Breastfeeding is hard

I know that some people have problems with not having enough milk. Fortunately, I am not one of those people. In fact, I seem to suffer from the opposite problem.

For the past few days, Evan has been fussy after eating. At first I thought it could be reflux and I would keep him vertical after eating and we put an incline pillow in his bed for him to lay on. It kinda helped. A little bit. But he was still grunting and seemed to be in pain. And gassy.

So, I googled and think that at least part of the problem is that I have forceful letdowns (i.e. a lot of milk at once) and Evan gulps (and kinda chokes) and ends up swallowing a bunch of air. I think also, that since I do have so much milk, he may be getting more foremilk than hindmilk. Foremilk has more proteins in it and can cause gassiness and stomach irritation because it's more difficult to digest than the more fatty hindmilk.

So for now, before changing my diet (I need cream in my coffee and have been craving grilled cheese and dairy would be the first thing to go), I'm attempting to curb the flow of milk by nursing on only one side per feeding. This causes a slight problem in that by the time Evan's ready to eat again, the other side is really painful and completely full of milk. I'm hoping that within a couple days my body will figure it out.

And I'm hoping that as Evan's body continues to develop, it will be better able to process the milk. I have to remember that his body has only been doing this whole digesting thing for 3 weeks now.

By the way, happy three week birthday, Evan!