excessive let-downs, LO can't keep up

J&Jaggies06 · March 2010

I'm having a very hard time staying encouraged. LO is finally sleeping better through the night, but then when we do get her up to feed she cannot keep up with my milk. It is incredibly painful for me because it messes with her latch which is normally very good.

I've tried unlatching her when I feel the let down, we've tried positioning her above me so that gravity can help. I've even tried pumping some before feeding her and nothing is helping and the problem seems to be getting worse. Initially it last for the first 5ish minutes then things got to a flow she could handle, now it is almost the entire feeding.

I can barely handle it, but I'd like to keep BF her since normally it is comfortable for me once she can keep up.

Stacyc625 · March 2010

are you block feeding?- only feeding one breast at a time?

that can help. i had this problem too.

It helped to lean WAY back in a chair- think of it as using gravity to your advantage.

MamiJam · March 2010

I would try hand expressing instead of pumping. You may be pumping too much which may be why the problem has gotten worse. I had this problem with DS all the time when he was a newborn. I would put a towel/burp cloth under his chin to catch extra/spraying milk and then latch him on. During the first couple weeks your supply is regulating to match your LO's needs. Hang in there, soon enough it will level out and your LO will be better able to handle the flow.

babywhoknows28 · March 2010

It seems from your siggy that you LO is less than 2 weeks old? It took 3-4 weeks for my supply to regulate itself, and before that - I was pretty much uncomfortable during the day and in pain it night. It may correct itself in a week or so... Good Luck!

honeybee111 · March 2010

I have this problem too. Things that helped me are: hand expressing once I felt letdown, leaning back, giving DD breaks during feeding(she was gasping/gulping a lot), and holding DD more upright - kind of like football hold. I stopped all pumping because I think it was making it worse.

Cityplanner · March 2010

I had a similar problem at the beginning.

I'd put DD almost on top of me to nurse, to let gravity help.

When she was a little older, I tried block feeding (nursing on just one side for a set number of hours) to decrease the supply. Also, as she got older, she got faster and more able to keep up.

I also stopped pumping. I heard that you should hand express a little at first so they get the slower flow, but I was never very good about hand expressing.

The good news is that you've got a good supply!

J&Jaggies06 · March 2010

She does only take one side at a feeding so I guess I am somewhat block feeding. I just pumped for the first time in days this morning because I was so engorged and I knew there was no way for her to keep up. I know I need to give it longer to regulate or her to get used to it. It is just so painful when she clicks to try to stop the flow and mad when I unlatch her during a let down. Thanks for reminding me it will get better. It just might take some time. I do try to remember it is good that I have a good supply. Who knew a good thing would be bad for some time?

SeaMama · March 2010

Hang in there! I had this problem early on and it sorted itself out. Try not to mess with your natural supply and demand too much. I used to just let LO trigger my let-down and then pull him off gently and let the milk spray (yes, spray) into a burp rag until the flow stopped shooting out. Then he'd latch back on and go crazy...but he wasn't drowning in my milk. My supply evened out after a month or so. Keep with it!

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