Nausea and dizziness when BFing?

[eagle2010]

Anyone else experience nausea and dizziness while feeding? (I don't mean during the actual act of feeding itself)

I've been feeling pretty crap the last month or so. DS is almost 9mo and I had a really short period when he was 7.5mo.

The nausea and dizziness were really similar to what I felt when I was pregnant with DS. I took some pregnancy tests but all were negative.

Is this a normal way to feel when feeding? Is it hormonal/some way connected to the return of fertility? I just feel a bit wretched and hope there's a reason or at least an end in sight!

Hi OP. I had nausea at the beginning of feeds (with the milk letdown) the first couple of weeks of BF, then it just went. I was gutted as everyone talks about the "feelgod hormones" and "love hormones " and I just wanted to be sick... I had HG during pregnancy, not sure if that's related...

So no advice here, hopefully someone knowledgeable about hormones and fertility will come along soon :)

Do you think you are still eating enough additional calories? Or has your appetite decreased because of the hotter weather? Breast feeding uses about 500 calories a day, so you may not be eating enough at the moment.

I'm definitely eating enough - I've even gained a few pounds when last month I was almost within touching distance of my pre preg weight :(

It's like that nausea you get when pregnant that only goes away when you eat. And not when you eat carrots or cucumber unfortunately!

Maybe a plain oat biscuit or a cracker could help fill you up. Are you having a glass of water before you sit down to feed? You might be dehydrated.

Yes I definitely need to plan more healthy snacks.

Still glugging the water like it's going out of fashion! DS doesn't feed as frequently anymore but I do still drink plenty of water.

Sounds as if you might be anaemic. Are you taking iron tablets/supplements?

I was told it can take years to get back to pre-preg levels, especially if BFing.

Ginfox, I do take a iron supplement. I had blood tests about 2 months ago cause I had v low iron after the birth but levels came back normal.

It's probably just tiredness, DS is v lively and not a great sleeper. I used to nap with him during the day, maybe I should go back to doing that!

Thanks for all the responses!

It's so hard isn't it? Luckily dd2 (2mo) is not a bad sleeper, but even so I find I'm hitting a wall every few days - starting the day absolutely knackered, limping along til bedtime, and relying on cbeebies to entertain dd1.

If you're not good at napping during the day (like me) I would suggest going to be really early instead. Dd1 was a terrible sleeper, and I was rarely up later than 8pm so at least I got some sleep, albeit a couple of hours at a time. Don't think I would've survived the first year otherwise.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

going to bed* really early

I used to head up to bed at 8 but since DS started sleeping more reliably from 7-11 or so I was talking advantage of getting time with DH!

Think I'll need to find more time for snoozing - be it daytime or early bed time.

Dreading what will happen when I go back to work in August

Thanks for the advice and support!