Expert: ruth kraft - 12/22/2011

Question
Hi, I have what I read is called hyperlactation. I produce a lot of milk, which drips through my clothes if I do not wear pads. Also my breast can get full and engorged in short time. I have done the "offer one breast until finished and then offer the other one" to reduce the milk supply. This has helped, but my let-down has increased, now it is spraying not one but five sprays and even when the breast is half empty. My baby most of the time chokes during feeding but prefers the breast to the bottle. He will not the bottle even with breast milk freshly pumped. So he gets back to the boob all the time. But for a few days now, at bedtime he becomes very fussy and latches on but withdraws crying every time, then he cries if he comes close to the breast or during at least one hour until he falls asleep. I know he is hungry but he will not take the formula nor the breast at that point. When he wakes up again, he takes the breast without problem. No fussiness. At night he never has problems eating, even when the breast is full and I take out a little to reduce the let-down, which clearly does not work anymore. But he eats anyway without crying. I should also say that at bedtime, he has had bad experiences during feeding time: he was scared twice and choked many times, spray all over his face. Is it possible that he is traumatized? What can I do to reduce the let down?

Answer
you dont say how old your baby is, but I am going to assume he is less than 6 weeks old as this is most common within the first 6 weeks. He is still working on telling your body how fast and how much milk he wants to flow how and when. So typically by 8 weeks this will get a LOT better. it takes some patience on both of your part. It sounds like he isnt traumatized as much as we would think as he nurses quite well the rest of the time. My guess is, that he is actually a bit on the over tired side and is frustrated at not wanting to work so hard to nurse at the end of the day. As the rest of the day he seems fine. Most of the time they settle in themselves and your breasts learn how he wants the milk to flow. In the meantime, hand expressing that first let down can be helpful, but not too much or the issue will get worse. If it still persists after 8 weeks or so you can use cabbage leaves on your breasts and it can help reduce your supply some but be careful as you dont want to do it too often to reduce it and not have enough milk.

Good luck!