Oversupply in Breast Milk

You might want to consider donating to a NICU if you have that much, but also remember that the oversupply likely won't last so keep some frozen. If it's not just oversupply but overactive letdown (I had that) then talk to a lactation consultant about block feeding and/or a nipple shield til baby is old enough to manage.

Kelly mom is the best site with so much information on breastfeeding. You need to slow down the pumping and nurse on demand. Do you need to go back to work soon and thus the reason for pumping or are you doing it "because you're supposed to". There isn't a need to pump unless you need to go back to work soon. You need to block feed which means nurse on one side for a couple of feedings and only hand express enough from the other side to take the edge off. Do not pump! Breastfeeding is supply and demand. You are telling your body that it needs to make enough milk to feed an army right now. You need to slowly cut back and your supply will catch up. I included the link to the Kellymom page that deals with oversupply.

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/fast-letdown/

With all three of my babies, once my milk came in, I only nursed on one breast at each nursing. In fact, there were a few times I had to nurse on the same breast for multiple nursing. This way you can reduce supply to meet up with demand.

So please, stop pumping. If your boob starts getting a tight feeling, express a little milk into a sink by hand, but you need to slow down production. But you need to go to one boob for 1-3 nursings to slow things down, and then, within a week or two, things should even out. But do check out Kellys Mom.

You may want to try nursing your baby again. She's struggling because there is too much milk, but direct nursing will be the best way for your milk supply to regulate.

You body will produce as milk as you use or your baby eats. If you keep pumping you will just produce MORE. You will be uncomfortable for a few days but pump less and your body will produce less.
The baby is chocking because the milk is coming out too fast. Try adjusting the way you hold your baby it may help.
The hospital or ped's office should have a lactation counselor available for you. You could also contact the La Leche League, it is a group of breastfeeding moms who help and support each other. You might also find a group on meetup.com.

Great advice below. Do you have a lactation specialist you can contact?

I can't really add much other than when I produced too much milk or had very full breasts (say from overnight or if baby had slept through a feed) my babies would seem to choke on breastfeeding - just meant the milk came out too fast, or my breasts were ready to burst. I would pump or hand express quite a bit first and then the flow was much more manageable. Maybe try that? If you haven't already.

Good luck :)

I have this same problem too and did also with my first two kids. Try to remember it's a blessing of sorts. Supply does equal demand. However, when I have tried to cut back in the past I have gotten mastitis. So I have tried to nurse when the baby is awake and put off pumping until he's asleep. I have found that trying to not drink all the loquids I want really helps the most. I know that all the Drs and literature say to drink lots of water and I'm super thirsty all the time. But drinking less means less milk. I still make too much but freeze my extra milk and give it to my friend and relatives who can't make it themselves. Save some for yourself because one day your kid will be weaned and you can still give your baby breast milk you've saved in a bottle.

I had this issue. I resolved it over time by getting my baby back to the breast. I would use a hand pump just to get letdown - literally, about 5-6 squeezes of the pump (it was unbelievable, I would get 2-3 ounces in that initial 5 pumps, no wonder the baby was choking). After those initial 5 pumps, I would put the baby on to nurse. He could nurse comfortably, with no choking, if I put him on after the forceful initial letdown was done. Then, I would nurse only on 1 side per feeding. Put him on to nurse after the pump for a few minutes, stop to burp, then put him back on the same side until he's full. On the other side I would use the hand pump and pump just enough to be comfortable (maybe 10 squeezes on the hand pump). Next feeding, so the same on the other side.

If you do this, your supply will eventually get back in line. In the meantime, you can freeze all this extra milk in case you need it later.

The hand pump works better for this, because it's too easy to over-pump using an electric pump.

For more info, look at kellymom.com, and search forceful letdown and oversupply, which I think are your 2 combined issues.

You can work this out! Good luck!

You have received good nursing advice. My daughter would choke a bit when I nursed in the beginning as my let down was more than she could handle and my other breast would spray out all over without a diaper to catch it. It will take a few weeks to get the flow down and the baby use to nursing a breast. You can/could freeze the extra milk or possibly donate to a milk bank.

Lucky you for milk production. I, too, had enough to feed twins at a session.

Welcome to motherhood.

the other S.

I feel like the part about your baby choking and flailing when nursing is being ignored when you are being told to nurse. Your baby is now 2 months old and it sounds to me like he or she is used to a bottle. I would think that you've tried to nurse as the baby has gotten older but didn't find success.

Rather than give you advice to keep trying to nurse, I will tell you that you shouldn't feel pushed into nursing. You are pumping and that's far more what other women faced with your problem do. Most of them just end up giving formula and don't bother to pump.

If you want to lower your milk supply, try putting cabbage leaves in your nursing bra. There is a chemical that cabbage produces that helps you dry your milk supply up. When the cabbage leaves wilt up in your bra, you throw them away and put new leaves in. The nurses at the hospital gave me that advice and it worked - AND I didn't get mastitis.

Keep pumping, but use the cabbage leaves enough to be able to tell a difference. Try to draw out the pumping to every 3 hours. If you get engorged between sessions, put a hot washcloth on your breast to soften yourself up and pump just a little milk to give you relief, and then try to make it to the 3 hour mark. I would continue to pump until your breasts are empty at 3 hour intervals. It should get easier once you've been using the cabbage leaves.

sounds like your baby has got used to the bottle (which is fine) but if you want to nurse, i'd keep trying. breasts are generally SO obliging.
if you prefer to pump and use the bottle, just pump less. don't pump 'em dry. that just tells them it's all needed and they step up to the plate.
i really couldn't pump much with my second son, so did a hybrid where he got formula but i nursed him every evening. and after a week or so, my breasts were all relaxed and groovy during the day, and ready to stand and deliver at baby's feeding time.
go back to just pumping until you're comfortable but not empty.
khairete
S.