[lorelei]

I have way too much milk, and it lets down hard and fast and I need a solution. I feel bad wasting it, but other than trying to spend like 20 minutes hand-expressing before I actually nurse dd, what can I do? I'm sure things will even out in another month or so, dd will be 1 month on the 22nd. It's frustrating in the meantime to wake up in the middle of the night soaking wet and stinking like dairy. Also, I leak if I even think about her, she doesn't even have to be in my sight!! lol

I'm a sahm so I don't want to invest hundreds on a breast pump, this is likely our last dc, as we had 2 before this one came.

Any suggestions?
TIA!

 

[huskermommy]

Yeah, I normally deal w/oversupply. What about letting the other breast hang out and leak onto a prefold or burb rag while you nurse on the other? That seems to help me. As far as nighttime... I have no solution there... Lots and lots of breast pads!

 

[alegna]

Block feeding usually settles things down for me within a week or so.

-Angela

 

[liz-hippymom]

block feeding:
"The suggestion would be to the mother to use one breast per session, and to keep baby to one side for a "block" of time. In mild cases of oversupply, that may be a 2 hr block, in more severe cases, it may be 3 hr block, or in cases where mom has a monster supply, and has gotten no results from the shorter blocks of time, then a longer block of time may be recommended.

An example of a 2 hr block pattern would be as follows: Mom starts out nursing at 8 am on the right breast. If baby indicates desire to nurse again at 8:45, then mom would nurse again from right side. If baby wants to nurse again at 9:30, she'd offer right side once more. At 10 AM she'd offer left side, and no matter how many times baby indicates need to nurse, she'd keep to left side until 12, then switch back to right side again. "
from mother-2mother.com

 

[Deir]

I did 6 hr block feeding.

 

[leafwood]

Is there a LLL group or another BF group around? I have a big oversupply and wound up donating to two moms that really needed the milk. While I had a hospital grade pump to begin with, there are many moms who may have one you could borrow, especially in exchange for some milk if you would be interested.

FWIW, I pump every morning (6-7oz) just to take the edge off for ds who is now 7m.

 

[*MamaJen*]

I feel you on the oversupply. Block feeding really helped us with that.
But having a freezer full of all that extra milk could be really nice .... could you maybe buy a cheap manual pump for like $20? Honestly, I find that the manuals work better than the cheap electrics sometimes.

 

[SleepyMamaBear]

the medela harmony is a great manual pump. and if you dont want to store your milk for later you could donate it

but block feeding should help too.

 

[mommyfied]

I did block feeding too... 4-6 hours before switching breasts.

Other tips...

* side lying nursing - Put burp cloth underneath for the overflow. It also takes pressure off the breast so the squirting isn't so bad at letdown and baby can let milk drain out the side of the mouth.

* nurse in a reclined position with baby on top - This wasn't as comfortable for me, but it takes the pressure off.

* We coslept... I had a mattress pad underneath and had burp cloths underneath me for the first 4 months. I finally stopped leaking at that point.

I never expressed milk or pumped because it was too much of a hassle. I don't see how it would have helped though... I just kept making more and more milk. DD was a chunk!!!

 

[alfabetsoup]

Block feeding really helps me. Also in the early days I used a manual pump while DD2 was feeding to relieve engorgement--my mom helped with that, maybe your DH could pump while you feed on the other side? I froze some of the pumped milk but mostly just gave it to DD1

 

[cdahlgrd]

I block fed my kids too. I had a washclothe handy and would latch babe for a minute, then ulatch and let the first letdown gush, then continue nursing.

I layered several towels under my chest at night, so i could just pull off the wet ones as needed. (and used a waterproof changing pad under the sheet).

I also wore a bra for the first few weeks, to hole pads in place and provide a little pressure to reduce the flow.

it gets better!! i think around 5, 9, and 12 months I had big changes in my production. It was quicker to resolve the second time, and I hope even quicker this next time.

 

[milkybean]

I remember block feeding too, but instead of wasting the milk from the other side, I put a bottle there and caught it.

Then again, my son never protested about the heaps of milk on him. So I never thought I had too much milk; I had an enthusiastic nurser, and my breasts worked to match him.

 

[Tor_55]

I just use to pump mine out, I received a pump as a shower gift so lucky I didn't have to buy one, you can get cheap hang held one though. I know the pumping made me produce more milk but it felt good to not be so full!

The extra milk in the freezer came in very handy!

 

[annekevdbroek]

Block feeding helped me too. I also pumped a couple times per day and donated the milk to a milk bank. With oversupply you may do just fine with a "rinky dink" inexpensive pump rather than one that costs several hundred dollars. (I had a rinky dink and eventually burned out the motor and got a cadillac, but both pumps worked for me.)

I also noticed improvement in production at 4 or 5 months and then dramatically around 9 months. I think around 10 or 11 months I was able to stop block feeding.

 

[amandajean191]

Do you have a local hospital or drugstore that rents hospital grade pumps? I've known moms who only rented them for a couple of months until their supply evened out and then they didn't have to put a large investment into it.
I do think think that pumping...although alleviating pressure...is still telling your body to produce to meet the demand.
I remember block feeding and going through tons of nursing pads. I hope you get some relief soon..

 

[kalamos23]

I've got a 6 week old and have been block feeding since the beginning - we are at about 3-5 hours a breast right now. I ended up pumping for a while, til I had a great freezer stash and realized that if I kept pumping, the oversupply wouldn't resolve for a long time. After spreading the love throughout just about every company that makes breast pads (I went through 100 pads in a little over a week - and I was soaking them through!), I decided the stash wasn't worth the amount of pads I was going through.

I just lay a towel on DD's chest and let'er rip - errr, spray. Also, I keep a stash of cloth diapers (the good ones) by the bed for in the middle of the night - they are awesome for laying over wet spots in the bed from the diaper leaking, or from the boobs leaking, etc. Best investment ever, though I thought I'd actually be using them on DD's butt and not our bed!

 

[Rogelito's Mommy]

Block feeding really helped me. Ds is 8 months old and I still go back to it every once in a while when my supply starts to get out of hand.

I remember being told not to pump because it would increase supply even more. I know how frustrating it is to hand express in the middle of the night though. All I can say is ds did get better at latching onto the rock hard breasts and dealing with a forcefull letdown as he got older.

Good luck!