Dearest, Most Treasured and Informative La Leche League,
Where would I be without you? You have saved me once again from painful, confusing baby feeding issues! Will you marry me?
Love always, Pixie
Photo courtesy of LLLI.
Okay, so all of that business about reflux, lactose intolerance and colic, etcetera? I think my issue is none of them. Bless LLL for teaching me about oversupply. Can you imagine how confusing it's been to have my sweetpea choking, sputtering, burping (or vurping, as B refers to the wet burp), then fussing, arching, crying and seeming otherwise miserable before, during and after eating? It's been a circus around here at times-but not all the time. (Queue mysterious music)
Believe it or not, just as a one hundred pound wet rat such as myself can produce an eight and a half pound baby, my little ta-tas produce enough milk to feed mine plus the neighborhood children, maybe more. I can have squirt-gun like fights with them (so watch your back, kiddies.) and apparently my poor little elf is drowning when I try to feed her from a milk ejection reflex that must feel like lying on her back with a garden hose plugged in. Poor thing! She's having to adjust by nibbling on me with a shallow latch-ouch!
Oversupply is often overlooked while all of those other things are blamed, and sometimes medication is even prescribed to fix issues that aren't the real issue at all. And who needs more medication?
In this herbie home, I'm now hitting the sage tea, mint tea, feeding on one side only until completely empty, and contemplating who to tag with the other one-the supersoaker.
My hope is that my milk supply reduces a bit and little Miss can enjoy her meals in peace. And I can race back into the arms of my boyfriends, Ben and Jerry. How I've missed my precious Pistachio Pistachio! Perhaps I should write a love letter to them next...