Hi inky,

It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job feeding your little bubba, congratulations! You've received some really great advice here too.

WRT your DD's poos - constipation is not defined by how often your baby does a poo, but what the consistency is like. So if she's not going for three days, but then does a really mustardy liquidy/foamy poo (which is completely normal poo for BF babies, BTW) then she is not constipated. Your BM is so expertly tailored to what your DD needs that there is very little waste and sometimes babies don't need to evacuate their waste as often when they are using up so much of your goodness!

WRT to her straining and being bloated and in some discomfort, this is really quite normal for many babies too, and does not necessarily that they are constipated or that anything is wrong. Babies have such tiny bodies and their little digestive systems are only just learning to work properly when they are newborns, and often this includes learning and being able to use their bowels properly. Many babies do have to learn how to let the muscles relax and the ones that need to tense to eliminate poos and wind. My DD went through this for a number of months - she was often very distressed with poo and wind, but she was growing and putting on weight like a trooper and was generally very well otherwise, and as she got older - as Arcadia said - she outgrew it and coped with my large volume of milk and how she digested it much better.

I've been through pretty full-on oversupply also and it's really hard because you want to be able to make things better and more comfortable for your baby but sometimes it's just simply a matter of riding things out. Your body will start to settle down in it's milk production as your body respond to the supply and demand process alone and the hormones settle (It took 4 months for me, but is usually less than this as others have said - 6-8 weeks), and as your DD gets older she will digest BM with much less stress and strain.

At this stage, the extra stimulation you are giving by expressing will mean that you are continuing the cycle of being oversupplied. If you stopped expressing altogether for a little while you might find that your body makes less and starts to match what your DD needs a more little closely over the next little while, and you might find she gets more fatty, rich milk which she can access when she really drains a breast well which can help the digestion process. Could you try not expressing at all for a little bit? - give it a few days for your breasts to react to the change in demand/stimulation. You will find that you'll feel quite full, but your breasts will quickly adapt, and provided that your DD is feeding regularly and draining lots of milk from both sides, you shouldn't end up with any problems from engorgement.

Perhaps when your body is working better with the supply and demand of your baby's needs and settled into making just the right amount you might find that you can start expressing again to build up a supply of EBM if you need to. I did this after my oversupply stopped properly at 4 months. You can always build supply up with the stimulation, but it's very hard to allow supply to drop without stopping additional stimulation.

I definitely understand where you're at, and I hope the info is useful (sorry it's so long!). It's hard when you're worried about engorgement, worried about how your baby is doing when they seem in discomfort, but remember that you're learning about your body and your baby, your baby is learning about her body and her relationship with your breasts, and the most important thing is that you are doing a wonderful job feeding her with your precious BM, and she is GROWING! So you're doing brilliantly

Oh, and P.S. - it's very normal to feel letdown in your other breast when feeding in the early days. For many women this disappears over time - I never feel any letdown at all from either breast when feeding my DD now, but I know it's there from hearing her gulping away!