Oversupply
Also called over supply, breast milk oversupply, hyperlactation
Oversupply means a breastfeeding parent makes more milk than their baby needs. Doctors also call it hyperlactation, and it often turns up alongside a fast let-down.
How it's said
Has anyone dealt with an over supply and/or fast let-down when breastfeeding?
I've also had oversupply problems, lots of milk squirting everywhere and painful breasts with lumps most days.
Literally no such thing as "over supply", it's only week 6 so things will gradually settle and even out.
Who says it
Not to be confused with
- A fast let-down, or forceful let-down, is about how hard the milk flows once it starts, while oversupply is about how much milk is made. Cleveland Clinic calls the fast flow an overactive milk ejection reflex.
Where it came from
Oversupply is a plain English word, over- plus supply, that Dictionary.com dates to the 1820s or 1830s.
In breastfeeding it names milk made beyond what the baby takes. A 2016 review in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine says it is sometimes known as hyperlactation or hypergalactia, and that much less has been written about it than about low supply. Cleveland Clinic files it under hyperlactation, also known as breastfeeding oversupply.