Hello, Kirsten.
    Well, this is a guess--somewhat "educated", but a  guess nonetheless.
    The body makes mucous in response to  irritation.  It is possible that 
the mother's overactive letdown causes the  milk to shoot down the esophagus so 
quickly and harshly that it irritates the  lining of the esophagus.  Baby's 
body may be making mucous in response to  this irritation.  (And I have seen 
babies start to produce mucous within 60  seconds of starting a breastfeeding 
when they are allergic to something mother  eats.  This would not be the case in 
your situation because there is no  similar reaction to the bottle.  I'm just 
saying that mucous can be formed  very quickly.)  When baby is bottle-fed, it 
is possible that the milk comes  out more "politely" (slowly) and does not 
irritate baby's esophagus so does not  cause mucous to be formed.  If I'm right, 
then as mom gets her supply under  control, baby's symptoms *may* ease.  
Although, it is possible to have an  overactive letdown without having an 
oversupply, so if it's strictly a let-down  response, getting the supply under control 
might not resolve baby's  problem.
    Dee  

Dee Kassing,  BS, MLS, IBCLC, RLC
Collinsville, Illinois, in central  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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html