If your breast lets down when your baby isn't attached, your milk may spray out forcefully. This is called a fast let-down or fast flow. You may have this along with an oversupply of milk or leaking breasts. However, many mums have a fast let-down but with a normal milk supply.
Oversupply is when you make a lot more milk than your baby needs. If you have an oversupply, it can be helpful to slowly reduce your milk production. Forceful letdown or milk ejection reflex happens when your milk comes out quickly with a lot of force.
Signs of Oversupply - Mom
Leaking a lot of milk. Breast pain from feeling overly full. Nipple pain, usually from the infant biting, chewing or clenching down to slow a very fast let down. Recurring plugged ducts or mastitis.
Overactive letdown is a common issue the first 4 to 6 weeks after birth when your body is still learning how much milk to make. If your body produces too much (you have an oversupply), that can lead to a rush of milk to your breasts that wants to come out quickly.
Signs of an Overactive Letdown
The baby may quickly pull off and can even seem to push off the breast soon after letdown occurs. The amount of milk your baby receives is too much for them. You may even notice “spraying” of breast milk after the baby pulls off.
Signs of breast milk oversupply in your baby
He may come off the breast because the fast flow is a bit of a shock to him, and then cry because his feed has been interrupted. He'll probably take in large volumes of milk, along with lots of air, and might spit up a lot and need frequent burping as a result.
Hand-express or pump until you feel your milk flowing. Then start nursing your baby. Hold your nipple between your forefinger and your middle finger. Or gently press your hand into the side of your breast during let-down to slow the rapid flow of milk.
Try letting the fast flow subside
If the let-down is very fast, try taking baby off the breast for a moment or two until the flow slows a little. A container or towel can catch the milk and once the flow has slowed your baby may be better able to cope with the flow.
Haakaa and your supply
Breastmilk works on supply and demand so like any pumping method, the Haakaa's suction does extract milk which may increase your supply. It's not the Haakaa – or any other pump – that directly causes an over supply, it's how you use it.
An oversupply of breast milk generally refers to a mother who is able to nurse her infant, or multiples, and is still able to produce a significant amount of breast milk (more than 4-5 oz) in a pump session after a feeding.
Oversupply of breastmilk is when you continue to make too much milk after the first 6 weeks of feeding. Oversupply of breastmilk can have many causes. Oversupply can make breastfeedingdifficult for you and your baby. If you think you have oversupply, get support from a healthcare professional.
Your breasts may leak when they become so full of milk that they overflow. (Leaking is common in women who have an overabundant milk supply). Or you might leak when your letdown reflex – which releases the milk – kicks in.
Pump within about 15 minutes of finishing nursing. You don't want to wait too much longer than 15 minutes before you pump because you will start to cut into the milk that is refilling for your baby's next feeding cycle. Don't worry about how much you get out.
Another name for this is hyper-milk ejection. The cause of an OALD reflex is not yet known. It may be due to an abnormally strong reaction to the hormone called oxytocin which is released during suckling or nipple stimulation. It could also be that such women produce too much milk.
Signs and Symptoms of Overactive Letdown
You may notice milk spraying from your nipple once your baby unlatches. If your newborn chokes on the breast milk because of an overactive letdown, they may not want to latch back onto your nipple and can become frustrated and hungry.
Other studies have shown a link between reflux and allergies, or an intolerance to cows' milk protein. A mother could try to remove dairy products from her diet, in consultation with a medical professional, to see if that improves things. One of the biggest causes can be fast-flowing milk or oversupply.
When you first start pumping, you might see milk start to dribble out. Then, after a few minutes, milk may start to spray - this is your milk letting down. After some time, the letdown will finish and you'll be back to a dribble.
Each time baby begins to nurse the nerves in your breast send signals that release the milk in your milk ducts. This let down reflex usually happens after your baby has been sucking the breast for about two minutes. Some women feel this let-down reflex as a tingling or a warmth.
Foremilk is low in fat (skim) so it passes through the stomach quickly and dumps into the intestine. It's also high in lactose (milk sugar) which makes it hard to digest. Too much lactose may cause gassiness, fussiness and mucus-like and/or explosive green, watery stools.
So even if you kept pumping or nursing around the clock, milk would still flow out as it's produced. This means that you do not need to wait a certain amount of time after nursing or pumping for your breast milk to replenish. When you're a lactating mother, it's always replenishing.
Some of the more common reasons for excessive spit-up are overfeeding and swallowing too much air during feeding. The following tips may help reduce spit-up and make your baby more comfortable: Feed your baby before they get very hungry.
If you've just started pumping, it's not always clear why sometimes you spray milk and sometimes you're not getting anything. Here's how letdown works: When you start pumping, most pumps will begin in the “letdown phase” – which is lighter and quieter – for about two minutes.