Breastfeeding Problems & Solutions

Some people are such naturals with breastfeeding. Some mamas enjoy it and find it relaxing and a great bonding experience. Other mama’s struggle to make enough milk, experience a lot of pain, have babies that don’t want to latch, and the list goes on and on.

Breastfeeding Problems & Solutions Includes:

-My Difficult Breastfeeding Experience

-Breastfeeding Problems & Solutions Including:

• Overproducing Milk
• Spraying Milk
• Baby Having Trouble Handling the Force of Milk
• Soaking Your Clothes with Milk

My Difficult Breastfeeding Experience with Overproducing Breastmilk

My breastfeeding experience wasn’t easy and it took a long time to get the hang of it. But, it wasn’t easy for a different reason than you may have heard of before. I was making too much milk and would spray it everywhere when I tried to breastfeed my son. 

Before you roll your eyes and think that isn’t much of a problem, let me explain. It was an absolute mess! But don’t get me wrong, I am so very thankful that I was able to produce the milk my son needed.

However, overproducing breast milk combined with my milk spraying EVERYWHERE, came with many challenges! To help get it under control, I spent a lot of time on the phone with the breastfeeding consultant at my hospital. I’d call back each week telling the consultant how things were going and she would give me new tips! 

My milk would let down so forcefully that it would spray everywhere. This was extremely challenging for my newborn son to handle! He was choking and coughing because he couldn’t handle how quickly the milk was coming out. He couldn’t drink it fast enough and it was pitiful. 

When he would take a break from drinking and unlatch, my milk would spray all over his face and into his eyes and nose. 

Also, while I was feeding him on one boob, the breastmilk was spewing out the other boob quickly. It would soak through my cloth breast pad, my bra, and through my shirt…every time! 

My son and I smelled like sour milk for weeks. There was no way we could both take a bath after every feeding, so I just cleaned us up the best I could and kept surviving that new-mom life.  

I was changing both of our clothes after almost every feeding because we were covered in milk, and that was a lot of laundry! I tried putting a hand towel on the boob that he was not eating from and it would soak through the towel as well.

Breastfeeding Problems & Solutions:

But, with help from a consultant, I found how to manage and work through my breastfeeding problems with these solutions! Then I even started to love breastfeeding and was so glad I didn’t give up. 

Overproducing Milk? Try Tandem nursing:

So I was breastfeeding my son on one boob, while a ton of milk was spewing out the other boob that he wasn’t nursing from. Then, I would switch and let him eat from the boob that had just spewed out all that milk. That means my body was thinking I needed twice the amount of milk than he actually required. This was because I was emptying so much milk each feeding and half of it wasn’t even going to baby, just spewing out onto my clothes!

My breastfeeding consultant suggested I alternate feeding him from only one boob each feeding. He still got the milk he needed! I kept up with which boob he ate from last by documenting it on an app on my phone. Or I could have just felt which one felt rock hard, haha! 

Spraying Milk? Use a Milkies Milk-Saver:

The next suggestion from a breastfeeding consultant was to try and pinch or hold the nipple that wasn’t been nursed on, to keep the milk from spraying out. I found this incredibly difficult to do. I was still a breastfeeding newbie and trying to hold my son and keep him from getting sprayed in the face. 

So, instead, I thought I might as well try to save all this milk that was being wasted! I learned about the Milkies Milk-Saver! You slip it into your bra and it catches the milk, so that you can save it! Or at least not let it get all over your clothes. 

After you finish nursing baby, pour the milk into a storage bag!. The Milk-Saver is also easy to clean! The best part is that it is dishwasher safe, just rinse it off before putting in the dishwasher and put it on the top rack!!

It has a case to put it in, so throw it in the diaper bag for when you have to breastfeed on the go. It is BPA-free and phthalate-free! 

I love this thing! It is soft too, so it’s not uncomfortable when you have it in your bra. It’s really easy to use, and I didn’t smell like sour milk anymore after feedings! Win-Win! 

Just make sure to remove the Milk-Saver from your bra before you change a diaper, lean over, etc because the milk will spill out. I learned that the hard way…several times. haha!

Click Here to Buy Milk Saver

Baby Having Trouble Handling the Force of Milk?

Well, Wait a Minute Before You Breastfeed Baby:

In the beginning, I mentioned that my son was pitiful when I was breastfeeding him because the milk was coming out so fast and hard that he couldn’t handle it.

The breastfeeding consultant told me he would get used to it eventually. BUT, as he was adjusting, she suggested I let him latch on my nipple until my milk would let down. Then, take him off to let the milk spray into a towel for a minute. Of course, he didn’t love this when he was ready to eat, but it was pretty quick. 

The milk would start slowing down and then I’d start feeding him again. It made for a much more comfortable breastfeeding experience for both of us, to let the milk slow down before he started eating. (You can let your milk spray into a baby bottle to save too, instead of spraying into a towel! I’m all about saving that milk!) 

Soaking Your Clothes with BreastMilk?

You Need Disposable Breast Pads!

I know people swear by the cloth breast pads that you can wash. They are more comfortable, I get it. But, when your milk soaks right through those in .2 seconds like mine did, you need something else.

Even when I wasn’t breastfeeding, sometimes my milk would let down randomly. I needed pads that would keep the milk from soaking through to my clothes.

These disposable pads are the best! They hold a lot of milk. Of course, peeling the little stickers off the adhesives is annoying, but not as annoying as milk-soaked clothes!

Click Here to Buy Disposable Breast Pads

Are you Frustrated with Breastfeeding Your Baby?

Hang in there, Mama! 

By using these breastfeeding tips, I NEVER had to pump before returning to work. I had SO many bags of milk saved in the freezer from catching milk! It was so simple and one less thing I had to worry about. 

All of these suggestions came from the breastfeeding consultants at the hospital I delivered at. Make sure to ask who you can contact about breastfeeding before you are discharged after childbirth. This was FREE. Without their support and advice, I would have given up. Which is OKAY, if breastfeeding isn’t what you think is best for you and your baby. 

However, I went on to breastfeed my son until he was 15 months old. It became relaxing and that wonderful bonding experience that I didn’t think existed in the beginning. This may not be the case for everyone, but for me, it DID GET BETTER. Hang in there, Mama. Babies are hard. But the absolute BEST. 

Check out some of my other posts:

• Pumping BreastMilk Made Easy
• Newborn Baby Care Tips & Hacks
• Baby Proof Hacks and Ideas

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