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stuartjr
10-16-2008, 02:12 PM
Hi, I have a questions about the consistency of my milk. I just started back to work and started pumping regularly, so I am now able to actually see my milk. First a little background: I have finally gotten my oversupply/overactive letdown & foremilk/hindmilk imbalance undercontrol with block feeding. Except now that I am back to work, I have been pumping, so my supply has gone back up a bit. My problem is, I noticed yesterday while pumping, that some of the foremilk that came out was sort of bubbly, which would totally explain why that would cause gas in my baby, but today I pumped almost 4 oz. of foremilk that was so bubbly and fizzy it looked like soda pop! I am so worried that something I may be eating, or some other factor might be causing this in my milk. Is this part of the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance coming back? I made sure, though, to add some hindmilk from the other breast into the bottle of the foremilk. Any thoughts?
KerrySmithIBCLC
10-16-2008, 02:22 PM
As long as you're pumping both breasts for an adequate amount of time (ideally, you should pump until a couple minutes after you're no longer getting any drops), you should get an appropriate amount of foremilk and hindmilk. It's easy to worry about it when you can SEE it so clearly, but as long as your baby seems to be doing okay, I would try not to worry about it.

How long do you pump for?
stuartjr
10-16-2008, 02:34 PM
Well, I just started back to work on Monday, so its only been 4 days in, but I usually pump around 10 minutes. I still have a few drops coming out, but not very much at all. I think b/c of my oversupply, it takes me a long time to get the hindmilk. On the time I was referring to I pumped until I was dry, but no hindmilk came out. I usually nurse my son on one side for 2 feedings in a row to keep supply undercontrol and make sure he gets hindmilk. I have noticed he has been a little extra gassy lately. Have you every heard of anything like my fizzy milk?
KerrySmithIBCLC
10-16-2008, 02:45 PM
I would try to pump longer than 10 minutes. I would also do breast compression while you pump to try to get out more of the hindmilk:

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/15breast_compression.html

I'm not sure what would cause the milk to look bubbly or fizzy, though. I've never heard of that before, I'm sorry!
stuartjr
10-16-2008, 02:55 PM
I'll try it thanks