Why "more like a firehose than a faucet"?



When I had my first baby, I was clueless about a lot of things.  (I'm still clueless about a lot of things, but I've gotten a few clues about some things along the way.)  Breastfeeding -- that mysterious, wonderful, rewarding, beautiful, frustrating, hair-raising, tiring, glorious, painful experience -- was one of them.  And I happen to be a person who has overabundant milk supply, as well as overactive letdown.  Okay, I haven't been officially diagnosed, but I have read the descriptions and nursed 4 babies, and I have an idea about this now. 

I tried to explain the difficulties my baby and I experienced day and night for ages to a man who was not familiar with breastfeeding -- at least, he knew about breastfeeding, but he didn't know about breastfeeding.

**As an aside, why try to explain my breastfeeding difficulties to someone -- a male acquaintance, no less -- who didn't know anything about breastfeeding?  The answer to this question remains lost in the haze that (perhaps blessedly) surrounds postpartum times and tough breastfeeding times.**



As I described (hopefully in not too much detail, but I don't remember what I said to him -- again, this might be a blessing) the ordeals we faced at each feeding, he had a lightbulb moment, "Oh!" he said, looking pleased, "so it's more like a firehose than a faucet!" 

I owe a debt of gratitude to him for explaining in a short sentence what the heck what was going on.  Too bad I can't remember who it was so that I can thank him.