Doodle was such an easy-going baby, for a while. And then he became a screaming, raging lunatic like Sugarplum. Hubby and I often talk about when the switch happened and we aren’t really able to pinpoint when or why. But as I read back over my post on my breastmilk oversupply issue, it brought a little more light to our situation and I’m starting to think that is when his fussiness started.
I knew coming into life with #4 that we would probably encounter the same issue again after the problems I had with Doodle and realizing that Sugarplum was probably struggling as well and I didn’t know it because hers was less severe. So I’ve been watching for the signs with Pipsqueak from the beginning and it didn’t take long for the signs to show up.
Within the first week he was having really bad gas, all the time! I began block feeding when he was 10 days old, doing two feeds per breast as I did with Doodle. And while this was the easy solution for Doodle and took care of the gas issue with Pipsqueak, a few days later he was having green poo which are not normal for a breastfed baby.
So I switched to the other type of block feeding and have been feeding him the same side for about 4 hours before switching. The point of block feeding (either method) when dealing with an oversupply is to ensure baby is emptying each breast before switching in order to get the fattier hindmilk because it is a lack of fat in baby’s diet that causes the green stools.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a cure-all. Pipsqueak still has at least one super green stool each day and sometimes a few yellow/green mixed stools as well in addition to some really good yellow, seedy stools as are expected from an exclusively breastfed baby.
In addition to the breastmilk oversupply, I also have a forceful letdown which Doodle struggled with but Pipsqueak seems to do okay with other than occasionally choking, usually in the middle of a feed when he starts to either doze off or get lazy eating. But he’s already showing some of the other signs of a breastmilk oversupply like appearing colicky (his fussy period is usually in the mornings); grunting between feeds; wanting to nurse frequently and feeding for a short time; has a stuffy nose; a lot of wet and messy diapers; and constantly trying to suck on his hands.
I’m still hoping that my supply will regulate itself and things will even out and my sweet boy will move into a happy breastfed poo phase and I just hope it happens before any of the other effects of breastmilk oversupply set in like spitting up frequently; sensitivity to over stimulation like loud noises or handling by other people; and the one I’m most worried about which is rapid weight gain followed by “falling off” the charts by a few months old which is what all my children have done but it was most noticeable in Sugarplum who gained 3 pounds her first month putting her at 75% then dropping to under 5% by 6 months where she stayed until she was three years old.
Did you ever resolve the green poops!?! I’m in the same boat with oversupply and block feeding for 6 hours. Little guy is four months old today and has this issue for 3 months now. Sometimes it turns yellow but there’s always a few green ones! I have bad over active letdown too… any suggestions?
Oversupply and overactive let down are certainly no fun! Block feeding helped us a lot, within a few days of doing two feeds per side the green poos resolved with the first time and because I knew the other symptoms to look for I was able to avoid the green poos completely with this last baby. My only suggestion for the overactive/forceful letdown is to hand express a little bit before feeding (either into a bottle or just a small bit into a towel if you’re not concerned about saving it) to get the flow going and take the edge off the letdown for the baby. Maybe this would also help with the poos as it will remove some of the waterier foremilk.