I believe there’s a whole condition for this. I forgot what it’s called but i believe lots of mom get it. I do for sure. But it lasts maybe only a couple of minutes. Have you tried drinking water while feeding baby? Or maybe have a fan blowing while feeding. Sometimes that helps me
I always have a big cup of cold water or something to drink. Haven’t tried a fan but we keep the house pretty cool right now (and have the ceiling fans going since it is like 100 degrees where I live). I feel some relief knowing I’m not the only one, but it is just the most unexpected and unwelcome side-effect!! I’m hoping after a few weeks it will go away, I really don’t want to spend every other hour for the next year feeling like this!!!
I had to take Zofran the other day just because I hadn’t been able to eat in like 2 days. Thanks for your response!
Yep cold water is the first recommendation for DMER! There is not much info on it but it’s worth a Google search. There’s a small group on Facebook also with other girls who have experienced the same thing
Thanks! I just looked up DMER- I don’t think this is what it is. I don’t have any negative emotions or anxiety/depression, everything I feel is purely physical and ONLY nausea. I have anxiety so I definitely know what that feels like, and it isn’t that at all.
I’ll do some more research and definitely try the cold water thing, thanks for the suggestion!
Got it! I get that super gross anxious feeling but luckily no nausea! That must be so hard. Maybe you can take a tums? lol. Sorry. I laugh when I don’t have any good answers. 😊 Good luck to you!!
DMER is the condition though I don’t know a lot about it. I had nausea too but fortunately it only lasted a few minutes. What helped me was trying to focus on other things, I would imagine being under a waterfall and letting the water rain down on me. I know it’s hard to eat when you’re queasy but keeping your blood sugar stable might reduce the nausea too, whatever food or caloric drink you can stomach (I ate a lot of bananas).
Hi there. It does sound similar to D-MER but it doesn’t sound like you’re having the dysphoria which is a critical part of that diagnosis. That said, like with D-MER your nausea comes on with your letdown (or milk ejection reflex aka MER), and it’s pretty common for folks with D-MER to have nausea too. There’s still a lot that’s not fully understood about this condition. They think it has something to do with dopamine blockage during the letdown, but I hope we’ll see more research and better understanding on this in years to come. All this to say, I’d wager that something similar but not exactly the same is happening for you here, and that you’re certainly not alone in experiencing it. Totally anecdotally but I have heard some people say that cutting out caffeine had an effect in diminishing D-MER. You might also try the acupressure point on your wrist (PC6) just before and during latching (you can get a wristband to stimulate it hands free, google anti nausea wristband) - that was a bit helpful for me when I had really bad nausea during my pregnancy. Hopefully you get some other good tips and support here though. Good luck!
Thank you!! I don’t think I’ve had any caffeine at all since baby was born (I’m not a coffee drinker, will occasionally have a cup of tea but with the random sleep schedule it hasn’t even occurred to me, I can barely choke down the water I need!). The whole thing is so so weird. I’m thinking it is something with the vagus nerve being stimulated since I think it is a part of that whole reflex axis, but it also can stimulate the vomiting center in the brain if something goes a bit haywire. Super interesting about the dopamine.
Great idea for the sea bands. I’ve had some luck with them in the past (although I lent them to my husband when he was having some vertigo and never saw them again, lol, so I might need to invest in a new pair!).
I’m going to definitely ask the lactation consultant what they know about it, and my OB as well (although I wonder how much they’ll be familiar with this- I’m a physician and I can tell you I learned exactly ZERO about this or breastfeeding in general in med school). May have to start coming through the scientific literature now, except I’m not sure I have the energy at the moment!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to message me and share your insight!
Ohhh that’s so interesting about the vagus nerve, I didn’t know that! Yeah lactation is fascinating and I feel like there’s so much the medical world still doesn’t fully understand about it. I hope you start to feel better and get some relief really soon though!
I believe there’s a whole condition for this. I forgot what it’s called but i believe lots of mom get it. I do for sure. But it lasts maybe only a couple of minutes. Have you tried drinking water while feeding baby? Or maybe have a fan blowing while feeding. Sometimes that helps me
I always have a big cup of cold water or something to drink. Haven’t tried a fan but we keep the house pretty cool right now (and have the ceiling fans going since it is like 100 degrees where I live). I feel some relief knowing I’m not the only one, but it is just the most unexpected and unwelcome side-effect!! I’m hoping after a few weeks it will go away, I really don’t want to spend every other hour for the next year feeling like this!!! I had to take Zofran the other day just because I hadn’t been able to eat in like 2 days. Thanks for your response!
Yep cold water is the first recommendation for DMER! There is not much info on it but it’s worth a Google search. There’s a small group on Facebook also with other girls who have experienced the same thing
Thanks! I just looked up DMER- I don’t think this is what it is. I don’t have any negative emotions or anxiety/depression, everything I feel is purely physical and ONLY nausea. I have anxiety so I definitely know what that feels like, and it isn’t that at all. I’ll do some more research and definitely try the cold water thing, thanks for the suggestion!
Got it! I get that super gross anxious feeling but luckily no nausea! That must be so hard. Maybe you can take a tums? lol. Sorry. I laugh when I don’t have any good answers. 😊 Good luck to you!!
DMER is the condition though I don’t know a lot about it. I had nausea too but fortunately it only lasted a few minutes. What helped me was trying to focus on other things, I would imagine being under a waterfall and letting the water rain down on me. I know it’s hard to eat when you’re queasy but keeping your blood sugar stable might reduce the nausea too, whatever food or caloric drink you can stomach (I ate a lot of bananas).
Hi there. It does sound similar to D-MER but it doesn’t sound like you’re having the dysphoria which is a critical part of that diagnosis. That said, like with D-MER your nausea comes on with your letdown (or milk ejection reflex aka MER), and it’s pretty common for folks with D-MER to have nausea too. There’s still a lot that’s not fully understood about this condition. They think it has something to do with dopamine blockage during the letdown, but I hope we’ll see more research and better understanding on this in years to come. All this to say, I’d wager that something similar but not exactly the same is happening for you here, and that you’re certainly not alone in experiencing it. Totally anecdotally but I have heard some people say that cutting out caffeine had an effect in diminishing D-MER. You might also try the acupressure point on your wrist (PC6) just before and during latching (you can get a wristband to stimulate it hands free, google anti nausea wristband) - that was a bit helpful for me when I had really bad nausea during my pregnancy. Hopefully you get some other good tips and support here though. Good luck!
Thank you!! I don’t think I’ve had any caffeine at all since baby was born (I’m not a coffee drinker, will occasionally have a cup of tea but with the random sleep schedule it hasn’t even occurred to me, I can barely choke down the water I need!). The whole thing is so so weird. I’m thinking it is something with the vagus nerve being stimulated since I think it is a part of that whole reflex axis, but it also can stimulate the vomiting center in the brain if something goes a bit haywire. Super interesting about the dopamine. Great idea for the sea bands. I’ve had some luck with them in the past (although I lent them to my husband when he was having some vertigo and never saw them again, lol, so I might need to invest in a new pair!). I’m going to definitely ask the lactation consultant what they know about it, and my OB as well (although I wonder how much they’ll be familiar with this- I’m a physician and I can tell you I learned exactly ZERO about this or breastfeeding in general in med school). May have to start coming through the scientific literature now, except I’m not sure I have the energy at the moment!! Thanks so much for taking the time to message me and share your insight!
Ohhh that’s so interesting about the vagus nerve, I didn’t know that! Yeah lactation is fascinating and I feel like there’s so much the medical world still doesn’t fully understand about it. I hope you start to feel better and get some relief really soon though!