Hello,
I have a few questions about block feeding. I have major oversupply issues, and am really hoping to try and get it under control. I go through boxes of 60 Lansinoh overnight pads in about 3 days and end every breastfeeding session wet and cold and sticky (and poor Meredith is wet and sticky as well!) with soaked towels and/or burp cloths. I've been reading about overactive let down, but I'm not sure that is the problem so much as oversupply. I've tried pulling her off at the beginning or hand expressing a little before feeding her, but she still coughs and splutters and not always near the beginning. Even when she's been feeding for 10 or 15 minutes my milk will still be leaking everywhere when she pulls off. I noticed recently that her poops overnight have had green in them (though they're still mostly yellow).
I've decided to try block feeding, which I read about on a LLL oversupply faq someone posted in another thread here. I'm a little confused about how to go about it though. I was going to start in two hour blocks as one of the sites I read said to start short and work the way up. My question is, say from 8am to 10am I feed her on my left breast. So at 10 I should switch to the right breast. So if she falls asleep at 10am and only wakes once (or not at all) to feed in that time, then is awake again at noon, should I switch back to the left breast at noon or keep her on the right for a couple of hours? I hope what I'm asking is making sense. Her pattern during the day seems to be awake for a couple of hours, feeding quite frequently in that time, then to sleep for 2-3 hours, so certain blocks she will be sleeping through. Should I start with the blocks longer? Next Wednesday I have a midwife appointment and my doula (who is also a lactation consultant) works in the same office, so I'm going to talk to her about it, but I'd really like to try something before then as she's getting pretty frustrated which is really hard for me.
I've tried another suggestion from the LLL faq, which was to feed with her almost on top of me. I've been getting her to latch on then sitting way back in my Lazy Boy with her on top, and in the few feeds I have done with her like that it really seems to have helped the coughing/spluttering and spitting up that has been almost constant up until now. I think she has gotten a bit lazy though, for a while she was sometimes just holding the nipple in her mouth without latching on and swallowing as the milk came, so when I feed from one breast for a block of time near the end when the milk is coming much slower she often cries and doesn't seem to latch on properly. I've just been doing my best to calm her down and then get her to latch again, and usually she will eventually latch on.
ETA: I just want to add that I really do enjoy breastfeeding despite all this. It is a bit frustrating but watching her face and hearing her satisfied sighs when she's done really makes it worth it to me.
I have a few questions about block feeding. I have major oversupply issues, and am really hoping to try and get it under control. I go through boxes of 60 Lansinoh overnight pads in about 3 days and end every breastfeeding session wet and cold and sticky (and poor Meredith is wet and sticky as well!) with soaked towels and/or burp cloths. I've been reading about overactive let down, but I'm not sure that is the problem so much as oversupply. I've tried pulling her off at the beginning or hand expressing a little before feeding her, but she still coughs and splutters and not always near the beginning. Even when she's been feeding for 10 or 15 minutes my milk will still be leaking everywhere when she pulls off. I noticed recently that her poops overnight have had green in them (though they're still mostly yellow).
I've decided to try block feeding, which I read about on a LLL oversupply faq someone posted in another thread here. I'm a little confused about how to go about it though. I was going to start in two hour blocks as one of the sites I read said to start short and work the way up. My question is, say from 8am to 10am I feed her on my left breast. So at 10 I should switch to the right breast. So if she falls asleep at 10am and only wakes once (or not at all) to feed in that time, then is awake again at noon, should I switch back to the left breast at noon or keep her on the right for a couple of hours? I hope what I'm asking is making sense. Her pattern during the day seems to be awake for a couple of hours, feeding quite frequently in that time, then to sleep for 2-3 hours, so certain blocks she will be sleeping through. Should I start with the blocks longer? Next Wednesday I have a midwife appointment and my doula (who is also a lactation consultant) works in the same office, so I'm going to talk to her about it, but I'd really like to try something before then as she's getting pretty frustrated which is really hard for me.
I've tried another suggestion from the LLL faq, which was to feed with her almost on top of me. I've been getting her to latch on then sitting way back in my Lazy Boy with her on top, and in the few feeds I have done with her like that it really seems to have helped the coughing/spluttering and spitting up that has been almost constant up until now. I think she has gotten a bit lazy though, for a while she was sometimes just holding the nipple in her mouth without latching on and swallowing as the milk came, so when I feed from one breast for a block of time near the end when the milk is coming much slower she often cries and doesn't seem to latch on properly. I've just been doing my best to calm her down and then get her to latch again, and usually she will eventually latch on.
ETA: I just want to add that I really do enjoy breastfeeding despite all this. It is a bit frustrating but watching her face and hearing her satisfied sighs when she's done really makes it worth it to me.
) When you are block feeding you use the lighter one until you are ready to change over.
