Letdown

[SASM]

Just out of curiosity...

Do you feel letdown? Do you feel it everytime? What does it feel like to you?

[nigele]

I feel my let-down now and then. It's weird but I don't feel it while the baby is feeding... It feels like pins and needles.

[Rachels]

When Abigail was newborn, I felt it EVERY time. It felt like pins and needles. Now I only feel it every so often, and it's sometimes just more of a pulling feeling.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[kfcboston]

I feel mine too most of the time I think, although sometimes DS will react on the breast like I have let down but I didn't feel it. And I like the pins and needles description.

[mharling]

I have felt it a couple times. I expected to feel it more so I asked about it in my breastfeeding support group yesterday. The LC said that a lot of woman never feel it, especially with the first.

Mary
Mommy to Lane Michael 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33928e40550

[chrissyhowie]

I often feel letdown, but not every time that I breastfeed. To me it feels sort of like pins and needles, but with a slight ache and dull fullness in the breasts.

The strangest thing was when I started to feel letdown when pumping! That's when I knew my body was getting used to my pump!

Edited to add that Ian Riley has a great birthdate!:)

[deenass]

I feel it A LOT (not usually during nightime feedings though) it feels like a burning sensation.

[SASM]

It is just strange how it feels different for everyone. I THINK I am feeling letdown but it is not pins and needles but almost like muscles tightening. Hmmm...

Chrissy, great date, huh? I was actually a *little* happy when Ian came late because now there is no question about his "sign" ~ definitely not on the cusp, like Mommy :-) It's GREAT that you are feeling it while pumping ~ that is my problem! I have difficulty letting down while pumping, despite the tricks.

[lisams]

My letdown feels like muscles tightening! The funny thing is I always feel it in the opposite side she's feeding on. I didn't start feeling until she was about 4 months and then I realized that the tight feeling happened right as she started her long sucks.

Lisa

[22tango]

Never. I only know it's happening because her swallowing becomes very rhythmic and it's obvious. But I don't feel a thing...I wonder if I'll feel anything with the next baby??

[csa12]

Hi Sharyn!
I totally feel letdown happening every time when nursing. To me it feels like a strong "flowing " feeling if that makes sense. I also see Liam's reaction when its happening too.

Hope all is well,
Cheryl :)

Oh yeah LOVE Ian's pix! What a cutie! :)

[chrissyhowie]

Sharyn--

You're not going to believe this, but I have a cusp birthday too! How coincidental is that! If you are a Sagitarius/Capricorn too, that will be way too weird!

[jubilee]

It is like a sudden rush of fullness, and I only feel it when Logan is bawling because I have waited to long to feed him, or when I *think* about breastfeeding too long. Pins and needles is a good way to describe it.

[parkersmama]

I do know that not everyone experiences a letdown feeling but I think that most people feel it in the early stages of breastfeeding. The longer you nurse your baby, the less you will feel a letdown. As your child gets older and your breasts are accustomed to nursing, the letdown feeling almost goes away completely. I think that it's also common to mostly feel the letdown on the breast opposite the one being nursed. I believe that this is because the "full" feeling is being taken care of immediately in that breast versus the other one that is having to "handle" the sudden inflow of milk with nowhere to go! When you begin to nurse most babies do a fast sucking that stimulates the letdown response. As soon as the letdown occurs, the baby begins to gulp and swallow the milk and the suck slows down. After nursing for months with my older kids, the sudden swallowing was the only way I could tell that I'd had a letdown since the sensation had gone away. One more thing, from my experience and talking to other moms, the feeling of a letdown is something you never forget. At times when I haven't been nursing, just talking about nursing, newborns, and letdowns would make my breasts tingle! Sort of how you never forget what morning sickness is like! LOL!