daft question... what is a "let down"?

[Irish Eyes]

When bfing my son my boobs never felt full. He would just latch on & feed but a friend asked about my let down?? She said it had something to do with boobs feeling full & baby latching on? I would really like to ebf with this baby so I'm trying to learn more!

 

[Debi]

The let down happens during a feed when your nervous system sends a signal to breast tissue to squeeze the milk out of the ducts, so the milk tends to come out faster and you can often hear the baby gulping. When baby starts to feed, they have to work to get the milk out, but suckling triggers a let down so they get more milk. Sometimes you get a tingly feeling when it happens. You can have multiple let downs in one feed. Hope this helps!

 

[MoldyVoldy]

you might not even feel your milk let down.

in the beginning i felt a tingly stingy sensation when my milk let down or if i had a particularly strong one. nowadays i don't really ever feel one but when i do it's either because DS hasn't nursed in a while and then he does unexpectedly or if DS and i are feeling particularly close while nursing

it's ok to not feel let down though, so long as your baby is getting milk

 

[misspriss]

you might not even feel your milk let down.

in the beginning i felt a tingly stingy sensation when my milk let down or if i had a particularly strong one. nowadays i don't really ever feel one but when i do it's either because DS hasn't nursed in a while and then he does unexpectedly or if DS and i are feeling particularly close while nursing

it's ok to not feel let down though, so long as your baby is getting milk

Same here. I used to feel let down every time, it was tingly. At first it was really strong. Now, especially since I have been working to reduce my oversupply, I don't feel it often when LO feeds. I DO feel it when I pump. Some women never feel it though, which is normal. I have a forceful let down when my boobs are really full, I had oversupply for a long time. When they are normal, it's normal.

 

[Rachel_C]

From about 3 weeks to a year of BF, my let down felt amazing, like a little boob orgasm . It's basically when your milk really starts flowing properly or speeds up, usually in the first minute or so but can happen again later in the feed too. After a year I started only feeling it sporadically and from 18 months I started rarely feeling it at all, although LO still gets milk - I just don't feel the sudden rush. I miss it

 

[Irish Eyes]

Thank you for explaining that!

So if you've never felt a let down does that mean there isn't as much milk in there? Could that be why my son never grew out of eating every hour at least? My hv kept telling me to wait for 6 weeks & he'd be in a feeding pattern of some sort but by 12 weeks he was still feeding hourly & I stupidly gave up.

Would taking fenugreek help with this for the next baby?

 

[summer rain]

Nope feeling let down or not is nothing to do with supply. I have only felt let down physically a handful of times in the 5 years or so altogether that I have been BF. Taking fenugreek or other galactalogues without a real supply problem being present can cause new issues. Feeding every hour is just the norm for some babies xx

 

[ourfate]

I never felt a let down at first, and like you didn't really know what it was, now I always feel it.

 

[lily28]

Usually I feel it on the opposite boob, not the one nursing. It has nothing to do with "fullness" it happens with "empty" breasts too, empty in "" because they are never really empty, the boobs continuously make milk as long as baby sucks.

 

[sue_88]

Me too lily, it happens on the opposite side for me! I find it quite painful but it lasts only seconds

 

[NurseSooz]

I'm with Sue88 - it's a "pressure/pain" feeling I get. For a few seconds. Just below my armpits. Kinda like a "running water" feeling. I get it about a minute into the feed and then dd starts doing huge gulps.

 

[hubblybubbly]

I often get a let down when I start to think lo needs a feed...tingly then look down and boom soaked top, very frustrating as I stupidly get annoyed at the wasted milk (which comes from when I was expressing for dd1)

 

[starlight2801]

From about 3 weeks to a year of BF, my let down felt amazing, like a little boob orgasm . It's basically when your milk really starts flowing properly or speeds up, usually in the first minute or so but can happen again later in the feed too. After a year I started only feeling it sporadically and from 18 months I started rarely feeling it at all, although LO still gets milk - I just don't feel the sudden rush. I miss it

Thank you! I kind of like the feeling of let down too and after hearing other women describe it as pain I thought I was a bit weird, lol.

Glad I'm not the only one x

 

[alicecooper]

It's like a tingling sort of pain for me. It's funny but... (sorry if TMI) a couple of days ago the kids were at school / nursery, and Nathas asleep, so DH and I crept upstairs to have some "us time" (if you know what I mean lol). So I was lying there in my birthday suit, and all of a sudden I heard Nathan start stirring in his sleep.
That did it. I felt my let down starting. I must have looked panicked because DH was like "what?! what's up?!"
And then my boobs started spraying milk all over the place haha.

Every time I feel it, a few seconds later I spray.

 

[lily28]

^ Same here, I will hear my son from the other room and I will spray lol.
It was never painful btw, but I can imagine women with more sensitive nipples can find it painful. I didn't even had cracked nipples when he started BF, they are tough.