Breastfeeding - Fast Letdown - Help!

I had a really fast, strong letdown also. I would express some milk (by hand) before each feeding-just enough to get past the strong spray. I didn't want to increase my milk supply. Then, I would lay on my back with the baby on his tummy to nurse. I don't know if it was the gravity slowing the milk or the baby's position, but it helped prevent him from choking and gagging. My daughter adjusted to the letdown at around 4 months old and my son did at around 5 months old so that I didn't need to do those things anymore. At that point breastfeeding became much more enjoyable for both the babies and myself. Both of my children nursed for 2 years. I hope you find something that works for you and your baby.

Have you tried manually expressing some of the first milk into a container?
And let him latch on after you've done that?
Congratulations on your healthy baby
and your eagerness to make feeding easier for him.

I had the same issue and would begin the let down myself and catch it in a diaper cloth. i would only let my ds latch on once the initial let down was done and had slowed.

I agree with initially pumping just a bit and then save that milk (if someone is not using it for bottles, save it for cereal in a few months). I used to feel like I was hosing my kids down when they nursed, and it wasn't just the let-down. If they pulled off for some reason, to giggle or coo or something, they were getting soaked from milk actually spraying all over them. Sometimes, yes, they gagged on it too. Those points I think I did try to express a bit just to get it under control. My older son was always in the 95% percentile for his weight, which I thought was pretty good for only breastmilk (he's now the same for weight but also very tall, so completely healthy). My younger boy is smaller but was also early and has a different build. He still looked like a pudge. :)

Jill Y's suggestion of nursing on your back might be a good idea. My favorite position was ALWAYS on my side in bed with a thick cloth under us. I am very large-chested, so I think it was easier on my kids not to have the breast weight (and easier on me). Either way, side or back, gravity isn't helping gag the baby and any extra milk is going to run off somewhere else.

laying on or close to on my back has helped me drastically with this issues, that way the milk is shooting up...my letdown seems to have slowed a bit now that my daughter is 8 months. I had to pump partially the first three months though because she couldn't handle it.

I had the same thing, esp 1st feeding of the morning when I was really full. I used a warm compress/cloth to start the let down. It would catch the shooting milk when I first let down and relieved the pressure. Then my baby could successfully latch on without being gagged by milk shooting into the back of her throat and have so much milk being pushed into her mouth faster than she could swallow it.

For me, this was only an issue for the first couple of months, and then my body did seem to normalize out. But if she slept well at night, then sometimes I'd be so engorged in the morning, I'd have to either take a warm shower and massage some milk out or do the warm compress thing to give me some relief and her the ability to suck without being gagged.

If you can let down/express a little bit of milk before nursing this will likely help him to latch on successfully without being painful for you too. All of the pressure means that your nipple isn't as pliable, so it hurts when he's latching on.

For the warm compress I'd put a little warm water on a washcloth, or microwave it for a few seconds, then tuck it into my bra. Once the let down started, the wash cloth helped catch all the milk. Then I could let the baby nurse with no problems.

Best wishes and stick with it!

I've always heard the same as Shira is suggesting-pump off a bit to get past that first fast let down.