Maureen took note of a post in which I said: <"Every drop that is leaked, mother nature thinks went into a baby, and so produces more." <I usually lurk when I have time, but this interesting sentence from a previous post from Jean, jumped out at me since I have always understood that 'leaked milk is not reproduced' . I use 'leaking' as a major strategy for helping mothers with "too much, too fast" or issues of oversupply. Encouraging leaking from the opposite breast while nursing, leaking over a steamy hot sink prior to nursings, standing in the shower with the hot water running on her back between the shoulder blades while visualizing Niagara Falls running breastmilk to encourage leaking, and not wearing a bra, especially not to bed, to facilitate more leaking. Usually when they do this for a few days the over supply settles down and the leaking reduces enormously; the other strategies for management are implemented simultaneously too. (this topic came from the email thread re: wearing Blis to prevent leaking - I don't know what these are?)> Blis is a commercial product I have seen at breastfeeding convention booths, apparently sold to wear inside the bra to absorb, not prevent leaking, if I am remembering correctly. Somebody will correct me if I made a wrong assumption. The goal is to prevent embarrassment and leakage through clothing, especially when the mother returns to her previous social life and/or work or school. I don't think they are necessarily meant for those first weeks for the comfort leaking you are describing when engorgement is resolving. My thought, when I heard the pitch, was "Here's one more company looking to make a buck off of portraying breastfeeding as icky and messy and bothersome so as to sell some sophisticated young career mom on their product." <I have always understood that 'leaked milk is not reproduced'.> How would nature know whether it were leaked or removed by a baby? I vaguely remember I gathered this information or at least formed the concept from the principles of autocrine control and feedback inhibition. <Usually when they do this for a few days the over supply settles down and the leaking reduces enormously; the other strategies for management are implemented simultaneously too.> Which came first, the chicken or the egg? My guess is that it was not the leakage that took place, but the previous overfullness whose back pressure against the membranes of the alveoli began to tamp down the milk supply slowly. And because the supply had been tamped down, it followed that the leakage then reduced. I have had great success in helping moms balance their supply by using the ideas I first learned through Anna Utter. When the supply gets balanced, I have found that there is little or no leaking for most moms provided they don't go ridiculously long between feedings/pumpings. In the meantime, the old trick I learned at LLL 4 decades ago still works. If you feel a let-down coming on, cross your arms as if you were just an innocent observer standing by, and press each fist against the opposite nipple for two minutes till the "big push" is over. Or if it happens when latching, just press the heel of the hand over the un-nursed nipple for a few minutes. But even that can often be balanced better by slowly working toward using the same breast for all feedings occurring within 4, then 6 or very gradually, over a period of several days, all the way up 12 hours if need be, making sure the other breast gets the small amount of relief necessary to prevent discomfort and avoid plugged ducts,etc. (Dr. Jack's book describes one mom who decided to take this on up to all feedings in one 24 hour period on the same side, then the next 24 hours, all feedings on the other side.) Gonneke reported her neat and completely different solution from Europe in the past. I don't know if she's on LN currently. There are many ways to 'skin a cat' as the old saying went, but I don't see wearing Blis as the solution of choice for most leaking moms. Jean ****** K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC Dayton, OH USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html