Block Feeding Question

[feministmom]

My DD is 2 weeks old and has been showing signs that I may have an oversupply of milk.....very gassy, fussy in the evening, lots of watery poops, clicking her tongue while nursing, and having trouble keeping up with the flow.

I was already only nursing on one side per feeding, so I decided to block out even more time per breast.....last night I only nursed on the right side from about midnight....now it's 10:30 am and my left side is engorged (big surprise!). I think oversupply is definitely the issue because the last feeding (still on the right) DD had a little trouble keeping up....I thought for sure that breast would be empty by then, lol. DD seems a lot less fussy/gassy this morning, yay!!

So anyway, my question is: should I pump the left side a little before I nurse her? My worry is that if I offer the left breast at this point, she'll just fill up really fast on foremilk and we'll go through the whole fussy/gassy thing again.

Any advice?? TIA!!!

[ein328]

A few things I thought of:
- This much milk at 2 weeks is a little early to deem "oversupply." Although it seems like it, you body is still adjusting to breastfeeding, and figuring out exactly how much your baby needs.
- You will want to be careful of how much you pump. If you feel you are already producing too much, pumping will only cause your body to produce more (supply and demand at work!)

That being said....
You might try pump for only 5 minutes or so on the left side- just enough to get rid of the foremilk. As soon as the flow lets up a little, go ahead and nurse on that side. You also want to be careful about alternating sides to ensure baby doesn't develop a preference to one side over the other.

Also- are you a working mama? If you are planning on going back to work, now is not a bad time to start storing milk, considering how much you are producing. But again, be weary of how much you pump (I would feed first, then pump- or feed on one side while you pump on the other.)

[feministmom]

Thanks....I do need to store some milk for when I go back to work when DD is 3 months, but I am afraid to start hardcore pumping now cause I don't want the oversupply to get worse. I ended up just feeding her on the left cause I couldn't make a decision about the pumping before she wanted to nurse. She's been sleeping now for almost 2 hours, so she definitely seems more settled than she was last night.

Another question.....if block feeding seems to be working better for us, do I just keep doing it? Or do I eventually go back to using one breast every other feeding?

[ktmeyer]

Block feeding is great, but it sounds like you went over 10 hours on one side? That's too long...normally you start with 2 hours, then add time. 4 hour is about the maximum time most women need. Beyond that you are going to end up with mastitis on the other side, I would think. As for the watery poop, I thought that was normal for a breastfed baby? Now green poop, that says oversupply to me...just a thought.

[feministmom]

Yeah, 10 hours is a bit long!! It kinda happened that way because DD was so cranky that by the time we both got to sleep I was too tired to roll us over to the other side. But all day and tonight she has been soooooooo much calmer than last night that I think I did the right thing. I did feel engorged, but as soon as she nursed once on the opposite side, I was all good. 2 or 4 hours would not have been enough, since she was only nursing every 2-3 hours on one side only, meaning one breast was already going 4-6 hours in between feedings. I guess there is a continuum of watery-ness to BF baby poop....this was really, really watery.