Aubrey Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I read the link in another thread, but can one of you tell me more about this? What is the solution? Even w/ block feeding, wouldn't baby still be getting too much foremilk? Is there a way to test/change the ratio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmama Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I had this w/DD5, and a few days of block feeding DID help (though it HURT!). Massaging at the end of a feed to get the good stuff helped, too. Good luck. I had a great LC at my docs office to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer in MI Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Oh man. My youngest had this. Luckily, she was VERY laid back! But, given the fact that she didn't gain well in the first year, I did try VERY hard to correct it! I did a lot of hand pumping of the fore milk and then offered the hind milk. My doctor was wonderful and didn't care so much if her weight gain was slow. Luckily. She's now nearly 6 and weighs 26 pounds. Just know that for some, slow weight gain is totally normal!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I don't claim to understand the mechanism, but the block feeding really does work. I think that your body produces milk slowly enough that if you feed off only one side for....let's say 4 hours, the baby is more likely to empty the bre@st and get to the hindmilk. And it helped decrease my supply, I guess by going longer between feedings per side (less stimulation.). ie... When one side goes 4 hours being left alone, it starts to decrease the supply. So I pre-expressed. Not enough to work at increasing supply, but enough to get past the initial violent spray. When it was really bad, I nursed laying back, like someone else posted. And I block nursed. And I didn't pump. As much as I wanted to save up some abundance, it worked against me. Any pumping had me back overproducing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Block feeding works like turning on the hot water faucet. If you turn on your faucet, it takes a while to turn from cold to hot. If you wait several hours before turning it on again, it takes a while to go from cold to hot again. However, if you turn it on a few minutes later, it is hot much faster. With block feeding, if you keep using the same breast for several feedings in a row, the fattier hindmilk comes in faster, like the hot water. So the baby gets more hindmilk, which can help the baby grow and which has less lactose than the waterier foremilk. Too much lactose can overwhelm the baby's bowels and lead to gas, green foamy stools, and fussiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I block-fed (4 hours on each side) AND laid down to nurse. That solved all our issues within a week. I had to lie down/recline at every feed for about a month. The few times I was sitting up or standing, it showed in his diaper. After about a month, I was able to sit or stand to nurse and alternate sides without him suffering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterflymommy Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I've have oversupply twice over 7 children. I'm having it right now and had it some years ago. With really chronic oversupply I didn't find block feeding to help (or cabbage, of parsley etc.). One breast is even worse than the other, and even if I nurse half as much on that breast it still has twice as much milk. :glare: The most effective thing I've found for oversupply is to drastically reduce my own calorie intake. It's no fun, but if I keep it in the 1500 range the oversupply/ engorgement issues are manageable and baby seems happier. I have no clue why I would have oversupply with some babies and not others. They were all good nursers with big appetites. I am prone to mastitis so oversupply is a serious issue for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 How do you know if you have it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 (edited) How do you know if you have it? For me: 1. The extremely rapid let down was obvious. If baby pulled off I sprayed. 2. Baby was choking and gulping. 3. I never got empty. Both b••bs were just...abundant. Well after the normal initial engorgement, I was still engorged. It was visibly obvious that she wasn't near to emptying the bre@st at a feeding. So, when I started off doing so many minutes per side and then switching....she was never close to getting hindmilk. 4. Baby was very fussy and gassy and the diapers were mucousy and...wrong. It's been too long for me to remember what bm colors are fine, but my dd's were obviously wrong. And I do remember the mucous. 5. Her weight gain was awesome, from the beginning. She just wasn't happy. ETA: First dd didn't have this issue, so I wasn't expecting it. I was trying to figure out if it was a food allergy issue and just happened to find something on kellymom.com (is that site still around?) about over supply snd too-rapid letdown. It all clicked and I tried their suggestions and they worked. Edited November 30, 2011 by snickelfritz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imagine.more Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I had an oversupply with my second son who of course was colicky and it was a pain! Block feeding helped a lot, but unfortunately he had other underlying issues like a milk and soy intolerance so I had to cut all of that out. Then he was still aspirating due to reflux, so we thickened bottles of pumped milk and had him on 2 medications plus an apnea monitor, ugh! It was horrible. The pumping helped my supply calm down a lot though :) Nothing better than an inefficient pump to lower the amount of milk, lol! I got him back on the breast later and he was much better though he always seemed touchy about it and forced me to wean early when he went on a total strike at 10 months. I think he always associated breastfeeding with tummy pain. I've heard that reducing sugar intake but increasing real fats helps to balance it out though I read an opposing study that found mother's intake did not change her milk's fat content noticeably. Couldn't hurt to try though, or just reduce calories all around. Eliminating dairy and soy from your diet will do that automatically, I lost 5lbs in one week of doing that for my son. Nursing laying back also helped, side-lying nursing always ended with him choking badly, as did the traditional in the lap nursing. A boppy pillow that kept him higher helped if I sat cross legged to keep his head propped up just a bit, if that makes sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I had this with my first two. Normal supply with baby 3 and low supply with baby 4. I did block feeding with the first 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbecueMom Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 When I had this problem with DS3, there was a specific board on the LLL forum for oversupply and overactive letdown issues. I don't know if it's still there, you may have to register to see it. The advice from others who had BTDT helped a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 4. Baby was very fussy and gassy and the diapers were mucousy and...wrong. It's been too long for me to remember what bm colors are fine, but my dd's were obviously wrong. And I do remember the mucous. Do you know if their diapers are always off like this? I'm reading about block feeding on another site--I'd never heard of it--& that's what I've always done naturally. I can't believe I've never heard of this, but the descriptions perfectly fit *all* of my babies. :( Especially this one. The measurements listed are really helpful--when baby was in NICU, I pumped 6oz when he was 3 or 4 days old. Last week, I could get that much *after* a feeding. (Why? So much milk, I had to pump.) I always thought that, while annoying, that was a good thing. It's really not normal for a baby to get sprayed in the face if he pulls off? :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Do you know if their diapers are always off like this? I found this list that has the strange/mucous stools listed as a "may occur." It also says may see blood in the stools. I know I never saw that or I would have freaked. http://www.ivillage.com/oversupply-and-breastfed-baby/6-a-127428 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Well, if you are a leaker then an oversupply would be no problem!!! Sorry, haha!! I began emptying one breast totally after I had twins and my babies did slightly better. Your breasts adjust, but the baby gets more fatty milk that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I had massive oversupply with the first, I did block feedings and it helped. Mucus and blood in diapers for us was a intolerance issue and I would be leary to pin that onto just oversupply. Elimination diets can be hard though to navigate and they can be intolerant to odd things. I have figured out by number 3 that I have one breast that always has more and I usually nurse on that one- probably 75% of the time or so. The backup breast is handy for comfort nursing that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I had massive oversupply with the first, I did block feedings and it helped. Mucus and blood in diapers for us was a intolerance issue and I would be leary to pin that onto just oversupply. Elimination diets can be hard though to navigate and they can be intolerant to odd things. I have figured out by number 3 that I have one breast that always has more and I usually nurse on that one- probably 75% of the time or so. The backup breast is handy for comfort nursing that way. Yes, I tried the intolerance route first. For us, fixing the oversupply problem fixed the mucous. Pencil Pusher: Here is the kellymom site. This place was a lifesaver for me. http://kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I found this from a kellymom link. The stool problems from oversupply IS a sort of intolerance issue. But, this tells why the hindmilk/foremilk unbalance is a problem. This results in a disproportionate amount of foremilk – and since foremilk is high in lactose, he may become gassy and spit up as a result of too much lactose being emptied into his bowel. Because he doesn’t get enough of the fatty hind milk, his stomach empties quickly and he wants to eat again soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laundrycrisis Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 If you have too much foremilk, hand express to a letdown and let the first letdown (all foremilk) go into a towel. Then nurse the baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 It's better not to pump, because that exacerbates the problem. Hand expression and massaging at the end as baby is still attached works better to relieve the pressure. Massaging in a warm shower also helped me without increasing my supply. (That's the issue with pumping, it can INCREASE your supply). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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