Dealing with oversupply

Little one is 12 days old now and I have been exclusively breastfeeding her but had to express and bottle feed due to weight loss. The midwife told me to express/pump every 2-3 hours but now I’ve ended up with a ridiculous oversupply, plus I’d like to get back to nursing baby more instead of using the bottle (will still give her one or two bottles a day). I can’t go a couple of hours now without my boobs getting rock hard and leaking so I have to pump even just for 10 mins to get some relief. I’m ended up with 150ml+ every session so my supply has increased massively. How can I start lowering this and being more lead by baby rather than pump without getting completely engorged and blocked up? I thought I’d take my bra off just for 5 mins to relax this morning and just ending up leaking all over my t-shirt 😞
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An oversupply at the beginning is very normal. The best thing you can do is just latch baby constantly because they will regulate your supply whether it’s actively feeding or just comforting suckling. This will let your body know what amount baby needs milk wise. Also the charts that midwives go off are actually formula fed babies and breastfed babies are a lot slower to gain the weight back because breastmilk is a lot quicker to digest so breastfed babies get hungry a lot quicker, so feed more. I can recommend putting a Hakka on your other side just to catch your letdown from the boob that baby is not feeding off.

This was me last week, my freezer was full in about a week instead I had someone out to help with breastfeeding and because I was so full baby wouldn't latch so she said hand express for comfort then stop don't use a pump my supply is fine I'm feeding all the time now and if I do express for a bottle I still get 6oz combined x

I'm 18days pp x

Feed baby responsively and if you are engorged between feeds you can hand express some off for comfort. If you continue to pump for engorgement you are telling your body to keep making even more milk. Same with a haaka. They are effectively pumps if you are using them with the suction. Collection cups that just rest in your bra are good for catching any leaks

I’m 5 month pp but had this in the early days too! It settled down around 8-12 weeks and the leaking/rock hard boobs became more manageable. Silicone collection cups helped me so much. I just wore them in my bra and collected all the leaks then froze it (still making my way through the supply now!). Also investing in decent reusable breast pads helped!! Latch your baby whenever you feel engorged but try not to pump too much if you can as this will encourage your supply further. Over supply issues aren’t always talked about but can be such a pain and really take a toll mentally so look after yourself 💕 you got this!!

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