My breasts spring and squirt milk all over the place!

My breasts spring leak and just squirt milk all over the place! What should I do? My baby latches on, takes a few gulps, and then starts fussing & choking and pulls away, and the nipple keeps on spraying, even after she’s let go.

I was caught off guard the first time my breasts sprung and squirted milk all over the place. I had never seen this happen to anyone before, and even though I knew it was expected, I wasn’t prepared for the sensation. It’s like your body is just suddenly saying, “HEY! HERE’S THE MILK!” And then, all of a sudden, bam! There’s milk everywhere. And then you have to laugh because what else will you do? You’re in the middle of Target or something, and suddenly, there’s milk shooting out of your chest.

I’ve tried putting a pump on it to collect the sprayed milk (to keep it from shooting her all over the face or from drenching my burp cloth). Even without pumping, I can collect almost 1/2 oz in about 20 seconds, just holding the pump to my breast. Once the spraying stops, if I press gently on the breast, it keeps spraying.

When I look at the nipple, it looks as if there’s a tiny flap of the nipple (as big as the tip of a needle) that stands up, and that is where the milk flows from. It isn’t something that happens every time, but it didn’t used to happen. It started happening in the evenings, maybe two weeks ago. And this morning, it happened, and it’s all been on the same side.

La Leche League

I have called the La Leche League contact in my area, who said to try different feeding positions – such as sitting her more upright or leaning back and having her suck “up” so she has a little more control of the milk flow. The problem with my leaning back is that it causes the baby’s head to rest on my breast, which, as I explained before, causes pressure on the breast, making it spray.

They also said to try feeding her more often, which is problematic since she sleeps like a log, and nothing but a diaper change will wake her. I usually nurse on one side, change her diaper, and then nurse on the same side (I used to nurse on the alternate side since that’s what all the books say, but the LLL person told me to try doing the same side to lessen the milk flow).

I am trying to figure out what to do about this, if it’s a common problem, how long it will last, etc. She is traumatized by this breast, and I don’t want it to get to a point where I’ll have to constantly feed her on the non-spraying one while I pump the spraying breast.
Any help you can give will be appreciated.
Thanks.

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My breasts spring and squirt milk – Responses

Your story is so typical of new breastfeeding moms. At first, when breastfeeding, nothing seems to be happening because it is just colostrum, and there’s not much of it. Later, when your milk comes in, then woo-woo, it’s everywhere! Yes, it does squirt everywhere. Yes, the baby does choke and spit from the big gush. So what do you do?

Some of it is to try different positions, as the LLL suggested. One is to keep a towel around so you can sop up the extra milk so it’s not so devastating and messy. If you are within the “normal” range (in other words, you don’t have any particular medical condition), the problem of having too much milk should go away in about two weeks. It takes time for your body to determine how much milk is needed. Your body makes too much and will make less and less until it is just the right amount of milk for each feeding.

I would avoid pumping the milk out with a breast pump. That would make your breast make more milk because it thinks all the milk is being consumed. If you want to avoid overwhelming your baby with a big rush of milk, you can massage your breast to get the milk coming (let down), wipe or collect this initial rush, and then put the baby to the breast when the milk isn’t flowing so heavily.

By: Diana

My breasts spring and squirt milk all over the place! – ideas

1) Use a nursing cover if breastfeeding: it will keep your baby’s head warm and protect your clothes from getting soaked.

2) Wear layers to remove them easily when you start leaking (and put them back on again once you’ve stopped). It might seem like a hassle, but trust me, it beats having wet clothes between you and your baby!

3) Pack an extra shirt or two in your diaper bag so you have something dry when it happens again later that day (or week).

Problem Solved Itself! – My breasts spring and squirt milk

Hi,
I wanted to report back on the ‘spraying’ issue posted above.
My little girl is six weeks old now. My left breast (the
“Spraying” one) doesn’t spray anymore, so I can tell.
However, the right one does, but it isn’t as forceful,
and she doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.
So, yeah… the problem resolved itself in time. I think the right breast will be OK in time, too.
Thanks for the moral support. :^)