I breastfeed directly with baby right now. Watched this video for tips for slow/reluctant let down. Recently had some visitors that stressed me more than expected & was having the hardest time getting milk out of breast & feeding baby. I was sore, he was hungry. Had to make my favorite snacks & skin to skin & really focus on baby & try to keep mind off of visitors. Just wasn't expecting to have such a hard time letting down while the milk & baby were there. Anxious about upcoming holidays around even more stressful family members.
This is my first baby. 9weeks old. Had an issue first 3 weeks with tongue tie & didn't start having pain-free latches until about 5wks. Was triple feeding & have been able to increase supply & decrease supplementing, now we only do 1 formula bottle & extra pumping in the evening when supply lower. Haven't thought about making any letdown associations - I'll have to think of something to pair with letdowns. So far it's just been baby - his mouth & saliva more effective than any pump.
I’m so sorry but I’m also so proud of you for identifying what steps that you needed to take to get relaxed. That you for sharing this! I hope that the holidays are less stressful. I should do a video focusing just on the effects of stress on mom and breastfeeding. Applying heat for a few minutes before nursing or pumping can be very helpful is speeding up a letdown. Did you try to use heat? How old is baby?
@@oldmckayla10 We all have a lower supply in the afternoon and evening then we did in the morning, but the milk is slightly higher in fat. In the evening, babies will cluster feed. They want to feed sometimes nonstop. During this time babies are usually uncomfortable because of growing pains teething or they’re overly tired. There’s not a lot we can do besides let them nurse more often. This time of day causes many moms to give formula, because it looks like your supply is too low. I’m not at all against formula and that’s totally OK if it makes you more comfortable. To increase your milk more during this time, you can do a feeding like this: Latch baby on both breasts, then give half of the amount of formula that you usually give at this time. Then latch baby on both breasts again. Then offer the other half of that formula. After a few days baby will start to not want that second half of the formula. Formula digest so slowly and stays in baby’s tummy longer. So it does make baby not want to nurse as often. This is totally OK. It’s just important to understand why the formula seems to sustain baby for longer. You’re doing a great job mommy! ❤️
@@marycahillclc Thank you for your supportive messages! Affects of stress/anxiety on breastfeeding would be a great video idea! I feel like getting mental health support during postpartum also helped breastfeeding journey. I'll have to try applying heat as we get into cooler months - it's been so hot & humid in SC this summer, I'm more concerned with drying off sweat before feeding baby. Your video on weaning off of formula, following that great tip to alternate breastfeeding & work on lessening amount of formula, & promoting letting baby on breast as long as he's latched - really helped when triple feeding was so stressful & the LC I was seeing wanted to rush to unlatch & supplement as soon as he slowed down. When it was too stressful to pump when solo taking care of baby during the day, was able to use your method until we could cut out the morning & overnight & then midday/afternoon bottles. If progress continues, think we'll be done needing formula by mid-October. Working on getting that evening 4oz bottle down to 2-3oz this week. I may still want to find a balance of 1-2 pump sessions so my husband can offer a bottle in the evening when he wants to cluster feed & I need to work on dinner/chores. And have small freezer stash when I'm away from baby for more than a couple hours, or if supply affected when my period comes back. Thank you for your tips & support, your videos have really helped me work towards my breastfeeding goals.
My baby was born premature so my milk had not come in enough for her at the hospital so they had her on formula. We have continued to bottle and breast feed her but the breastfeeding can be really inconsistent. I’ll get her to latch and she can suckle for 5-10min and fall asleep for a little bit then want to feed and we can go for another 5-10min but then she gets very fussy. I’ll try to get her to latch and she either cry’s and pulls away or try’s to suck a moment then pulls back. I’ll message my breast for a minute and I’ll let down milk, so there is still some there. I’m not sure if my let down slows or what the issue is. It also happens when I hand express my milk lets down in strong bursts, kind of like a water pistol. I’m not sure what the issue is, I really want to move my baby to full time breastfeeding but this has been the main issue.
@@CrazyCatMom1331 How old is baby now? When you express milk, how much do you get? How many mls/ounces are you expressing every 24 hours? How many times a day does baby latch?
I have a 5 month old and a jet spraying letdown that waterboards my baby. My letdown is random and sporadic during the day. I don't struggle with it at all at night. I experienced a painful let down for about the first 3 months then it gets better. I have nursed 5 babies. Due to oversupply and mastitis with previous babies I opted to do formula and breastfeeding with my fifth baby it's working well for me lower demand means lower Supply.
Yes, Forceful Letdown/Oversupply is definitely like Waterboarding lol The condition will always be there with every baby you nurse. I have a 3 part video series on FL/OS if you’d like to check that out. That makes total sense that it’s not a big problem at night because we all have less volume in milk in the evening. And you’re so right about formula use cutting down your supply so that it’s manageable. You can keep doing that or work on “Block Feeding”. Have you tried block feeding before? If your FL/OS isn’t under control, it greatly increases your chances of a clogged duct and that leads to mastitis. Taking Sunflower Lecithin on a regular basis helps you to not get a clog as often and it can be increased if you do get a clog. Just be sure it’s Sunflower Lecithin and not Soy Lecithin ❤️
@@sillysillychicken14 here’s the link for those. The first one just helps you decide if you have it. I think that it would be helpful to know the signs because they may surprise you. th-cam.com/play/PLbqc4bXQcbyUzyNxG-w7tBtKLWA3NpzLe.html
My baby was born at 33 weeks 4 days and in the NICU for 3 weeks. (I had emergency gallbladder surgery and when I got out of surgery my blood pressure spiked into the 200s and my platelets dropped and to 30 i developed hellp syndrome so that same night I had to have emergency C-section . 2 surgeries in one day . My Covid test was also positive and I wasn’t cleared till 4 days after her birth so I didn’t get to see her till four days old. Since she was so early at first she had a feeding tube because babies born that early have to work on their sucking reflex and she wasn’t taking bottles very well. So I pumped it out and it first I wasn’t getting very much so they asked me to make more and I did and now i over supply because she’s a preemie. She’s not eating as much as I’m pumping out!! They kept asking me to make more and the day she got to come home they brought me box full of my frozen milk! So now I pump 3 oz out of one breast and 2 1/2 out of slacker breast and she only feds off one , she doesn’t empty me so I have to pump anyways. I also have flat nipples and use the shield with a shield fills up with milk and it’s a fast flow so she chokes. Here in Arkansas the Baptist health hospital is awesome with their lactation nurses and help me so much. I need to make another appointment with them. So I am mostly pump it out and give her my breastmilk no formula. When I try to put her to the breast, I don’t know how much she gets but she seems satisfied but I still have to pump. She’s two months old takes about 3 ounces now when eating from bottle.
Wow! You two had a rough start! 😞 Is this your first baby? I’m just wondering what breastfeeding was like with your last baby? It sounds like you do have a little forceful letdown/oversupply. I have videos on it. It’s important to understand it because it changes all of the rules on breastfeeding for you. When you have this condition, you will have it with every baby, but every baby will handle it differently. I’ll link the videos to you. The first video just helps you to decide if you have the condition, then the next video helps you to understand what you can do about it. The videos will give you ideas to help baby eat more easily. Doing some extra pumping can cause you to have more milk, but it doesn’t cause the actual condition, “forceful let down over supply.” I also have a video on flat an inverted nipples. I’ll link that here too. After you watch those let me know what questions you have. ❤️
No, this is my third and I am now 36 years old. My first daughter is 12 will be 13 this September. I was in my 20s and when my milk came in with her i was totally engorged , rock hard breast and no matter what I tried I could not get them to empty fast enough. I just remember trying to sleep with my breast hurting so bad it turned me off of breast feeding I was so upset and uncomfortable and family was pressuring me to breast feed. I just didn’t have to knowledge or help to know what to do back then. With my second I really wanted to breast feed and my son totally “rooted” around and acted like he wanted to but he would not latch. I even went to Kaiser lactation nurses and they couldn’t help me. I actually had them shrug their shoulders like well we don’t know what to do. So I believed I pumped just for a few months and then went to formula. With this child that was just born in March 2023 another daughter (Charlotte Anne) I knew with my third and finally one I wanted to do all I could to breast feed. I prayed every day Lord help me to be able to. Then when she wound up in NICU that really was the motivation and I knew my milk was a must for her to gain her strength and growth. So with her it kinda is like my first breast fed child even though she’s my third child. I have to wear a nipple shield because my nipples are flat and still hasn’t popped out enough even with these two months I’ve been pumping for her to latch onto my breast without it. Now I know when I get engorged that it’s a slow process of pumping every couple hours and applying ice for 15 mins and then heat while you’re pumping and also those vitamins to help clogged ducts. I haven’t been that engorged since that first time though thank goodness. I do get a little through the night . The baby sleeps from midnight to 5am so I don’t feel to pump because I want to sleep too. So that first pump session is pretty full I can get 3oz out of one and almost 4 out of the other. She’s only eating 2 1/2 to 3 oz so I freeze the other breast milk.
@@AshBme86 it sounds like you have a good understanding of breast-feeding. One thing that’s commonly misunderstood. Is the ideas of your breasts being full or empty. I know that when you are engorged, it seems like they are “full” and it’s hard to get them emptied. But for the most part, we don’t store milk in our breast, we actually make milk while we are pumpings or Nursing. That full feeling is actually engorgement. That means that the tissue around the milk ducts is swollen/inflamed. Pumping too much too often will only make it worse especially when you have a forceful let down/over supply. The way to get it under control is to slowly wean down on your pumping. When you have a forceful, let down/over supply, it’s a very slow process. Getting your supply under control will help baby to be able to latch and decrease the engorgement. Applying lots of cold compresses is very important and the heat just before nursing or pumping to soften your breast. And ibuprofen can help with the engorgement and you can also apply cold cabbage leaves in your bra several times a day. Be sure to loosen your bra straps and try to not sleep on your stomach if possible. This will help with the encouragement plus it will lessen your chances of getting a clogged duct. Be sure to check out those videos on forceful, let down/over supply. 🥰
I breastfeed directly with baby right now. Watched this video for tips for slow/reluctant let down. Recently had some visitors that stressed me more than expected & was having the hardest time getting milk out of breast & feeding baby. I was sore, he was hungry. Had to make my favorite snacks & skin to skin & really focus on baby & try to keep mind off of visitors. Just wasn't expecting to have such a hard time letting down while the milk & baby were there. Anxious about upcoming holidays around even more stressful family members.
This is my first baby. 9weeks old. Had an issue first 3 weeks with tongue tie & didn't start having pain-free latches until about 5wks. Was triple feeding & have been able to increase supply & decrease supplementing, now we only do 1 formula bottle & extra pumping in the evening when supply lower.
Haven't thought about making any letdown associations - I'll have to think of something to pair with letdowns. So far it's just been baby - his mouth & saliva more effective than any pump.
I’m so sorry but I’m also so proud of you for identifying what steps that you needed to take to get relaxed. That you for sharing this! I hope that the holidays are less stressful. I should do a video focusing just on the effects of stress on mom and breastfeeding.
Applying heat for a few minutes before nursing or pumping can be very helpful is speeding up a letdown. Did you try to use heat?
How old is baby?
@@oldmckayla10 We all have a lower supply in the afternoon and evening then we did in the morning, but the milk is slightly higher in fat. In the evening, babies will cluster feed. They want to feed sometimes nonstop. During this time babies are usually uncomfortable because of growing pains teething or they’re overly tired. There’s not a lot we can do besides let them nurse more often. This time of day causes many moms to give formula, because it looks like your supply is too low. I’m not at all against formula and that’s totally OK if it makes you more comfortable.
To increase your milk more during this time, you can do a feeding like this: Latch baby on both breasts, then give half of the amount of formula that you usually give at this time. Then latch baby on both breasts again. Then offer the other half of that formula. After a few days baby will start to not want that second half of the formula. Formula digest so slowly and stays in baby’s tummy longer. So it does make baby not want to nurse as often. This is totally OK. It’s just important to understand why the formula seems to sustain baby for longer. You’re doing a great job mommy! ❤️
@@marycahillclc Thank you for your supportive messages!
Affects of stress/anxiety on breastfeeding would be a great video idea! I feel like getting mental health support during postpartum also helped breastfeeding journey.
I'll have to try applying heat as we get into cooler months - it's been so hot & humid in SC this summer, I'm more concerned with drying off sweat before feeding baby.
Your video on weaning off of formula, following that great tip to alternate breastfeeding & work on lessening amount of formula, & promoting letting baby on breast as long as he's latched - really helped when triple feeding was so stressful & the LC I was seeing wanted to rush to unlatch & supplement as soon as he slowed down. When it was too stressful to pump when solo taking care of baby during the day, was able to use your method until we could cut out the morning & overnight & then midday/afternoon bottles.
If progress continues, think we'll be done needing formula by mid-October. Working on getting that evening 4oz bottle down to 2-3oz this week.
I may still want to find a balance of 1-2 pump sessions so my husband can offer a bottle in the evening when he wants to cluster feed & I need to work on dinner/chores. And have small freezer stash when I'm away from baby for more than a couple hours, or if supply affected when my period comes back.
Thank you for your tips & support, your videos have really helped me work towards my breastfeeding goals.
My baby was born premature so my milk had not come in enough for her at the hospital so they had her on formula. We have continued to bottle and breast feed her but the breastfeeding can be really inconsistent. I’ll get her to latch and she can suckle for 5-10min and fall asleep for a little bit then want to feed and we can go for another 5-10min but then she gets very fussy. I’ll try to get her to latch and she either cry’s and pulls away or try’s to suck a moment then pulls back. I’ll message my breast for a minute and I’ll let down milk, so there is still some there. I’m not sure if my let down slows or what the issue is. It also happens when I hand express my milk lets down in strong bursts, kind of like a water pistol. I’m not sure what the issue is, I really want to move my baby to full time breastfeeding but this has been the main issue.
@@CrazyCatMom1331 How old is baby now? When you express milk, how much do you get? How many mls/ounces are you expressing every 24 hours? How many times a day does baby latch?
I have a 5 month old and a jet spraying letdown that waterboards my baby. My letdown is random and sporadic during the day. I don't struggle with it at all at night. I experienced a painful let down for about the first 3 months then it gets better. I have nursed 5 babies. Due to oversupply and mastitis with previous babies I opted to do formula and breastfeeding with my fifth baby it's working well for me lower demand means lower Supply.
Yes, Forceful Letdown/Oversupply is definitely like Waterboarding lol
The condition will always be there with every baby you nurse. I have a 3 part video series on FL/OS if you’d like to check that out.
That makes total sense that it’s not a big problem at night because we all have less volume in milk in the evening. And you’re so right about formula use cutting down your supply so that it’s manageable. You can keep doing that or work on “Block Feeding”. Have you tried block feeding before?
If your FL/OS isn’t under control, it greatly increases your chances of a clogged duct and that leads to mastitis. Taking Sunflower Lecithin on a regular basis helps you to not get a clog as often and it can be increased if you do get a clog. Just be sure it’s Sunflower Lecithin and not Soy Lecithin ❤️
@@marycahillclc I have never heard of or tried block feeding I will look into your other videos 😊
@@sillysillychicken14 here’s the link for those. The first one just helps you decide if you have it. I think that it would be helpful to know the signs because they may surprise you.
th-cam.com/play/PLbqc4bXQcbyUzyNxG-w7tBtKLWA3NpzLe.html
My baby was born at 33 weeks 4 days and in the NICU for 3 weeks. (I had emergency gallbladder surgery and when I got out of surgery my blood pressure spiked into the 200s and my platelets dropped and to 30 i developed hellp syndrome so that same night I had to have emergency C-section . 2 surgeries in one day . My Covid test was also positive and I wasn’t cleared till 4 days after her birth so I didn’t get to see her till four days old. Since she was so early at first she had a feeding tube because babies born that early have to work on their sucking reflex and she wasn’t taking bottles very well. So I pumped it out and it first I wasn’t getting very much so they asked me to make more and I did and now i over supply because she’s a preemie. She’s not eating as much as I’m pumping out!! They kept asking me to make more and the day she got to come home they brought me box full of my frozen milk!
So now I pump 3 oz out of one breast and 2 1/2 out of slacker breast and she only feds off one , she doesn’t empty me so I have to pump anyways. I also have flat nipples and use the shield with a shield fills up with milk and it’s a fast flow so she chokes. Here in Arkansas the Baptist health hospital is awesome with their lactation nurses and help me so much. I need to make another appointment with them. So I am mostly pump it out and give her my breastmilk no formula. When I try to put her to the breast, I don’t know how much she gets but she seems satisfied but I still have to pump. She’s two months old takes about 3 ounces now when eating from bottle.
Wow! You two had a rough start! 😞
Is this your first baby? I’m just wondering what breastfeeding was like with your last baby?
It sounds like you do have a little forceful letdown/oversupply. I have videos on it. It’s important to understand it because it changes all of the rules on breastfeeding for you. When you have this condition, you will have it with every baby, but every baby will handle it differently. I’ll link the videos to you. The first video just helps you to decide if you have the condition, then the next video helps you to understand what you can do about it. The videos will give you ideas to help baby eat more easily.
Doing some extra pumping can cause you to have more milk, but it doesn’t cause the actual condition, “forceful let down over supply.”
I also have a video on flat an inverted nipples. I’ll link that here too. After you watch those let me know what questions you have. ❤️
Here’s the forceful letdown/oversupply videos
th-cam.com/play/PLbqc4bXQcbyUzyNxG-w7tBtKLWA3NpzLe.html
Here’s the flat/inverted nipple video
th-cam.com/video/fWZdz_YBz2U/w-d-xo.html
No, this is my third and I am now 36 years old. My first daughter is 12 will be 13 this September. I was in my 20s and when my milk came in with her i was totally engorged , rock hard breast and no matter what I tried I could not get them to empty fast enough. I just remember trying to sleep with my breast hurting so bad it turned me off of breast feeding I was so upset and uncomfortable and family was pressuring me to breast feed. I just didn’t have to knowledge or help to know what to do back then. With my second I really wanted to breast feed and my son totally “rooted” around and acted like he wanted to but he would not latch. I even went to Kaiser lactation nurses and they couldn’t help me. I actually had them shrug their shoulders like well we don’t know what to do. So I believed I pumped just for a few months and then went to formula. With this child that was just born in March 2023 another daughter (Charlotte Anne) I knew with my third and finally one I wanted to do all I could to breast feed. I prayed every day Lord help me to be able to. Then when she wound up in NICU that really was the motivation and I knew my milk was a must for her to gain her strength and growth. So with her it kinda is like my first breast fed child even though she’s my third child. I have to wear a nipple shield because my nipples are flat and still hasn’t popped out enough even with these two months I’ve been pumping for her to latch onto my breast without it.
Now I know when I get engorged that it’s a slow process of pumping every couple hours and applying ice for 15 mins and then heat while you’re pumping and also those vitamins to help clogged ducts. I haven’t been that engorged since that first time though thank goodness. I do get a little through the night . The baby sleeps from midnight to 5am so I don’t feel to pump because I want to sleep too. So that first pump session is pretty full I can get 3oz out of one and almost 4 out of the other. She’s only eating 2 1/2 to 3 oz so I freeze the other breast milk.
@@AshBme86 it sounds like you have a good understanding of breast-feeding. One thing that’s commonly misunderstood. Is the ideas of your breasts being full or empty. I know that when you are engorged, it seems like they are “full” and it’s hard to get them emptied. But for the most part, we don’t store milk in our breast, we actually make milk while we are pumpings or Nursing. That full feeling is actually engorgement. That means that the tissue around the milk ducts is swollen/inflamed. Pumping too much too often will only make it worse especially when you have a forceful let down/over supply. The way to get it under control is to slowly wean down on your pumping. When you have a forceful, let down/over supply, it’s a very slow process. Getting your supply under control will help baby to be able to latch and decrease the engorgement. Applying lots of cold compresses is very important and the heat just before nursing or pumping to soften your breast. And ibuprofen can help with the engorgement and you can also apply cold cabbage leaves in your bra several times a day. Be sure to loosen your bra straps and try to not sleep on your stomach if possible. This will help with the encouragement plus it will lessen your chances of getting a clogged duct.
Be sure to check out those videos on forceful, let down/over supply. 🥰