Nursing with an Aggresive Letdown

“Nursing in an upright position was one of several tips that worked for us” 

Breastfeeding Littlest has been a new frontier for me. This is my third baby, and the only one that I’ve had an over-supply of milk with. This has given me peace of mind that I didn’t have with the other two, as Big and Little both had me taking medication to increase milk production. But it comes with its own set of quirks and struggles.

Having an over-supply can lead to discomfort, leaking, plugged ducts, mastitis and, for me, an aggressive letdown reflex that darn near drowns your poor suckling infant.

My milk came in at only 4 to 6 hours after birth this time around. So Littlest had to learn to chug milk much sooner than his brothers. We found many positions didn’t work, and were dealing with latch issues that might have been happening because of my abundance of milk. He was pinching and not taking a deep latch, probably in an effort to minimize flow.

For us, the football hold worked wonders during the first few weeks of nursing. Once he had better neck control, around 8 or 9 weeks, we found that an upright nursing position really helped him handle the gushing letdown.

Additional Tips

• Laying back while nursing can also be helpful because you milk fights gravitity.
• If your breasts are very full, Express a little bit of milk before nursing to make it easier for baby to latch. Your nipple gets flat and hard when full.
• Supply and Demand is real. Limit unnecessary pumping as this will increase your supply even further. If you pump to bottle feed your baby, that’s fine, but pumping just to store it can increase supply causing more agressive letdowns.

Leaking

Leaking a lot? Look into PUL-backed nursing pads. These are waterproof like cloth diapers and prevent leaks on one side while you letdown nursing on the other. The image below contains an affiliate link to buy these awesome nursing pads at Lagoon Baby.