Too much milk?

[Rogelito's Mommy]

My baby is now nearly 3 months old and so far breast feeding has been a wonderful experience for us except that I still become painfully engorged on a daily basis (usually in the mornings because he nurses less often at night), and a lot of times when he nurses he comes off the boob gagging and my milk is literally shooting accross the room. I still frequently milk through breast pads, bras and shirts after just a couple of hours of not nursing. Has anyone else had this issue? Everything I read seems to be about how to increase your milk supply, but what do you do when there is too much? Or is this totally normal and I just have unrealistic expectations?

[alegna]

Are you pumping? Pumping can increase supply. Have you tried block feeding to reduce your supply?

good luck!

-Angela

[veganone]

I would look into block feeding; Kellymom has some good advice on oversupply and overactive letdown. It sounds like you have both.

[Rogelito's Mommy]

I have never pumped, my doula let me know that that was a bad idea since I already was over producing.

What is block feeding?

[veganone]

Block feeding is only feeding on one side for a specific amount of time. Most often people do 4 hours on one side and then the next 4 hours on the other. It's pretty successful at reducing supply. Some mommas have to bump up to longer stretches, but start with 4 hours. I realize that there will be some engorgement probably at first, but that should get better as your body adjusts.

There are herbs that reduce supply, but those are scary since you can swing too far the other direction...

[Rogelito's Mommy]

Thanks!
I will definately give the block feeding a try.

[MaryJaneLouise]

Here's a good article with hints on oversupply:

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

Good luck.