Anyone with D-MER ? (I.e., feeling down whenever BF)

[Iz91]

Hiya, just wondering how many people are actually out there with Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflux?

Have struggled with this for 8 months and it’s finally ended my breast feeding (EP) journey and I’m honestly gutted 😞 I know some suffering from this get milder symptoms but mine were severe (suicidal even) and to pick myself back up again after pumping 4-5x a day (sometimes more if my milk supply went down) was so hard I barely had energy to proper enjoy being a first time mom.

I don’t think this topic is talked about enough and wish it was more known?! I’m happy I gave my LO what I could but also just feel defeated I couldn’t make it to 12 months and gained 10kg for the effort 🫠

Though I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone, was curious to see if there were other women out there with similar struggles as the stats suggest 5-9% of women have this.

Hello, sorry to hear this has been a such struggle for you! My wife had it, she expressed for 12 weeks until it became too hard to manage the mental toll, we also don’t know anyone else who it’s affected.

Thank you and sorry to hear that your wife had this as well, it really does a number on your mental well-being 😓I think because it may not be as commonly spoken about a lot of women may not even realise they have it so I can just imagine the difficulty in finding others in a similar boat 🫠 curious to see if this thread weeds out more of us 🧐

There are supplements that help enormously with this, I think a form of magnesium? Worth a shot!

Thank you, it was really unexpected to be honest. Not least because she’s completely unaffected by hormones and mental health issues usually so was a complete side line. You have done amazing carrying on as long as you have to be honest though, so kudos for that!

I had this for my full year of BFing my daughter and again when pumping for my son. Nurses in NICU had never heard of it so definitely not talked about enough.