Baby choking on squirting milk

[rachelleling]

Hi mummies, would like some advice. I have no experience in latching as I did exclusive pumping for my first child.

I have been latching my 14 day old baby. She was hospitalised for 2 nights and off breastmilk (given fm) as she was suspected to have breastmilk jaundice. So, while she was away, I pumped out my milk to store. Before she was on fm, she had no prob with latching.

The prob came after she was discharged. I think after pumping, my breasts began to squirt milk. So, when I tried to latch her on, the milk squirted and she choked on my milk. After that, she became wary and did not dare to and rejected my breasts. I needed to coax her a few times before she was willing to latch further.

The prob is my boobs are quite engorged and hard after 3 hours (I feed her 3 hourly). So i think becos of this, my let down is quite fast flow and the squirting is quite high pressure. That is why she got choked. Any mummies with similar encounters? What did you do to overcome this? I am really worried that she would reject latching. TIA!

 

[pink_popsicles]

how abt u pump first before feeding her? so she wont get e fast letdown & instead get e milk that is 'slow' already?
may i ask y do u feed her every 3 hrs? bfeeding (esp latching) should b on demand; i've never had a feeding schedule for my baby & he would latch anytime everytime.
getting baby back to e breast needs patience & coaxing, so jia you!

 

[pink_popsicles]

http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/

hope this helps! kellymom has wonderful tips on bfeeding!

 

[rachelleling]

Thanks for sharing! Baby is jaundiced and i was told to feed her often so as to let her pass out the bilirubin. So, if she din wake up after 3 hours, will wake her up to feed. But actually more importantly, i wake her after 3 hours to relief my engorgement.

Will I have time to pump out before latching as she will be wailing for milk? Also, without a fixed schedule and doing feed on demand, how will I know when to pump?

Now, the choking on squirting milk not as bad. she seemed to know how to pull off when the pressure too high for her to handle. I just had to clear up the mess after feeding.

Aiyo, I guess I just have to go by instinct and pump as and when I think i shd.

 

[cjymom]

Hi, just to share. I did it 2 ways:
One was to pump a little before I feed her. I will usually pump just a little everytime I feel engorged. This is to relieve the pressure as well as to avoid too much squirting. Just remember not to pump too much out coz the more you pump, the more milk will be produced and the letdown will continue to be v strong. So perhaps instead of waking her up, you pump every 3 hours?

The other way was to unlatch her when I feel the letdown. Get a towel on standby and once you feel the letdown, unlatch her and let the milk squirt into the towel. Latch her back once the squirting stops. This one may take a bit of practice, coz my daughter would make noise when I unlatch her. So got to "endure" her noise for a couple of minutes before I latch her back.

But after a while, my daughter learned to adapt to the strong letdown and perhaps also coz she was bigger and could drink faster. Nowadays, when it is too strong for her, she'll just pull away herself. Hahah...babaies are quite smart!

Hope it helps.

 

[rachelleling]

Thanks cjymom!
I just latched her and my bed was wet again from the milk squirt. sigh. What happened was I latch her on the left breast for 10 min. Then, before I change to rt breast, I hand express a little to get the letdown going first. then, i tried to latch her. But then, she onlylatched for 2 min and let go. causing the bed to be wet.

It was so messy! I din know whether to attend to her cos milk was flowing out of her mouth or stop my squirt or clean the bed!

So, after that, i realise she's satisifed from one breast and i pump the rt breast. Just to relief the engorgement.

You think is good idea that I latch only one breast and if she din take the next breast, I just pump and store? Is it going to be too much milk then?

 

[cjymom]

Hi Rachelle,
Yup, I also had a lot of laundry to do initially and had to wipe floor n furniture after feeds

. In the end, I just standby towel so i can catch the spray or mop up during the feed, but sometimes still have to change clothes.

I only use one side in each feed coz I read that if there is a lot of milk n we switch sides during feed, baby will end up with too much fore milk n not enough hind milk which contains all the gd fat. I believe u have excess milk too, to have such a strong letdown. For the other side, I used to pump out some milk to relieve the engorgement. After a few days, the breasts will adapt n no need to pump any more. Only thing is to remember which side u used in the last feed...But if u feel the breast, u'll know which one is full n which one is not.

Gd luck!

 

[marcjo]

Hi Rachelle,

I had this problem 2 years ago and i gave up feeding my girl after 3 months. It was then the Mount Alvernia (I gave birth there) nurse call to check on me, unfortunately i have stopped. She told me there's ways to help... one of it was to breastfeed while the mummy is lying down side ways. This will slow down the let down. You can give it a try or u could also get help by calling them ( The breastfeeding hot-line of mount alvernia). I'm sure they will help!

I hope this helps.

Joanne

 

[rachelleling]

Thanks for sharing, mummies!

What I do now is to prep towels standby just in case she pulls off the nipple. So far so good. I think either she is getting used to the pressure or my supply is slowly regulating itself, now not as bad.

Hopefully i can continue to bf successfully!