HELP: Milk overproduction

[lanaross]

Hi ladies,
My son was born a week ago and stayed in NICU for six days. I breastfed him and pumped leftovers after. Now that he's home with us, my breasts are completely swollen and keep making much more than he needs (I pumped about 6 oz at night feeding from both breasts without breastfeeding and about 3-4 oz after feeding during a day). So all in all I easily pump about 6 oz. Thing is I just want to breastfed but he is eating much less than I am producing.

How do I stop overproduction and make my breasts less painful. If I pump to take the edge off (1-2 oz), wouldn't I still overproduce? Are there any tricks? Dying here: woke up 3 times to pump that is aside from the other three times that he ate...

 

[Mum2BKW]

I feel your pain, this happened to me

You need to express until your boobs are no longer engorged, this is important as you don't want to get Mastitis. Just take enough off, not too much. In a few days they will start producing less, it won't last forever. Taking a few oz off won't affect your supply too much, it might take slightly longer for them to reduce down to meet your babies needs but you can't leave them as they are. Mine were much improved in about 2 days.

One other tip - my boobs were so round and rock hard that poor Scarlett couldn't latch on - it was like trying to suck a wall! My nipple was solid! If you have this problem, put your fingers in your areola (around your nipple) and push firmly inwards, into your boob. Hold each push for 20 seconds or so and move around your nipple. This will push the inflamed tissue back in and make your nipple soft again so baby should be able to latch.

Good luck and don't worry, it will get better soon x

 

[lanaross]

yes! I have the same, bubs is getting so frustrated and he's so tiny so it's an effort as is. I pumped already, couldn't handle it Thanks!! Hopefully my supply will regulate sooner than later.

 

[bekah1757]

Not to scare you but my supply is still just now leveling out at 6 months. And the only reason it is now is because i put the pump away for good. If you cant do that just take the tiniest amount out to make it comfortable like maybe an ounce. Even better would be to just hand express than pump. I remember i used to be able to pump 5oz in literally about 2 minutes with a manual pump. It was crazy but really screwed my supply up by doing that. You could also look into pumping and donating the extra milk! I did that until about a month ago. Good luck i know everyone says they would much rather the problem of overproduction than not enough milk, which is true, but it is extremely painful! I would get so engorged it made me feel nauseous and sick and I have had mastitis 4x. So its definitely no fun to make so much milk! I hope it gets better for you!

 

[lanaross]

Not to scare you but my supply is still just now leveling out at 6 months. And the only reason it is now is because i put the pump away for good. If you cant do that just take the tiniest amount out to make it comfortable like maybe an ounce. Even better would be to just hand express than pump. I remember i used to be able to pump 5oz in literally about 2 minutes with a manual pump. It was crazy but really screwed my supply up by doing that. You could also look into pumping and donating the extra milk! I did that until about a month ago. Good luck i know everyone says they would much rather the problem of overproduction than not enough milk, which is true, but it is extremely painful! I would get so engorged it made me feel nauseous and sick and I have had mastitis 4x. So its definitely no fun to make so much milk! I hope it gets better for you!

Yes same here, it literally takes minutes to pump out 6 but he's barely taking 2. I can of course store it and freeze it for when needed which I am doing but feeding and pumping is just crazy.. ugh.
I can't stand the pain to be honest, I tried hand expressing but it doesn't ease up. I am literally covered in milk head to toe and soaking pads within an hour. When do they start eating 6 oz? around 4-5 months right? I can't remember anymore.

Thanks xx