Leaking breasts are common but can be embarrassing. Leaking breasts are one sign that your breasts are making milk. In other words, the hormones are doing their job. Leaking usually stops or eases as your baby gets older. For some mums, it continues to be a sign of their let-down reflex.
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.
Although inconvenient, leaking breasts are a sign you are lactating properly. Try to breastfeed or pump regularly and not skip feedings or pumping sessions. By frequently expressing milk, you may be able to limit how often or how much your breasts leak.
Wearing a breastfeeding or nursing bra at night is down to individual choice. If a sleep bra is used for light support at night and to keep breast pads in place, it should fit very loosely so as not to cut into any breast tissue and ideally be made of cotton.
Excessive breast stimulation, medication side effects or disorders of the pituitary gland all may contribute to galactorrhea. Often, galactorrhea results from increased levels of prolactin, the hormone that stimulates milk production. Sometimes, the cause of galactorrhea can't be determined.
Breastfeeding: The Let-Down Reflex
Let-down happens as milk is released into milk ducts in your breast. This usually happens when your baby sucks on your breast. You may even have a let-down when your baby or someone else's baby cries, or for no reason at all. Some women don't feel the let-down.
It's important to lean slightly forward while pumping. If you don't, your pump will have to work quite a bit harder to draw milk from your breast, and you may not be emptying your breast properly. Place a pillow behind you to help you comfortably lean forward and use gravity to help empty your breasts.
If you are back to work, you may want to pump on the same schedule your baby would usually feed to keep up your supply. This is usually every three hours. Your breasts will usually give you a sign they are ready to release milk. They may get more firm, or you may feel a letdown sensation.
Too much pumping can cause problems for nursing moms. Supply is a function of demand – the more milk that you remove, the more milk you may make. Therefore, a lot of extra pumping in addition to nursing could lead a nursing mom to have an oversupply.
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.
It is possible that the Haakaa can create oversupply by using it too much. I did this by accident because I just loved being able to collect so much milk.
Wear a tighter bra or tank.
Personally I leaked SO MUCH MORE if my boobs were not really harnessed in and pressed TIGHT up against my shirt or nursing pads. This can be difficult to achieve at night, when you're on your side or twisting around, so I went down a size in my sleep bras and tanks.
Excess prolactin tricks your body into thinking it should lactate (or make milk), which is why you leak milk from your nipples. Other causes include: Taking medications including birth control pills, blood pressure medicine or antidepressants.
This question comes up often as more breastfeeding moms are pumping and often times, exclusively pumping to produce breast milk. Another common related question that moms ask is does pumping burn as many calories as nursing? The answer to this helps answer the first question, which is a resounding Yes!
Once the milk flow slows to drops, stop the pump and further massage your breasts, then finish the session by using your hands to express milk into the container or using the electric pump with massage to fully empty the breasts.
Your breasts will feel lighter
When your breasts are empty, they will probably feel lighter and no longer uncomfortably full, as they might have at the start of the pumping session.
When is breast milk replenished? All the time, even while you're pumping or nursing. Your breasts are constantly making milk, so it's never possible to completely empty them.
Milk is actually produced nonstop—before, during, and after feedings—so there's no need to wait between feedings for your breasts to refill. In fact, a long gap between feedings actually signals your breasts to make less, not more, milk.
The only change in advice is that you shouldn't squeeze your nipples looking for discharge. Aggressive squeezing can result in injury and needless worry because sometimes discharge in that circumstance is normal. “The discharge that is worrisome is discharge that comes without squeezing,” Steele says.
However, when done correctly and gently—to get baby sucking again, breast compression is a very useful technique for increasing milk flow and does not appear to cause problems. The key is not to press into the breast constantly throughout a feed, but to squeeze and release the breast at intervals as outlined above.
Generally speaking, breastfeeding your husband or partner is OK. It's not perverted or wrong if you want the person you are intimate with to breastfeed, or if they ask to try breastfeeding or taste your breast milk.