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Breastfeeding
CLLDLL
member
Need Advice - Oversupply/Heading Back to Work
CLLDLL
member
So I'm probaby over analyzing this, but I can't decide what to do & would like some advice.
Background: Around 3.5 weeks we started having green mucousy poop. I cut out all obvious and hidden dairy, and after about 3 weeks the mucous went away. We still have 1-2 green poops early in the morning followed by 3-4 yellowish brown poops.
How I currently feed: We currently EBF with LO getting 1 bottle of expressed milk every 3-4 days. During the day I alternate which breast I offer first. I let baby eat from that breast for 5-10 minutes burp, offer that breast again until he pulls off or I feel empty (usually another 5-10 minutes). Burp again. If he hasn't fallen asleep or gotten distracted by something I will offer the other breast. I would say about 50% of the time he will eat from the 2nd breast for 5 minutes or so. 9pm-ish is the last feeding of the night. Then he usually gives me 5-5.5 hour stretch. When he wakes I'm pretty engorged. I have been offering one breast for 5-10 minutes, burp offer the other breast for as long as LO wants. (Usually another 15-20 minutes) Then LO gives me a 3-4 hour stretch after which we resume our normal daytime feeding routine.
The questions: Do you think the green poop is being cause by a hindmilk/foremilk issue? Possibly because I am offering both breasts at that first MOTN feeding and neither is getting emptied. I started doing this to relieve some engorgement, but maybe he's not getting much hindmilk this way.
Would you start offering one breast at that feeding and let your supply regulate? I'm a little nervous to do that because I go back to work in two weeks. I know when that happens we may experience reverse cycling or just an interruption in our sleep routine. I really don't want to reduce my MOTN supply only to have to get it increased in two weeks. Not to mention, it is nice to have a bit of an oversupply right now to help build a stash in case it takes a while to get pumping at work established so I have enough for LO.
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Re: Need Advice - Oversupply/Heading Back to Work
I have an oversupply and so I block feed- one breast at each feeding, so roughly 3 hour blocks. If he wants to eat again during the 3 hours, I put him back on the same breast. It has made a big difference in getting my supply to regulate because it really wasn't.
Anyway, I'd feed just on one breast in the middle of the night. If you need to relieve engorgement, you could hand express or use a few quick pumps of a manual pump (I seriously love my Medela Harmony more than my PISA. It's so quick and easy and I get so much more milk.)
If you're still having issues with a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, you can pump quickly at the beginning of a feed to get rid of some of the foremilk. Then you can feed and massage your breast to get your LO the hindmilk. (If you do pump off the beginning of a feeding, you probably don't want to save that milk by itself for a feeding, as it would only be foremilk and can upset your LO's stomach if your LO has a sensitive system. You could mix it in with other pumped milk though or freeze it and save for putting in cereals later on.)