Can you overfeed a breastfed baby?

My ds is 5 weeks old and has become quite the power spewer. He likes to cluster feed in the afternoons but just before bedtime, he does a few massive power spews-projectile out his mouth and nose. He then mostly goes down without any more milk. I burp him regularly and he does cry just before he does it. I'm hesitant to hold back feeds (he's a good weight) and I don't want to introduce a dummy as dh is sahd so he's already having bottles and breast and I don't want to confuse him. Any advice, thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

I always fed on demand but someone did comment to me once don't worry if she's had too much she will just chuck it up. I was Under the impression you can't over feed a bf baby though. Hmmm.

Your LO is just still learning how to regulate the feeds and your boobies are still learning how much to produce.
You are doing an great job hun, all boobie juice is good boobie juice xx

I'm another who has always been told that you can't overfeed a breastfed baby :)

I guess if he's drinking more than his little tummy can comfortably hold and vomiting it up, then it may just take some time before he learns to know when his tummy is full enough to stop feeding. If he was losing to much from the vomit I don't think he would happily go down for a nap, so he must be keeping enough down to stay content :)

Sounds like fun and games. Power puking is pretty much what they do if they cant take the milk- if its too much, or too fast. Other then that I can only suggest keeping a log of every feed. Then you can work out if hes hungry or wanting to comfort suck and in thats the case, you have a choice of offering breast, bottle, warm water in a bottle or a dummy.

Dummys seem to have copped alot of bad press. Personally, I love them. DS1 had awful reflux and it helped alot with that. DS2 wouldnt take 1 he has a short gag reflex. DD sometimes takes 1 but really prefers hers own thumb.
Dummys are (in some studies) said to help reduce SIDS aparently (not trying to start a dummy debate) but they can be habit forming for some children. We made DS1 give up his mimi (dummy) at 3yrs old. Told him the mimi faries said he wasnt a baby anymore and they needed it back. We had 3 nights of crying and after that he was pretty much okay.


I would start with the feeding log. It'll take afew days or a week before you start seeing a pattern-ish. I use to write down when they fed, how long they fed for and if a bottle, how much they had. Your baby is young so may not have much of a routine but you will tell if hes feeding every 2 hours or whatever and that can help.

Good luck, I hope you can sort it

Thanks ladies. I was so upset tonight because he seemed in such pain before his vomit :(

Do you offer him both breasts when you feed him? I wonder if you could just give him one side and then let him rest a while, before feeding the other side? Both my babies only took one side at a time for many months after birth.

He's only taking one side.....I always offer both but one seems to be sufficient.

Surprisingly he seems to be taking his milk in patterns already. He feeds 3 hourly during the day but wants milk hourly from 5pm and we bath at 7pm. I'm feeding him twice overnight and his day starts between 6 and 7am.

I think it has to do with fast flow but also he's a bit of a greedy guts :)

after reading the title i was just going to say NO, you cant over feed a BF baby. but reading your post , i did sometimes think that with DD2, she was a spewer. if she ate to much she would vom!!! sometimes, if she was clearly just comfort feeding and had fed none stop for ages, i would try to hold off and find another way to comfort her. if i couldnt then id feed her...then change clothes ;)

Does it happen after feeds about the same time every night? or random- anytime seems good to puke? If its the same feed every night perhaps you could try stopping it before baby is full or gently apply pressure (more like hold) the stomach so it doesnt expand as much and will feel fuller to him? Dont worry about him just feeding 1 side at a time. Just remember which side your up to and offer the full 1 next feed so you dont get sore. Cluster feeding at night is really normal and your milk then is more concentrated.

Oh I just remembered some advice my Aunty told me that helped with my LO. You can try leaning back while feeding to slow down the flow of the milk a bit till your LO can cope a bit better xo

I guess another thing might be to express off some foremilk and pop him on after. I also know of this as a way of dealing with too-fast let down.

Vomitting is pretty common and usually isn't a problem (apart from the mess and all the washing which I know is a PITA). One of my DS's was a happy chucker for months.

Many mums have an oversupply of milk at first, and a faster flow, until the hormones settle down, so it is quite possible that this will settle down on its own over the next few weeks. It is also easier to overfeed with the bottle as they can't stop drinking easily when they are full like they can at the breast. My thoughts on this though are if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If he is not distressed then it really is just a problem of mess and washing, and trying to change things when everything else is going well could introduce new problems. Perhaps see how he's going in 4 weeks and then maybe look at changing things if it's still happening. I know the vomit can be distressing to see as mums but if baby is happy then that's a good clue that it's nothing sinister.