My son is 6 weeks today, he has a great latch since day one. Since my milk has come in the first few weeks he was choking in the beginning of nursing which scared me. I tried everything, sit him up while feeding, let the inital let-down go into a towel, etc... but he choked still.
Well now that he is a little older he can handle it most times..though he gulps loudly. I know to unlatch him when he gulps and doesn't take a breath after cause that leads him to choking... My first three let downs are forceful (I can feel the let down cause my body tingles and I hate it). Then apparently after that my flow comes to almost a dead stop... he starts flailing his arms, hitting my breast (and his face) repeatedly, fussing while sucking still, kicking about. I check to see if there is milk, sometimes it takes a few tries at hand expressing to get something to come out, but it does come out. I switch back to the previous breast and he will still fuss like it isn't fast enough yet. Since I have to supplement because he lost weight a few weeks back, I give him the bottle when he just starts fussing too much and he stops fussing and eats quietly.
So, how can I make the flow faster? I already message my breasts after the forceful let-downs so he doesn't fuss early on, but after a while even that doesn't help.
Re: Anyone have too fast and too slow flow?
Yes and we are going to an LC tonight to figure out how to train baby to relax and wait for the slow one.
My body is starting to regulate now (I assume) up until last week she just had to open her mouth and the milk would flow. Now she starts that way but then at some point she has to work for a minute or two. And she FREAKS out. The screaming until she's barely breathing, flailing about....I swear she punches my boob with her fists!
I am hoping the LC has some tips to help baby come to terms with the fact she just may have to work for her milk from time to time!
My milk is also fast flow...and either baby got more efficient or my milk sped up because about 1.5 weeks ago she went from 8-10min feeds to just 4-6min. I was worried she was not getting enough milk but did a weighed feeding and she was still getting the same amount.
With the very short feeds I don't have the slow let down every time...which probably makes it harder for her to adapt to.
ETA: Also, babies do get more efficient at bf, so there time on the breast drops dramatically.
This was happening before I started supplementing too, like a week before. I was told by the pedi because in a month he gained back the birth weight then dropped and at the month mark I was told to supplement just so he can get a steady weight gain. Right now I do not have to give him supplements after EVERY feeding like I had to before, so he gets it every other feeding because he simply wants more.
I already use Doctor Brown's with preemie nipples. So far that is the slowest ones I've seen.
And to the poster before, I have also notice a dramatic drop in the time he nurses.. I thought he wasn't getting enough either for a little bit.