Should I give up BF or pump exclusively?

[Blueeyes91]

So I have a very strong let down and my LO has reflux. She's sick after every feed and she's irritable because of it.

My doctor has suggested I either exclusively pump and feed from the bottle or formula feed. It won't solve the reflux but it gets rid of the heavy let down.

I don't know what to do. I'm a first time mum and feeling lost.

How old is your baby? I had a very fast letdown as well which is very normal early on. It tends to resolve itself usually. Mine was mostly fine by 6 weeks on its own but there are things you can do to help it settle ( have a look at kellymom). If you don’t want to continue to feed from the breast, personally I would switch to ff. I found expressing was a lot of work and stress and my supply didn’t stay up like it should have. Feeding from the breast is easiest in the long run (but hard initially), but formula is much less stressful than expressing. I’ve expressed and then ff one and ebf the other and that’s what I’d do if bf really wasn’t the right fit given the reflux. If your baby is still small though and bf is otherwise going well, I would maybe hang in there a few more weeks to see if it settles down.

Ds2 was a preemie and I had to exclusively express for about a month and it was miserable. Time wise it was the worst of both worlds.

Have you tried seeing a breast feeding specialist about your fast letdown? If your baby is a newborn then it’ll probably slow down in the next few weeks. If your baby is already older then there are things you can try to slow it down (block feeding, feeding lying back etc).

Also, it sounds like the dr might have been fobbing you off a bit. Especially if they’ve said it won’t resolve the reflux anyway.

Ive been exclusively pumping for my daughter for 9months. I won't lie it is hard work and I'd only go down that route if it is very important to you for your dc to have breast milk. I didn't realise how much I wanted my daughter to have breast milk until breastfeeding wasn't working and I gave her formula. If that's the way you want to go there are some excellent Facebook support groups

Could you borrow a pump and try pumping for a month, see where your layer down settles, see if our works for you

I exclusively pumped for my daughter for about 12mths and my son before her for about 9 mths. I had 4 kids, 4 years old and under, so it was a challenge but it is doable. I bought a hands free, rechargeable pump and needed a few supplements and motillium to help increase breat milk. For me it was worth it.

You’ve had sone great advice on here already. I’d also suggest going along to your nearest BFing Support Group. It’s a sad fact that most GPs haven’t received any training at all on Bfing.

i have been exclusively pumping for over 8 months now and it is (imo) the hardest feeding route to take.... Its fine now but there was a good few months where it was SUCH a struggle). I dont know if the doctor appreciates how much of a commitment it would be...

Have you tried seeking some advice from lactation consultants as i would not advise EP unless you really REALLY care about giving breast milk.

...also as your gp said it probably won't solve the reflux so might be worth continuing bf if your baby is only a few weeks old and just see whether your let down calms down soon, if not then you can reassess.