curious about milk supply

I did have a bit of oversupply at the beginning, but it evened out fairly fast. I am almost certain though, that your theory regarding hormones is on point. There's got to be some connection at some level. I know I am VERY sensitive to the levels of estrogen I've got going -- had depression with birth control pills and now ppd too. I also still have my linea negra at 16 weeks pp. (I'm getting acupuncture to address my hormones). I can't remember the exact relationship between lacation hormones, brain, uterus, etc. from my anatomy class, but there must be something about levels that affect tissue strength. I mean, excercise affects hormones that contribute to well-being as much as gaining physical strength would. Everything about our bodies is inextricably linked. Hence the ancient art of acupuncture . . . a needle in the top of my head affects my spleen! Accupressure on a section of the foot affects the liver! I would never not breastfeed, because I think that estrogen levels are but a link in the mysterious chain that keeps our bodies functional. However, I would be as interested as you to find out the exact hormonal "demographics" of women with susceptibility to prolapse. Wow, I certainly didn't express anything here very articulately! Need to review my anatomy texts!

How are you doing, by the way?

never thought about hormones playing a role in overproduction of breast milk. I had a HUGE overabundance, most with my first baby, a bit less with each subsequent baby, but still waaaay more than I knew what to do with.
and I know that my hormones are often out of whack. irregular cycles, mood swings, on and off acne, etc.

interesting thought.

i had a huge over abundance of milk as well....i ended up with mastitis even though i nursed every 2 1/2 hours to keep me empty and the milk flowing. I finally started to even out alittle over a month ago and he is now 5months old. I have yet to start my period thank the Lord! i have always been very sensitive to birth control or any changes in hormones...lets just say im pretty moody usually. None of my friends have dealt with too much milk like i did and non of them have prolapse
You might be on to something
~Amanda~

Hey, what you are saying makes some sense at a very simplistic level. Finding the answer in medical datababses could take some time. I'll see what I can find, but it may take some time. Got a login problem at the moment.

Anyone else got access to Scholarly databases??

The answer to why there are so many on this website may be that we try to do things as nature intended here, rather than reaching for the directory of gyneacologists or the tin of artificial milk, to solve our mother/baby/sexual/reproductive problems. Maybe that makes us more intuitive breastfeeders, and we are abundantly good at it. We also 'tend' to be physically closer to our babies, and possibly put them to the breast more often, maybe in a way that inadvertently gets a bit out of control on the abundance side of the equation. I had way too much with DS1 when I was learning, DD was a very frequent grazer, and I got that sorted pretty quickly when it looked like getting out of hand. DS2 was a breeze, fed frequently but I intuitvely knew how to regulate my supply by then.

Remind me again to 'pull my finger out' if I don't come up with any news on the research front within a couple of weeks.

Cheers

Louise

amanda...regarding mastitis, its awful! got it twice with my first baby and almost with my third. I think that lots of milk makes you prone to it, but being run down, for me, made it likely to happen. at the first signs (redness, tenderness, lump) start taking very good care of yourself, lots of water and vit c, nurse on that side first, hot compresses and massage. just be careful of pumping (unless you need the expressed milk) because the more you express/nurse the more milk your breasts will produce.

my oversupply wasnt related to my being a more natural minded mom. I started leaking in my fourth month of pg with my first. on day three pp I was so engorged it was awful. and I wasn't a natural type back then. even when dd was 10 mo old I could nurse her a full feeding and then pump 10 oz in less than 4 min with a manual pump.
even now, with my fourth baby, and he's almost two, if I go more than 6 hours I start to leak. I can still pump easily.

what I found most helpful in terms of reducing supply, was block feeding. that is, I feed on only one side for all feedings within a certain time frame (for me, four hours worked best) and then switch. so for example, from 12 am to 4 am I'd nurse only on the right. from 4-8 only on the left. 8-12 only on the right, you get the picture. its weird, and at first you look lopsided, but then things even out and for some reason you start producing not only less milk, but more hindmilk in relation to foremilk.
I always felt funny complaining about having too much milk, so many of my friends struggle to keep up a supply at all, but it really can be problematic.

Started leaking at 4 months pg . . . . Rita, that is good "strategy" not to think about how things look at night. I mean, we know it's gonna look worse! I know for myself, I just long for the morning status to extend to the end of the day! Glad to hear you were able to get out a bit.

Place a cabbage leaf on the breast until it gets warm and wilty then replace it with another until the pressure is relieved.
For mastitis, use the cabbage leaf treatment as well as one drop of poke root tincture orally up to 3 times a day.
stella

It is an interesting theory but it doesn't apply to me. I had a significant undersupply but still have significant cystocele and rectocele. It would be interesting to see what you find out if you research this more Louise.

a lactation consultant once told me to be very careful with cabbage leaves. she said they work so well they could actually adversely affect supply.
but then again, same lc told me to pump a minute prior to bf to reduce supply. all that did was stimulate more milk production.

I guess just pay attention to whatever method you're using, so that you don't overcorrect.

those cabbage leaves!

I did not dare to touch them with the first as I was lacking confidence in my ability to bf. But after 27 months of success I decided to use them with my second. I actually disabled a boob for a day with 30 minutes of leaving on a cabbage leaf - but then after feeding baby on empty boob for a day the milk obviously came back...

I used them more carefully after and managed to avoid the overactive letdown problems (i.e drowning baby in milk) I had with my first.

Reka

i kind of figured out the block feeding for myself a while back and it really helped get my milk under control.....some woman would say they fed on both sides at each feeding but i have to feed him on one side twice before switching...and i usually collect some extra milk in the morning for cereal feedings. Yes the mastitis was horrible it came on so fast too....one minute i felt a sharp pain in my boob and then it turned into a knot and within hours i felt like i had the flu....i wasnt able to pick my antibiotics up until the next morning so by then my temp went up and by lunch time it went up to 103.4 and the dr. told me to double up on the medicine and take up to 6 motrin at a time.....tylenol wouldnt touch it ...it was so scary and on top of all that i had to keep nursing and pumping so it wouldnt get worse! I'm sure being stressed out and tired didnt help the healing and no sooner i got over that i found that i had a prolapse of some sort. So glad to have it all behind me now.

just going back to your original comment, lovely rita: i nursed my other children for years and had lactational amenorrhea for over 2 years each time. i think i developed a prolapse after the second child, but it never bothered me until my period returned. so theoretically the low estrogen didn't affect my prolapse at all, while the return of my cycle did. (by the way, i'm one of those with massive oversupply, and have always had it.)

It is the same with animals. Cows produce a great range of milk/day. The more you milk 'em, the more milk they will produce, just like humans. Some breeds are milk breeds and stay skinny. Some meat breeds produce more milk than others. Size of udder doesn't seem to be the only factor. Mares produce enormous quantities of milk from very small udders. There are breeds of sheep that produce more milk than others. There are some sheep that are bred specifically for dairies. Some sheep get an enormous udder, and may leak before birthing. Others birth with almost no udder development, then the udders grow like mad for about the first two weeks after birthing. Milk supply in sheep also seems to be related to the vigour of the lamb. Early, and frequent sucking builds a better supply and faster growing lambs than if the lamb is sleepy for a few days, just like humans.

From the sounds of Members' responses, oversupply seems to be greatest with the first baby, but may extend to following babies. It is interesting that a couple of Members have had leaking from 4 mo. I can remember a clearish discharge during pregnancy, but no puddles at night, and no letdown sensation.

L

thats interesting, louise. I mean, now that you mention it, it makes sense that different breeds have different milking qualities. I guess we're the same, huh?

and yeah, my oversupply was worst with my first, my mw claims that with each baby your body learns to become more efficient.
with all my oversupply of milk, I didn't experience letdown until my third child. with the first two it was all milk all the time. your puddles at night comment made me laugh. I used to sleep on a towel and keep a few extra tshirts and towels at my bed for frequent changing during the night.