Intense nausea with breastfeeding?

[SeeImSmiling]

Hi, looking for some advice or just to see if anyone has dealt with this themselves.

Long post starting with a bit of backstory:

My twins are 7 weeks old. I started collecting colostrum at exactly 36 weeks pregnant which I REALLY struggled with, I found it super uncomfortable and painful. The boys were born 36+6 and I tried really hard to breastfeed them but they had tongue ties which made their latch poor and so painful. They also had jaundice so the midwives had us top up with formula. I was expressing alongside that. Fast forward a few weeks and I had a lump on my nipple from my son’s bad latch and it got infected because I continued to express and it was pulled into the pump. I had antibiotics for a week and it went in time for the boys to have their tongue ties released, at which point my cousin introduced me to nipple shields and I was able to feed my boys more frequently from my breasts (but continued to use formula as well because I couldn’t keep up with demand). I was also able to express more since the infected lump had gone.

After about a week of breastfeeding and expressing much more frequently, I woke up in the middle of the night to them crying for a feed and I was SO nauseous. I couldn’t even feed them, my wife had to take care of the feeds for the night cause I felt so unwell. I assumed I had food poisoning or a bug but that was 14 days ago now and the nausea hasn’t gone/has gotten even worse. I had HG for the first 24 weeks of my pregnancy, and as someone with emetophobia it was super difficult to deal with (I’m sure it’s horrible for everyone of course!), but this new nausea is honestly worse than how I felt with the HG. I went to the GP on Wednesday and he ordered super extensive blood tests (infection markers, various organ functions, thyroid, gallbladder etc etc.) and ruled everything out, the bloods came back all perfectly fine.

All I can think is that, because it started after a week of more BF and expressing than I was used to, it’s something hormonal due to the BF/expressing. Is this something anyone else has dealt with? Feeling nauseous due to breastfeeding/expressing? If so, did it go away? And if it did, how long did it take to go away?

I don’t want to stop breastfeeding, I love nursing my twins and love knowing I can give them that comfort. But again, I have emetophobia and if this is how producing milk is going to make me feel, I know I’m going to have to stop. It’s constant, I can’t go anywhere because I feel too nauseous, I wake up in the middle of the night gagging and feeling nauseous. I’m heartbroken and looking for some hope.

I had so many of the same issues. We dealt with double tongue ties, jaundice, and my milk didn't come in for several days. I didn't use formula though, and just breastfed every hour round the clock so they got enough. I had toe curling pain the first six weeks, but had set myself a 6 week goal so I persisted. I also have emetophobia and felt intense nausea at every single feed from latch until letdown. Look up D-MER. The nausea passed. I also had a milk imbalance and was severely sleep deprived because they needed held all the time and I had no help, so I lost a lot of weight and had 2-4 hours of sleep spread over each 24 hour period. I'm so glad I persisted with breastfeeding, it got easier and easier over time.

By 8 months my boobs had totally regulated and breastfeeding provided so much benefit. It's the most wonderful parenting tool, it adjusted continually to what they need, provides pain relief, sleep promoters, antibodies. It's amazing to soothe an overstimulated baby or toddler, it helped enormously with developmental spurts and kept us out of hospital when they couldn't even keep water down from viral illnesses at age 1 and 2. Perserverance and stubbornness is what got us through. The NHS was absolutely useless and gave terrible advice. The best support came from other mothers that I met at babywearing and La Leche League groups.

Thank you for sharing this 🤍 I’m sorry you had such a rough time as well. With the nausea, was it only while breastfeeding? Mine is constant. I was sitting on the sofa yesterday watching TV and it hit so intensely. I had to go lie in bed in the dark and beg myself not to vomit (my emetophobia just puts me into instant flight mode and I’ll do anything to not let it happen as I’m sure you’re able to relate to!) and it still hasn’t fully passed but has eased slightly overnight.

I haven’t experienced this but just wanted to give you a virtual hug because that sounds really tough. Is it a sort of vicious circle where the fear of nausea causes more nausea?

Can you cut out the expressing and just bf since you’re supplementing with formula anyway?

The other poster mentioned DMER which I did experience. I found that drinking a lot of water helped - like a pint of water at the start of every feed.

It sounds horrible, you poor thing. What a superstar breastfeeding twins, too!

DMER I think would normally just be during the letdown and first few minutes of a feed. Mine was intense nausea and feelings of anxiety but wore off about 3 months. Really sickening feeling though, like I was seriously depressed.
2 mins later it had gone!
Could you attend a local breastfeeding or La Leche League drop in?
Glad your GP is taking it seriously. Could it be worth trying an anti acid, in case it's heartburn?
I'm guessing it's not a possibility as you mention your wife, but you're definitely not pregnant again?

Are you drinking plenty of liquids? Breastfeeding twins will really dehydrate you. Drink plenty. What about any supplements? I had constant sickness like a bug for weeks and it was the iron tablets I was taking.

I’m sorry you’re feeling like this, it does sound really tough. I’ve not experienced this myself but I’ve just run a search on a breastfeeding group I’m a part of and it seems to be really common. I know you said yours is constant but is it worse when you have a let down?

It’s apparently more common if you are anaemic or dehydrated and having a big glass of water can help. A post from a lactation consultant I’ve found said it starts to tail off for most people at about 8 weeks.

You’ve done really well to get as far as you have with all the difficulties you’ve faced and if you’re able to hang on a while longer you may find it eases in a couple of weeks. I’d say you need to look after yourself too though & if it really is unbearable I’d look at reducing pumping when it’s at its worst. Although if I recall, they say you produce the most milk between 1-5am so it may affect your supply.

Breastfeeding was tough for me for the first 8 weeks especially, my DD is 6 months now and still breastfed & I’m now enjoying it a lot more xx