Too much milk.... A blessing or a curse?

Note It’s completely normal to have plenty of milk in the first few weeks while your supply settles. This is a great time to feed responsively, ensuring that your milk production adjusts to your baby’s needs. However, that early fullness isn’t the same as ongoing oversupply. If you’re struggling with too much milk, you’re not alone—and support is available.

As breastfeeding supporters we hear it a lot - parents worried that they are not producing enough milk. Surely they'd love to have 'too much milk'?

Wouldn't it be great to have plenty of milk to store away in the freezer for that evening off, or ready for mixing with solids or starting nursery?

Wouldn't it be great to have some extra milk to donate to some babies in need?

Surely having too much milk could never be a bad thing? Always having plenty of milk and never having to worry would be a blessing wouldn't it?

When too much milk becomes a problem:

After birth, when mature milk comes in, it’s produced in large amounts. Your breasts may feel full, heavy, hot, stretched, and uncomfortable. Over time, this settles into a supply-and-demand process—your body makes the amount your baby needs. Clever, isn’t it?

But what if your supply doesn’t settle? What if you constantly feel full, heavy, and uncomfortable? You might be tempted to express for relief or feed your baby more often. However, these responses can actually increase milk production further, creating a cycle of oversupply. If you already have plenty of milk then increasing it more is not what you need! Not to mention the feeling of heavy full breasts more frequently.

Signs of oversupply:

Oversupply can lead to a forceful letdown, making it difficult for your baby to manage the flow. Think of a fully inflated balloon—when you release the neck, it zooms wildly around the room. Similarly, when your breasts are overfull, milk can spray out with force, making feeds challenging for your baby.

Signs in baby:

• coughing and spluttering, from trying to manage the flow (this is common in many breasts in the first few weeks but should normally settle down. In true oversupply this may continue).

• extra possetting/vomit (from too much milk going in and needing to go somewhere)

• poo of varying colours, and many many many wet nappies

• may be fast weight gain (not as great as it sounds! We prefer steady weight gain!)

• wind/gas (mostly from the gulping)

• trying to slow the flow by clamping down on the nipple or having a shallow latch

Parent's symptoms may be:

• uncomfortable breasts

• sore/cracked nipples (from the clamping)

• blockages, mastitis

• leaking copiously

Why might oversupply happen?

• Breastfeeding management: early expressing and unintentionally increasing supply (including using a silicone suction device!). So you are putting in that extra demand for milk and the body responds! Then of course we’re stuck in a cycle of expressing for comfort/feeding more and continuing the larger supply.

• Medical: a condition called hyperprolactinemia where the body makes too much prolactin (the milk making hormone). Needing to take medications that may cause an increase in supply, thyroid conditions or tumours.

• Subsequent baby: Our bodies are quirky in that during pregnancy of our second/third/etc babies, we actually make more milk making tissue than we did the last time! Fantastic, especially if supply wasn't totally fabulous last time.

Is there anything we can do about it?

• Feed when baby needs. Responsive feeding helps your body regulate milk production naturally. Avoid excessive expressing or collecting, which can send extra demand signals.

• Block feeding: this should always be done under the supervision of a health provider experienced in lactation, or a Lactation Consultant. The theory is that you can reduce supply by feeding on one side for a set amount of time. This means that the unused side is remaining full for a time so then feedback signals can be sent to the brain to slow down supply. This process should not be done for longer than a couple of days in case it has negative implications for supply. There are variations of black feeding which could work well for different parents, so it’s worth have a chat with someone who knows.

• Switching. It has been suggested that switching breasts in the middle of a feed could work similarly to block feeding. If the breast is only being half emptied during a feed then the result should be a reduction in the amount of milk that is made. This should also be done under supervision, and is not always helpful.

• Altering medications or having a health review. These should be spoken about with your doctor.

If you need support with too much milk, or Oversupply, then please get in contact, or book me here:

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