Hello! I'm a FTM of a 7-week-old EBF boy. We had a rocky, difficult start with breastfeeding--my milk did not come in right away, plus I felt so much excruciating pain from my son's powerful/bad latch and my nipples toughening up that I resorted to mostly (machine) pumping during the first month.
Finally it stopped hurting so badly when my son nursed, and I've been able to breastfeed and almost entirely avoid pumping for the past 1-2 weeks. Granted I still experience some terrible pain, but it's (a) limited to an aching, throbbing pain that comes and goes only in my left breast; and (b) neither I nor my OB can figure out what is causing it (not thrush, no symptoms of mastitis, not letdown pain which is something I experience separately, etc.).
My main problem now is overactive letdown and what I think is oversupply (at least in my "stud" left breast). My breasts never feel fully drained after my son feeds. Also, if I do pump, I get 3-4+ ounces in my left breast and 2-3 in my right breast. When I have given my son a bottle, however, he eats about 3 oz max.
The OALD is worse in my left (stud) breast--LO chokes, gasps, cries/screams from the fast and heavy flow. I try to lean back to help with the gravitational flow, and this seems to help a little. My son only feeds on one breast at each feeding, which seems fine as he has plenty of pee diapers and is gaining weight well/rapidly (he was 8 lbs. 11 oz at birth and just yesterday was weighed at 14 lbs. 4 oz). He also shows symptoms of reflux (crying after feedings, arched back, hates to lie on his back or his tummy, frequent spit-up, occasional vomiting), which I think is partly related to how quickly he gulps milk when feeding. I know people say breastfed babies can't be overfed, but I think the OALD might be forcing LO to take in milk so quickly that his body doesn't register the feeling of fullness quickly enough. Also, LO's pediatrician said he might be overeating.
My problems are this: Since my son only feeds off one breast a time, the unused breast gets painfully engorged, especially the first stretch of the night when my son sleeps the longest--I just calculated that my right breast went 8 hours without any stimulation (from pump or baby)! This seems too long, but I don't know how to deal.
I am terrified to pump, whether right after a feeding or to replace a feeding, because I'm worried it will exacerbate my oversupply. However, my midwife suggested that I pump once in the morning after a feeding, to start building a stash, and once at night so my husband can give the baby a bottle and give me an extra bit of sleep.
I try to manually express a little to deal with engorgement pain and have been getting 1-1.5 oz from my left breast and about 1/2-1 oz from my right breast. I'd like to express less, but when my breasts are engorged, they get lumpy, and I'm scared of plugged ducts/mastitis and so express until I don't feel the lumps anymore.
Despite my son feeding off only one breast for a while, my engorgement and OALD do not seem to be getting better.
- Is there something I am doing wrong? I am nervous about block feeding for longer stretches because I'm not 100% certain I have oversupply.
- If I pump 2x a day as my midwife suggests, will it worsen the oversupply?
- If I pump after a feeding, should I only pump from the unused breast? Won't this tell my body to create more milk and thus worsen OS, since I'm taking out more milk than my LO eats in a single feeding?
- If I pump at night so that my husband can give LO a bottle, should I only pump until I reach about 3 oz (which is how much LO will eat)?
One note: I do not have a job currently so I don't have a hard deadline of having to go back to work, but I would like to start building a small stash since I'd like to be able to get out of the house some and also am thinking of specific upcoming weekends where I will be away from my son. Also, I'd like LO to get accustomed to the bottle (so far, we have been lucky in avoiding nipple confusion but I'm not sure if he'll start to reject the bottle as he gets older).
So sorry for the long and rambling post! And my apologies if this has already been addressed elsewhere! I just don't know where to begin and would appreciate any advice you may have. Thank you in advance!