thread: All milked up and nowhere to go!

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  1. #1
    Life Subscriber

    Jul 2006
    Brisbane
    6,683

    I was the same in the beginning too hun, especially with DS1. In these early days, your hormones are stimulating your supply, as well as your lo feeding. Once the postpartum hormones drop off, you will find that your supply settles down. Some mums still have oversupply after the first weeks but even then not to the extreme that you are finding now.

    There are reasons why some mums don't make enough milk and thankfully they are not too common - they can be hormone related such as if there are thyroid issues, some mums have insufficient glandular tissues and there are some other medical reasons. However feeding to routine rather than feeding on demand can also affect supply, and things like birth interventions and mum/baby separation can make it harder to establish a supply. So sometimes it is not that the mum can't produce enough but rather that she's not been given the right information and support to produce enough, or that she's had hurdles that have been too hard to overcome.

  2. #2
    Registered User

    Sep 2007
    Brisbane
    5,729

    It could be that your prolactin levels haven't levelled out yet. Mine were ridiculously high and I had such oversupply I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do medically wise to force a more reasonable supply without stopping it all together, so it's a matter of balancing the supply v's demand element, and making sure your breasts get drained to avoid repeat mastitis. Hang in there, won't be long til those hormones get themselves under control.

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Oct 2007
    Middle Victoria
    8,924

    The ABA has some info brochures you can get on oversupply, and also have some info on their site:

    https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-.../too-much-milk

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Sep 2008
    Sydney
    1,413

    I was the same, It seemed ridiculous to me the amount of milk I made. I first got mastitis after missing just 1 feed and my baby was almost 5 months old at this stage! I then kept getting mastitis and blocked milk ducks as she had severe reflux and had pain association with me. Broke my heart I had all the milk in the world but a baby that hated drinking it! My supply never did settle. I took the drugs when I had to stop feeding her as she was very underweight from reflux and not feeding and even with the drugs I ended up with the worst case of mastitis - They did nothing to dry me up. I am obviously a milk machine