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What to Do With Excessive Breast Milk?
Breast milk is fantastic, so having a lot of it is good, right? Well, not always… Some babies have problems with the rapid flow that often accompanies an excessive milk supply. And mothers with an excess supply are often very uncomfortable, with frequent or constant milk loss, plus the risk of recurring mastitis is higher.
Is my Milk Production Excessive Breast Milk?
Some symptoms of oversupply (described below) may have other causes. It is not a good idea to reduce your milk supply until you are sure the main problem is an excessive supply. Otherwise, you could have an insufficient milk supply for your baby, especially in that critical first month when trying to establish your collection.
Is Oversupply a Problem for My Baby or Me?
If you’re unsure if you have an excess supply of breast milk, but you and your baby are fine, you don’t need to do anything. In most cases, the situation stabilizes after the first few months. And as your baby gets older, she’ll use to a fast flow, and she might even like it!
Leakage doesn’t always mean too much Breast Milk
In these first few weeks, your breasts study how much breast milk your baby needs and how much to make each hour. During the first four to six weeks afterwards the birth of your baby, your levels of prolactin, the hormone responsible for milk production, will increase each time milk comes out of your breasts. As a result, it is common and normal for excessive leakage to occur and for the breasts to fill rapidly or even to squirt during milk ejection.
Signs of an Excessive Supply of Breast Milk in your Baby
Excessive milk supply appears to associate with rapid flow, especially during the first milk ejection. Your baby may respond by coughing and choking at the start of a feed, clutching or biting, or loosely holding your breast in his mouth. He may pull away from the breast if the fast flow surprises him and start to cry when he sees that his feeding has inter.
Block Feeding
From this moment, we will begin block breastfeeding: What is block breastfeeding? In breastfeeding with one breast or another in hourly blocks. That is, during a specific time (block). If only one of the two breasts offered to the baby as often as necessary). Once that time block pass, the other would provide if the baby demands.
We will start with blocks of 2-3 hours. If during this process. If the breast that we did not offer during the block we notice is whole or bothersome, we can express some milk manually. It’s just enough to relieve. So, giving an example: from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. The baby will take only the right breast, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. the left, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. the right, and so on…
How does Excess Breast Milk Affect the Mother, and What to do?
As we anticipated, some breastfeeding problems can generate when the breasts produce a lot of milk. Examples breast engorgement, block milk ducts, mastitis, milk leaks, sore nipples at the start of feeding, and excessive weight loss in the mother. Also, having your breasts too full can cause back pain, discomfort, and difficulty resting.
How does Excessive Breast Milk Affect the Baby?
The first milk that comes out of your breast has low-fat content. That is, it is a little more “watery” than the one that will come later. As the intake progresses, its fat content increases and even becomes creamier. This is what helps to satisfy the baby’s appetite.
But when there is too much breast milk, the baby can fill up on that initial watery milk and leave the breast before getting the fatty milk. This way, he will feel hungry sooner than expected and seek to nurse frequently. Or, what is worse, she will not gain the desired weight.
How is Breast Milk Production Regulated?
Before talking about the hyperproduction of breast milk, we will review the mechanisms regulating its production. Two hormones are fundamentally involved in the production of breast milk: prolactin and the factor that inhibits lactation, known as FIL.
When the baby sucks, the production of prolactin is stimulated and secreted by the pituitary gland (an area of the brain). Therefore, the greater the baby’s suction, the greater the production of breast milk,
4 Tips for Women with Excess Milk Production While Breastfeeding
And it is that it is not only annoying for the mother, who has that permanent sensation of full breasts, with constant dripping, and that many times they even stain her clothes, it can also be unpleasant for the baby because, with so much milk production, he chokes quickly without knowing how to regulate its output. This situation can cause crying in the baby due to the anger of not being able to feed correctly, even being able to reject the breast for this reason.
1. Extract Milk before Feeding your Baby to the Breast
Of course, you should express a small amount because if you extract too much and leave the breast empty, you will stimulate milk production, and you would not be solving the situation but, on the contrary, aggravating it; By expressing just a little milk, the baby will latch on without difficulty, because the flow will decrease considerably.
2. Change the Position of Breast Feeding
Ideally, you will breastfeed your baby lying down or lying down, in the position of a horse, in which the baby sits in front of your chest; or lying with your back to and the baby on your chest. These positions will favour you the most since the flow will be less.
3. Try to give long feeds from the same breast
If the baby comes off the breast and asks again after 20 minutes or an hour, offer him the same. In this way, the other breast will be filled with a substance called Inhibiting Factor of lactation (FIL), which sends a signal to the brain that you do not produce more milk because that breast is not emptying. But you must be careful because it could have the opposite effect and stop making or have problems with mastitis and breast engorgement.
4. Use Nursing Protectors
So that they absorb the milk, do not stain your shirt if you are in a public place, and do not feel the typical discomfort of excessive milk production.
And finally, don’t despair. This is only temporary, and once breastfeeding is established, your breasts will know how to regulate the amount of milk necessary for your baby.
Oversupply Symptoms You May Experience
Moms with too much breast milk often experience uncomfortable feelings of engorgement and tension and constantly feel full. 3 As we have seen. The loss of breast milk is standard in the first six weeks and is not usually a sign of excess supply. And also, If you continue to get soaked every time you nurse your baby after this period, it may be a problem.
Because a baby can’t always drain an entire breast. It’s common to experience blocked ducts or repeated episodes of mastitis due to oversupply. However, these problems can also have other causes.
How to Decrease Milk Supply?
If you’ve established that you have too abundant breast milk and it’s problematic. There are some simple measures that can help. For some moms, these are enough:
Try relaxed breastfeeding: Feeding in a reclined or lying position can be helpful because. It gives your baby more control. He can set the pace and raise his head to take a break if her flow is too fast for him. Remember to put a towel under you to catch any excess milk!
Relieve the pressure: If your breasts are uncomfortable, you can hand express or express some milk to relieve them. But try to tell as little as possible. Every time you pump, you send your breasts a message to make more. So while removal may provide temporary relief, it could make the problem worse in the long run.
Try nursing pads: If you are leaking milk, place disposable nursing pads or milk collection. A bag inside your bra may help keep you dry. If your loss is only mild to moderate or you have leaky breasts during pregnancy. The ultra-thin disposable nursing pads will discreetly help you feel secure.
Avoid lactation teas and supplements: If you have been drinking breast milk teas, eating lactation biscuits, or taking herbal supplements. In to stimulate breast milk production in the early days, be sure to stop; now, these could be part of the problem.
Conclusion
Although it is common for women to worry about the amount of milk we produce. If thinking that it is never enough. In there are times during lactation when we could be paying more. To the point that this overproduction of milk becomes a problem. When several physical and postural measures. I have already been taken (express milk manually before feeding, breastfeed the baby lying on his back…). There are other options that we can carry out to try to regulate excess milk production.
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