Do I have oversupply?

[whozeyermamma]

So in the past week or so DS (8 wks) has had the following symptoms:

more fussy, gassy than normal
fewer poops and more obvious discomfort from needing to poop
greenish poops
mucas-y poops

he's always been a frequent feeder, sometimes every hour and he likes to suck on his hands and binky

I just saw those as possible indicators that I might have an oversupply of milk. BUT I don't have other things - he doesn't seem fussy at hte breast, he doesn't try to pull off or look uncomfortable while nursing (he falls sweetly asleep), I'm not engorged, I don't leak a lot and I dont' have multiple let downs.

What do you think?? If not that, what do you think it is? What should I do?

TIA!!!

[mrs.t]

Could be a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. I had that problem with DS because I was feeding from both breasts and he was getting too much foremilk...I only nurse from one side for two hours, if he wants to nurse more than once during a two hour block. For example, if I feed him from only the right breast at 9am and he wants to nurse again at 10am I would feed him from the right breast again. Then anytime after 11am I would use the left side. Does that make sense? There's more about it here:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fo...-hindmilk.html

And more about block nursing and oversupply:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

It could also be a dairy intolerance, but I would try the block nursing first, it helped my DS. I had a fast letdown and a little bit of an oversupply issue on one side.

[Megan73]

What's his weight gain like?
I'd hesitate to try block feeding without obvious signs of over supply and the supervision of an IBCLC. A wide range of poops are quite normal (kellymom.com is also a good resource on this) and six to eight weeks is the peak of newborn fussiness.

[ann_of_loxley]

but green poop? I think that is the number one sign of too much foremilk and not enough hind. Isn't it?

Who knows - maybe that is just normal for him! It would be odd of you to not have any of those symptoms if you did have oversupply I think.

[Parker'smommy]

I agree that it sounds more like a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. I would try blockfeeding like a previous poster suggested. It's an easy fix and not hard to do.

[Llyra]

How is the weight gain? I'd do things differently, depending on that. If it's great, and he's growing well, I'd maybe try block feeding. I would hesitate on that, though, if he's not gaining at a really good rate, on the chance that he might not be getting enough. Block feeding is a supply-reducing technique, and I think you should use it cautiously unless you're confident baby is gaining at a good rate. But if baby is gaining well, it can't hurt to try block feeding, and just keep an eye on his weight gain to make sure it doesn't slack off.

It's also possible he's picked up a little GI virus. Sometimes they are fighting it off, so you never see obvious stuff like vomiting-- just changes in stools, mucus in stool, green poo, fussiness, and gassy discomfort. So maybe give it a week or two, and see if it improves? If it's not better in like a week, then start looking into other things? That might be my approach.

Mucus in stool and green stool are also classic symptoms of allergy or food intolerance. So my next course of action, if it gets no better, might be to try eliminating dairy from your diet. My DS had a terrible dairy intolerance at that age-- it's the protein in cow's milk, casein, that bothers so many babies.