Milk supply between feedings

Our twins are a month old and are now both breastfeeding for 80-90% of their food (we sometimes supplement with formula if I need a break from feeding/pumping). I seem to have plenty of milk, but one consequence is that I can't go for more than 2-3 hrs between nursing or pumping before my breasts start seriously leaking. My in-laws stayed with us last night and did the night feedings so we could get some sleep (which was fantastic), but I still had to wake up in the middle of the night to pump and soaked through two pajama tops even with wearing silicone pads and cotton pads.

I know I probably shouldn't complain since I am able to breastfeed well, but is there any trick to going longer between feedings without my breasts exploding? Thanks

 

I sort of had the same issue although my leakage wasnt that bad. My twins are 3.5 weeks. My supply is very good and i was leaking for the first week and half after home from hospital. I thInk in my case my milk came in very good but i was still pumping like before my milk came in. I was pumping after most breastfeeding sessions and was telling my body to make too much milk. I stopped pumping after breastfeeding and it feels like my supply got to an equilibrium. Are you maybe pumping more than the kiddos are taking? Im no expert but it seems that would tell your body to make more milk than needed.

 

Honestly, not really. Or at least, not yet & not without compromising your supply. As your twins grow & naturally start to stretch out their feeds your supply will adjust accordingly. Also, you may notice in the next couple of weeks-months that the leaking stops & you no longer feel (as) full between feedings. This is normal as your body regulates to their intake & is not a sign that your supply has dropped.

For night time, I usually slept topless on a pile of towels. That way, if the girls missed a feed or slept longer than usually I didn't need to change.

 

After last night, I'm definitely considering sleeping on towels! I'm only pumping 1-2 times per day - as little as I can get away with. One of our twins needs medications that are best taken with a bottle, so she gets at least one per day. Each day is different - some days they don't need formula and some they cluster feed for hours and I throw up my hands and give them formula to hopefully get them to sleep

Thanks for the responses... like everything, I suppose this is just temporary.

 

Hey Jen, no advice on leaking as I don't have that issue (I think my supply is low-normal as the babies nurse all. the. time and my breasts never feel full during the day even if they have a 2-hr nap or something.)

Just wanted to say I'm glad things are going well.I hear you on getting annoyed sometimes with the clusterfeeding. Mine are still clusterfeeding in the evening and tonight I gave them each 2 oz of formula for a break--but they still nursed voraciously after that! It was the first time in a while I did but we've been battling thrush and my nipples are sore.

Kept at it!
Jan

 

Apart from your babies and their needs, people often overlook the fact that your own body had to adjust to doing this new thing. With my twins, I would leak if I went 3 hours between a feed for the first 3 months! I remember thinking, how will I ever wean when the time comes? my milk just runs out of me if I don't feed them. Well that eventually stopped. One thing I've read that helps is pressing down on your nipple when you are leaking as a way to send the message to your body not to do that. I tried it, but it was hard to tell if it helped or time just got it worked out. With my singleton during the first two months this happened as well, especially in that case milk would just run out of the other side while I was feeding him. Then my nipples were so sore that I couldn't bear to press down--so it was the towel for me.

So I guess what I'm saying is yeah, it's just temporary--give it some time, maybe another six weeks and you should be past that stage.

 

Definitely temporary! A lot of women have some bit of oversupply in the beginning and it starts to regulate closer to the babies' needs around 8 weeks or so. By 12 weeks I didn't leak at all.