DD will only feed lying down

[YogaMummy2B]

My DD will only seem to feed successfully when lying down. She is 4 weeks old and we have had issues with reflux and I know I have a fast let down that she has to contend with. Esp. First thing in the morning, so don't mind, in fact love lying down to feed her at this time. However it is becoming hugely impractical to give her every feed like this.
I had planned to see my best friend for lunch this week and treated myself to a lovely breast feeding butterfly coverup in honour of the occasion! However not much use if I need to take to the restaurant floor to feed her!! I think that would put paid to my discreet feeding!
She is now on Ranitidine for her reflux, working very well. I have tried all manner of holds to get her to feed, she fusses and crys every other way.
Anyone got any ideas of how I can get out of the house?

Babies can get earache if you feed them lying down.

Can they Journey? I have never heard that before and I feed my ds lying down a lot.

YogaMummy - have you tried feeding with her lying down on top of you? Obviously you can't do that in public either, but if she's happy doing that then you can kind of do a modified version where you lean back in a chair and the baby straddles your leg facing you.

I think one of the reasons people are advised not to give bottlefeeds to babies whilst they are lying down is that the milk can get into their eustachian tubes and cause irritation and possibly infections. This appears to support that claim. But it only applies when the baby is lying flat on his or her back, and not presumably when lying side on in order to breastfeed.

I wonder what it is about lying down that makes it so successful for you. It could be the position makes it easier to attain a good latch and that she fusses in other positions because she can't feed as well. In which case chatting to a breastfeeding counsellor about how to achieve an effective latch might help. Try one of the helplines or even better see if there is someone locally who can do home visits. If the advice you've had up till now has been from MWs and HVs then I'm willing to bet there is a fair amount of headholding involved. I found a more hands off approach worked better for myself and DD.

It could be your fast letdown in which case expressing a little bit of milk off (you can do this by hand - google Marmet technique) before you feed could help, though it won't help your eating out problem.

It could be the more horizontal she is the less her reflux affects her. Have you tried balancing her on a firmish pillow to mimic your mattress so that she is closer to her lying down position when you feed?

As for getting out of the house, have you fed outside the home yet? If not maybe try popping out earlier in the week to try feeding somewhere you can feel relaxed. A local bumps and babes group or a breastfeeding support group would be a good option. Or possibly heading to a shop like John Lewis or a shopping centre with feeding rooms so you have a degree of privacy. That way you can see how it goes.

For a start, dont worry about her getting earache! My DS2 is the same, but he is 6 months old and has been like this since about 4 months, so it was easier to get out when he was smaller. Now he is having some solids he can go longer between feeds, but even so I am pretty tied in what I can do, but then I have a 4 year old DS1 so I'm used to having my freedom curtailed and I'm just going with it! I can only suggest trying to really relax about it and have no distractions. If you are stressed I think you tend to grip the baby in a less than comfortable way. You would think that at 4 weeks old you could change her behaviour relatively easily, could you use loads of cushions etc to gradually get her higher up each time, almost without realising??