just hold my breath and deal after I make sure his latch is ok

duffmaker

hlc820:

This is me. I block feed which helped somewhat. I still usually have the garden hose stream but by second or third session it's not too bad. As for that pain it's 75% of my initial latch and I just hold my breath and deal after I make sure his latch is ok

Yea I am totally with you on the holding your breath and dealing haha it's awful but it goes away as soon as the crazy letdown steadys out. I still can't figure out the block feeding... I read something about it on Kellymom but it confused me! It is the most intense when she has gone longer in between then her average every 2 hours, but it's still bad at those normal spaced out sessions.

hunnybunny614

Yes, my letdown has gotten a bit better now, but I can still feel it.  I started pumping in the am, which not only built my freezer supply, but helped the flow not be so strong with the next feeding.  I've only ever sprayed from my right side, but when I do, watch out.  DH couldn't believe how far across the room I could spray.

xandb

I've been spraying only on one side, but it would get all over Baby's face if he let go in mid-feeding to burp or cough or deal with swallowing the torrent of milk that he unleashed upon himself. Poor dude had to learn to eat really fast!

Thankfully mine isn't nearly as painful, more of a tightness and tingling. But what is really annoying is that it doesn't wait for a feeding session. I used to get letdown anytime, anywhere, if I hadn't just nursed him, especially when my milk first came in before he learned to handle it all, and I was dealing with the engorgement. Goodbye, the feeling of being clean, I'd leak all over myself and feel sticky and icky - right as I stepped out of the shower!

And whenever he nurses, I always get letdown on BOTH sides, not just the one he's sucking on. Eventually I started holding a bottle under the other nipple to stop wasting the milk - I'd get a couple ounces without touching it! This is how I started my freezer stash for returning to work.

In the last month or so, it's gotten better - still comes easily, but not nearly so much or such a strong flow. Hope yours regulates too!