The entire process of being pregnant and giving birth can be a very bittersweet experience. As exciting as it is to finally hold your baby in your arms, you will also be confronted by a lot of responsibilities that pile up on your shoulders, one after the other. If it’s your first baby, it’s natural for you to feel super nervous and completely hell-bent on doing everything right. One of the biggest challenges that you’ll be facing is breastfeeding your baby. Initially, it’ll take some practice and a lot of pain to get the hang of it. But there are many problems that you may face on the way to successfully generating a happily fed baby. Hyperlactation Syndrome is one such problem.
What is it?
When you generate too much milk for you or your baby to handle, there you’ve got hyperlactation syndrome. You will start producing milk in excessive quantities, resulting in frequently leaking breasts. It’ll also make it difficult for your baby to properly feed off the breast, and eventually your baby may even refuse to breastfeed altogether. As a result, hyperlactation syndrome is a problem that has to be taken very seriously.
When there is an imbalance in the hormones that are responsible for the generation of milk in your breasts, you’re most likely to develop hyperlactation syndrome. Your body signs can also be a cause. The amount of milk that is produced, depends on the daily demand, and as time passes, your body starts registering this. But when you start squeezing the milk out of your breasts to give it out of a bottle at night or when you’re at work, your body gets confused at the sudden increase in demand, and thus gears itself up to produce more. Even though it’s quite rare, having an unnaturally large number of alveoli glands in your breasts can also be one of the reasons for hyperlactation syndrome.
If you’re lucky, you most probably wouldn’t have to deal with this problem. Hyperlactation syndrome is unique to only a few number of unfortunate women, so cross your fingers and pray you aren’t one of them. Still, dealing with it doesn’t have to be too difficult if you take a few preventive measures. For instance, avoid pumping just after you’ve breastfed your baby and try using only one breast to feed for a couple of hours. Adopting the dangle technique to feed your baby is also an effective way to prevent hyperlactation. You can apply cold cloths under your breast to relieve the engorgement. As weird as it sounds, placing cabbage leaves inside your bra can actually help in taking care of milk leaks.
Is it a serious problem?
Well, hyperlactation syndrome can actually cause your baby to lose his appetite because feeding becomes too difficult. On the other hand, it can also lead to your baby gaining a lot more weight than required. Therefore, it is super important that this problem be taken seriously, for the sake of both you and your baby. The best thing to do to effectively deal with hyperlactation is to continue nursing regularly, sticking to a fixed schedule and quantity.
