Too much of a good thing: Oversupply & Breastfeeding

Posted on Feb 19 in breastfeeding, parentingby TalinaPrint

Adalyn spitting up often right after feedings, choking on milk when we’d first start nursing, gulping and losing suction during nursing and also drooling out milk while nursing. I’d have painful letdown when she was or wasn’t nursing, major engorgement and some serious leaking issues at all hours of the day.

When a mom has too much milk it is called oversupply. The kicker is that oversupply is often accompanied by a “milk imbalance”, which baby can have serious issues with.

If you have too much milk you typically aren’t fully draining the breast on a feed. It is essential to fully drain the breast since there are two consistencies of milk delivered by a breast in a feeding. The first portion of a feeding your baby gets what is called foremilk, typically a less fatty and thinner. Hindmilk is more fatty and thicker, it comes at the end of feeding before the breast is totally drained.

I knew about hindmilk/ foremilk but on lack of sleep and while trying to learn how to be a family of four I had a few weeks of idiocy. Adalyn has always been a nursing machine, since her first suckle minutes after birth. While she was adjusting to life outside the uterus in the first two weeks of her life she fussed and nursed for comfort. I was the idiot that kept switching back and fourth between breasts without thoughts of how long she was nursing and how often we were switching sides.

Once my supply increased and her fussing got worse it all just snowballed. She’d fuss more and we would nurse more without thought. I am talking like 5min per side with maybe 10-30 min between feeds if we were lucky and mu supply just kept increasing as did her fussing… and what do you know, her poop became more and more nonexistent.

What Adalyn and I we are going through is called oversupply and my hindmilk/ foremilk is not balanced. We were basically experiencing exactly what this author wrote about (if you are looking for more info on hindmilk/ foremilk & oversupply).

I am happy to say that after just a week of block feeding Adalyn’s poops are coming more often again and her fussiness is decreasing! Right now we are going 3-4 hours on a breast before switching sides, that triples-quadruples the amount of time Addie spends on a breast. The idea is that she gets more of the fatty hindmilk the longer we are on the same breast.

This week we have gone from a poop every 5-7 days to THREE poops in a week! I am elated.

I’ve seriously always hated the general blanket ailments like colic or food sensitivities being thrown around and I can’t tell you how many times I was told Addie would just need to outgrow this or that she’d adjust later. If you are a parent experiencing similar symptoms with your baby keep seeking answers and keep doing your research. Here are some articles to help those going through similar symptoms.

Sources & Other Reading:

• On newborn stool patterns & breastfeeding: http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvdec97jan98p123.html
• Bowel difficulties, breastfeeding and supply: http://www.llli.org/nb/nbjulaug02p129.html
• About babies, lactose allergy, foremilk: http://www.llli.org/faq/foremilk.html
• About oversupply & milk production strategies: http://www.llli.org/faq/oversupply.html
• One mom’s experiences with lip & tongue ties: http://itwentalittlesomethinglikethis.blogspot.com/2011/10/fit-to-be-tied.html