Oversupply?

[whigfield]

I'm not sure but I THINK I have an oversupply of milk at the moment and my poor little guy is really struggling to keep up. My let down feels quite forceful and I tend to soak through breastpads like crazy. My little guy was born 6lb 5oz, dropped to 6lbs on day 3 and back up to 6lb 3oz on day 5, and on day 9 he jumped to 6lb 7oz - the midwives are pretty impressed and have told me that's not 'usual' for a breastfed baby but that to continue breastfeeding.

Little guy usually has around 14 poops a day, mostly runny/soft ones that are usually yellow and his poor bum is so sore as it never gets a chance to heal before he's pooping again. We're trying to let it 'air' by putting him butt-naked on a towel every so often to give him a rest from the nappy.

I'm trying to feed laying down or against gravity, feeding only one boob at a time (he won't take a second, I think he literally gets so full that he can't take any more ), expressing a bit first so I get the worst of the flow out of the way... But he still chokes and coughs and splutters up the milk each time and I'm constantly having to take him off and wind him. He makes a lot of groaning noises and "ehhh" sounds for a little while after a feed and I can tell he's uncomfortable.

Is there anything else I can do for him? I feel so guilty each time I put him on the breast!

 

[pinkpassion]

I had the same issue.. it took a while for my body to even out to match her... Poor thing would choke everytime she got on to eat! My DD was born at 6.13, when we left the hospital 2 days later was 6.7, two days later was 6.9 and 7 days later was 7.10, so same thing, she increased very quickly, over a lb in two weeks.. I think you're doing everything you can do, instead of laying down feeding, I fed in the "layed back position " where I leaned back a little and layed her on my chest (almost sitting up on my lap facing me) and she ate like that the first 10-12 weeks of her life, she's just now been eating laying down or on her side. GL hun!!!

 

[melfy77]

totally normal give yourself a few days or a week and your body will adjust to your baby's needs.

 

[noon_child]

He's very small and taking only one side is very normal at that age. If it continues to cause issues after a few more weeks or so you could try block feeding for a few feeds (offer the same side as previous feed rather than the "full" side) however as this will signal your breasts to make less (a hormone in the milk feeds back to the milk producing bits of the breast to tell them the milk isn't being drunk yet and to slow production!) you may regret it when you come to growth spurt time, as you'll have to tell your breast to make more again. As it s early days and he isn't screaming in pain I'd just keep doing what you are doing.