It gets better. I promise. I swear. It does.
I had an overactive letdown too. It literally chokes them with too much milk. They pop off to keep from drowning. I used to pump off enough to make it easier for my dd and then fed her what was left. Froze the extra for my evening off from boob duty.
I would say that by the times she was 3 months old I had it close to perfect. No more crazed leaking and difficulty getting all latched and happy. It got to be quite routine. She learned how to nurse in the sling and I was off. To the library, to the mall, down the road to the post office to mail something. Gone. Before I had it down I just went by car and had a Boppy pillow with me. Stopped to nurse in the car. I found out ALL the best places to nurse in because I was still not feeling all that discreet. I found Nordstrom's with their mom's lounge was very cool. I found that in the local park under a tree in the sunshine was nice. Nobody bugged me. I got better at nursing and bolder about where I would perform my task. I got so good I could nurse her in airplanes and airports, an elevator (in the sling), a museum, A wedding, the movies (only kid's films!) a four star trendy restaurant in NYC, you name it. I nursed there. I don't think most people knew exactly what I was doing. It looks like you are just cuddling them close unless someone is right there on top of you. Only one person ever gave me a hard time. Some old guy who caught hell from another mom who was with me for saying something about it being gross. That was kind of fun to watch him get ripped for being so mean to a mom and baby.
I hope you can stick with it and I hope some other mamas can offer you more useful advice then I did about the let-down and latch issues. You CAN do it. Like anything you do a lot of, it will get better.
Denny
I had an overactive letdown too. It literally chokes them with too much milk. They pop off to keep from drowning. I used to pump off enough to make it easier for my dd and then fed her what was left. Froze the extra for my evening off from boob duty.
I would say that by the times she was 3 months old I had it close to perfect. No more crazed leaking and difficulty getting all latched and happy. It got to be quite routine. She learned how to nurse in the sling and I was off. To the library, to the mall, down the road to the post office to mail something. Gone. Before I had it down I just went by car and had a Boppy pillow with me. Stopped to nurse in the car. I found out ALL the best places to nurse in because I was still not feeling all that discreet. I found Nordstrom's with their mom's lounge was very cool. I found that in the local park under a tree in the sunshine was nice. Nobody bugged me. I got better at nursing and bolder about where I would perform my task. I got so good I could nurse her in airplanes and airports, an elevator (in the sling), a museum, A wedding, the movies (only kid's films!) a four star trendy restaurant in NYC, you name it. I nursed there. I don't think most people knew exactly what I was doing. It looks like you are just cuddling them close unless someone is right there on top of you. Only one person ever gave me a hard time. Some old guy who caught hell from another mom who was with me for saying something about it being gross. That was kind of fun to watch him get ripped for being so mean to a mom and baby.
I hope you can stick with it and I hope some other mamas can offer you more useful advice then I did about the let-down and latch issues. You CAN do it. Like anything you do a lot of, it will get better.
Denny
Corrie
