Overactive let down/ fast milk flow

I’m not sure this would help you, but I had a visit from my midwife today and she said it sounded like I had a fast let down. I was saying how he’d initially feed and then come off, then not long after he seemed to have awful wind. She recommended to do the initial let down stage, which releases the watery sugary milk, then when you think that’s done, burp them. Then offer them the same boob again and carry on, this then offers them the fattier milk that they get at the end of a feed and it comes out slower. When they fall off, burp again and then offer the boob again until they’re pretty much milk drunk and super sleepy. I’ve been doing the first bit and then thinking he was done, but apparently the first bit of milk is more likely to cause gas. I did it with her whilst she was here, and whilst he ended up on and off the boob for about an hour, he’s been down for a nap for over 2 hours and counting with zero wind! I know every baby is different but might be worth a go xx

Latch wise, she said to make sure you’re not holding the back of their head, and to make sure you can’t see any nipple at all, she said to push more on his back and into my tummy when he looks like he’s coming off, rather than his head. Feel free to message xx

I have the exact same thing, but have been putting him on and then instantly taking him off to allow my let down to spray out and then put him back on so it’s a bit more manageable for him

I have the exact same issue and I had to Hakka. It did make me have a little bit more of a supply but not much more than already started so, the little oversupply outweighs my little one puking and getting trapped air.

@Amy Thank you so much. I think I need to reevaluate my latch because it’s not helping but I feel like he won’t latch fully because he knows the waterfall is coming! I’ll definitely try pulling him off and seeing if that helps xx

@Suzie I’ve stated to Hakka, it’s reassuring to hear it’s worked for you I’ll keep persevering!

@Rachel I’ll start trying to give this a go, thank you!

Try different positions for feeding if you haven't already. You mentioned trying to recline but is that still using the cradle hold or cross cradle hold, just leaning back more? My baby has really struggled with latching and I've found that the reclined position but with baby lying up my body (so his feet are facing down towards my feet) has really helped. You could also try side lying if you havent already.

@Leah this exact same thing happened to me. My baby was gaining weight like crazy but was always chocking and pulling out and then acting super hungry. I looked up signs of overfed babies and it described exactly what I was experiencing. I had a consultation with a lactation consultant and she confirmed that I was over feeding my baby with my strong let down. He would swallow so much air by trying to keep up with the flow as well. I’ve heard that you cannot overfed a breastfed baby but I felt like I was. I started offering only one boob and within a day a saw a huge difference in my baby and the amount of poopy diapers I had. It went from 10-12 poop diapers to 2-3. My baby was 5 weeks old. We started a plan to decrease my oversupply and I look for fullness cues to remove my baby from the breast. Now that I have controlled my oversupply I’m able to offer both breasts.

@Nayeli how long were your feeds and how often ? I am experiencing v similar and wondering if im overfeeding although hard to get my head around as feeds are only 5mins long on average

@El 15-20min on each side anywhere between 1.5hrs to 2.5. Now I do around 10min but don’t really look at the clock that often. If he shows signs of being full I take him out and he’s ok with it.

@Nayeli could you share the signs of being full please? I've never heard of this before

@Emma my pediatrician and lactation consultant told me about them. The biggest one is relaxed hands you will notice that when the feed start their fists are clenched as they start getting full they opening their hands. Another one is their body relaxes. If if you try to move their arm at the beginning of the feed it is stiff and when they are full of you lift their arm and let go of it and it just falls. They can also push away or let go of the breast. If you try to relatch they make pout.