What is a let down? What does it mean to have a let down that is fast or slow?

Are you a new mom or soon to be mom? Are you planning on breastfeeding or maybe you have already started your journey and are looking for some information, no matter what, I can help! Let’s dive in!

A let down is the action of your breast milk being released once your nipples are stimulated by your baby. Actually, it can happen when you hear a baby cry, your boobs are full or even when a partner is touching them. No matter how it happens, a let down is when the milk is released.

You can have a slow or fast let down. The release speed of the milk is to what this refers. Many women can feel this let down. It may be a flowing feeling, a stinging or prickles feeling or even a slight burning feeling. Some may not feel it at all and will only know that it has happened because they can hear their baby swallowing.

This particular post is about a fast let down. Fast let downs can be a little disconcerting because your baby often seems to be choking on milk and needs to pull off. I have seen some information that mentions forcing the baby to stay latched during this time because they should be able to control the release by tightening their latch. This is NOT that. I have breastfed 6 babies of progressing amounts of time and I will never get behind that. I’m sure that this does work for some people but I could not do it.

This is about what you can do to help with a fast let down. A few tips that you can actually use that are not forcing your baby to seem like they are drowning in the very liquid that gives them life.

Number one is break the latch and let the speed of the milk slow down. The fast speed will not last the entire time. If you have breastfed before you will know that the speed slows and the baby begins to work more to get it out. I used this method all the time when my babies were newborns and it was just too much for them. I would keep a burp rag under their face and just hold them in the breastfeeding hold that I chose while we waited. It truly took just a few seconds to a minute and then you can latch again and feed with ease!

Number two is use a silicone catcher so as not to waste that milk. I previously had mentioned using a Haakaa in other posts, which you still can but there have been some new complaints with it recently, about creating an oversupply and possibly causing nipple irritation. My supply has always been a little extra so I have never noticed it personally. With that new information though I would like to move toward just a catcher and not a silicone pump such as this one.

Finally, you can pump a little before you feed your baby and allow the pump to collect the let down and then nurse your baby after it has slowed. I like this option because you can pump both sides at the same time for a little bit and help build your supply. It is nice to have a little milk sitting in a bottle for later- maybe for a dad feed or for an older child. However, I don’t like this because pumping is a lot of extra work for an overtired, healing mom with a newborn who is waking up crying and hungry. They do not want to wait for their comfort food. A crying newborn is extremely distressing for a new mom no matter how many babies they have had. A little later when the baby is a little older this would work better, but at that point they probably are able to handle the let down. So it would definitely be personal preference. However, I want to note that pumping to build a freezer stock such as what you see all over Pinterest, should not be a goal. It is normal and healthy to only produce what. your. baby. needs. And some babies will not take frozen milk because of the breakdown of components that can give it a soapy taste. I want you to know when I say build your supply I only mean a little pumping and not oversupply for the freezer. Okay? Okay!

I haven’t dealt with this problem long when I have which was every baby. But it is super distressing when you don’t know what is happening. Hopefully this will help you with your new baby!

Did you ever deal with a fast let down?