OALD/FFLD.....when does it "go away"??

[@llli*ryanandjoshsmom]

I'm on my 3rd month of only being able to nurse dd while she is asleep. It has progressed to me being able to only do so while walking her around as well, thus eliminating any chance of reclined/laid back feeding. After the letdown, sometimes I'm able to *very* carefully sit on the edge of the bed and finish the feed and let my back/arms get a break. This is the routine in the middle of the night as well. You can forget about side-lye nursing (believe me...I've tried). I guess my question is: for those of you who have dealt with OALD/FFLD....when did you notice it get better? Most of the time, dd does fine with the feeds while asleep, but there are still times when she'll pop off while asleep and there will be a spray. She turns 5 months in a couple of days and we only do one side per feed.

[@llli*phi]

I think it depends entirely on your baby. My milk sprayed for 15 months, but it was only an issue for my baby for the first few months. He would still cough and sputter a little at letdown for several months after that (and actually he coughed at letdown a few times over the last couple weeks at 19 months - weird - that hasn't happened in so long), but it didn't actually cause any problems other than that. Some babies take longer to adjust to the fast flow, some acclimate very quickly. I know that's not terribly helpful - sorry, but I really think it's impossible to say how long it will be a problem for your baby.

Have you tried letting your milk spray into a towel during the letdown, then nursing? My son had no patience for that, but it works really well for some mamas.

[@llli*phi]

I'm wondering, though, if the refusal to nurse while awake is due to something other than OALD. If she nursed well the first 2 months, but then started striking after that it seems possible that something else is going on. My problems were at their worst during the first 2 months, but progressively got better after that as my son got bigger. Normally, babies get better at handling a fast letdown as they get bigger. Of course everyone is different so my experience may be irrelevant, but I do wonder if it is possible that something other than OALD is causing your problems.

[@llli*ryanandjoshsmom]

I'm wondering, though, if the refusal to nurse while awake is due to something other than OALD. If she nursed well the first 2 months, but then started striking after that it seems possible that something else is going on. My problems were at their worst during the first 2 months, but progressively got better after that as my son got bigger. Normally, babies get better at handling a fast letdown as they get bigger. Of course everyone is different so my experience may be irrelevant, but I do wonder if it is possible that something other than OALD is causing your problems.

I appreciate your input! The only other factors that I can think of are the following: Before this started, I yelled at my toddler (while nursing the baby) who had climbed onto the counter and was reaching for the knives in the chopping block (baby freaked out and refused to continue nursing), a few times (while nursing the baby) the same toddler would come into the room and scream (baby freaked out and refused to continue nursing), and several times I was distracted during letdown and didn't pop baby off in time to allow flow to go into towel and she chocked/sputtered and refused to continue to nurse. Aside from those factors, I am at a loss as to why she has been refusing for SO LONG. I have been stalking Midwestmama on these boards (she is/was going thru the same thing) and her recent success in getting her LO to nurse while awake is what is keeping me going most days. From what I've seen/heard it seems like 7 months is the magic mark. I'm not sure how I'll make it 2 more months of sneaking away leaving my 2 other children unattended for extended periods of time, bouncing/walking baby to sleep, feeding her while walking/standing, not being able to leave the house for more than 2 hours for much longer. This is coming from a mama who nursed my 1st for 3 years and my 2nd for 2years. *sob* Some days, I fantasize that EP'ing would be *easier* (if I even knew if dd would take a bottle)....... at least I could sit down. But in my heart of hearts I know that is probably not the answer. Most of this is a vent, and I apologize. Just need to get it out.

[@llli*phi]

No need for apologies! I can only imagine how difficult this is. I could only nurse my baby while in motion (mostly walking with him - reclining for the OALD first, then walking because he screamed when the flow slowed down and wasn't shooting out at the speed of light ), but that only lasted a few weeks, and I only have the one. I'm not sure how well I would have held up over months of it. Both you and midwestmama are rock stars!

There is another mama here who had a really extreme oversupply and OALD (she was doing something like 12 hour blocks - it was far beyond what I dealt with), and, if I recall correctly, things started turning around for her around 5, maybe 6, months. Even I still had some difficulty until about 5 months (my OS wasn't so bad anymore, but my milk still sprayed across the room). There's still some hope that things might turn around soon for you. I certainly hope so!

Good luck!

[@llli*lllmeg]

There is another mama here who had a really extreme oversupply and OALD (she was doing something like 12 hour blocks - it was far beyond what I dealt with), and, if I recall correctly, things started turning around for her around 5, maybe 6, months. Even I still had some difficulty until about 5 months (my OS wasn't so bad anymore, but my milk still sprayed across the room). There's still some hope that things might turn around soon for you. I certainly hope so!

Yes I was thinking, if the oald is connected with overabundant milk production (aka, over supply) then longer blocks will likely help, this will reduce milk production so you want to be sure that is what you want to have happen. there is also a method where momma pumps like mad ONE TIME to empty her breats and then starts the block feeding. The major pump out may need to be repeated or may not, depending on how bad the over abundant milk production is.

article on this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2075483/

[@llli*ryanandjoshsmom]

Yes I was thinking, if the oald is connected with overabundant milk production (aka, over supply) then longer blocks will likely help, this will reduce milk production so you want to be sure that is what you want to have happen. there is also a method where momma pumps like mad ONE TIME to empty her breats and then starts the block feeding. The major pump out may need to be repeated or may not, depending on how bad the over abundant milk production is.

article on this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2075483/

Thank you for the link....however, my supply has regulated nicely for the last few months now. It is just the letdown that seems to present a bit of an issue. I guess I'm grasping at straws and trying to predict if/when this breast aversion will ever come to an end. I guess I was thinking that whenever the letdown is no longer so forceful (or painful to me) that there may be hope of her actually *wanting* to nurse.

[@llli*lllmeg]

Hmmm. I just don't get why your letdown is still so bad! Have you ever talked to an IBCLC about this? If you would like, give me a brief synopses of your oald/breast aversion 'story' and I can run it by my "brain trust" of long time Leaders and LC's if you like.

[@llli*phi]

Thank you for the link....however, my supply has regulated nicely for the last few months now. It is just the letdown that seems to present a bit of an issue. I guess I'm grasping at straws and trying to predict if/when this breast aversion will ever come to an end. I guess I was thinking that whenever the letdown is no longer so forceful (or painful to me) that there may be hope of her actually *wanting* to nurse.

I had an intense, prickly, burning, somewhat painful letdown sensation that lasted over 15 months. The last time I saw a spray (and it was still a pretty impressive spray) was sometime during the 15th month, but I still felt the letdown pretty intensely until 16-17 months. My oversupply was pretty well under control around 6 months. But like I said, my son got used to the flow between 3-5 months. I think things could still turn around for you while you are feeling an intense letdown sensation. It did for me, anyway.

I wonder if the scares had something to do with it though. I've heard of babies going on nursing strikes after being scared by a mamas cry from a nasty bite.

[@llli*jah73]

I can understand what you are going through, I am the one with crazy OS/OALD, who did 12hr blocks for a good few weeks! I am afraid that at over 8 months, we are still having problems, I still get about 5 sprays spraying halfway across the room on EVERY let down. I will send a link later on for you to read, which explains how, with OS/OALD, babies usually start to refuse to feed at 3 months as until then, they don't realise that they can refuse. It does say that if you can stick it out till 6 months, things usually get better. With my 1st child, things improved about 6 and half months and we went on to nurse until 29 months, but with my 2nd I have seen a slight improvement at about 7 months, she will nurse but does still choke at every feed, most of the time, she won't nurse unless she is really hungry and if she does nurse when not really hungry, will take a few sucks to let down and then come off and try and grab the spray and then crawl off to do other things. 12 hr blocks did not really help me in the long run but did help me get to where I am as by the fifth feed on one side, the spray was not so strong so she could cope, however it was a nightmare when I swapped to the new side! With both of my babies, the improvement seemed to come when I started them on baby led solids, maybe it helps with mouth development so they can cope with the flow better, who knows. It is worth sticking with it if you are strong enough because it WILL get better but until then, I know only too well how hard it is! My ERGO carrier is my Godsend, could not go out of the house until I got it, now she will very rarely feed any other way!