Oversupply and sleeping through the night

[@llli*mrsamysully]

Hi everyone,

My DS is 6 weeks old. He is exclusively BF and has had great weight gains (7lbs 1oz at birth, 11lbs 2oz and 6 weeks).

I have tons of milk and he often has trouble with the letdown (choking, needing to burp etc).

My question is, the last few nights he has been having a long stretch through the night where he doesn't nurse. Often the last feed before bed will be a short one (due to getting so much at once), and then he won't want to nurse again for several hours. The last 2 nights his last feed has been around 11PM and not again until almost 6AM!! Too bad he wasn't sleeping for that entire time.. almost though! During the day I don't let him go longer than 3 - 3.5hrs between feeds.

I have been SUPER engorged to the point of pain and I have pumped 3 times today, just about 2 mins worth (about 2oz) before 2 feeds. Now that I've done some reading I realise that pumping probably isn't the answer

Should I be waking him in the night?

If I don't, I realise my body will adjust in a few days, but what happens if/when he starts waking up in the night again due to teething, illness, etc - will I still be able to feed him?

Thanks so much!
amy

[@llli*mrsamysully]

Also, not sure where to add this question:

DS has been wanting to comfort nurse, but is upset when he gets too much milk. Since birth he has been able to put himself to sleep without a soother or anything. A few days ago we decided to try giving him a soother since he has been attempting to suck on his hand but just gets frustrated. It seems to calm him right down (only given when we are sure he has eaten well, and only a few times a day/night). Problem is I think it's affecting how deeply he is sleeping. He is still learning how to keep it in and we have to put it back for him, often just as he's fallen asleep and wakes up upset from it dropping.

Should we forget the soother since he was able to sleep so well on his own initially? I just feel bad for the poor guy because it seems he wants to suck but cant

[@llli*tejana]

I don't think 3-3.5 hours is frequent enough. For oversupply it is almost always best to be feeding frequent, small "meals," both for baby's sake and yours--think more like every 2 hours at least. Or are you offering more frequently and he just refuses?. Don't worry about not being able to feed him if he returns to waking at night (which I am told happens very often)--you mean with regard to your supply, right? It'll go back to where it needs to be if the baby is demanding it.

Hang in there with the hand sucking--- I swear it was like we got a new baby (now 3.5 months old) when she became able, over the course of a couple of weeks, to soothe herself sucking her thumb. I think this was around 10 weeks. It was hilarious to watch her coordination slowly improve and I realized, as you noted, that very likely all the post feeding crying we had been dealing with was because she just wanted to suck, without more milk coming at her! She refused the pacifier when I (reluctantly) offered it several times, and I am so glad now. I would say in your case, definitely consider taking the paci out of the picture and hang on until he gets the thumb sucking down. I'm all about self-sufficient self -soothing personally!

[@llli*tejana]

Btw in the meantime if he's really worked up and seems just to want to suck, try offering your clean pinky finger, nail facing down. I use it all the time to calm my daughter during fussy feedings.