This is a long story, but I'll try to condense it as much as possible. I'm a mom of two, my oldest is 5 (girl) and youngest is 9 weeks (boy). I have been exclusively breastfeeding him. Around 4/5 weeks old we found out that he has a milk protein allergy (mpa) so I stopped eating any dairy and soy (and eventually peanuts too bc there's a fam history of nut allergy). Fast forward 4 weeks (which is approximately how long it takes to get out of my system and his) and even though he seemed in less discomfort he was still having a lot of his other symptoms, so I took him back to the doctor and he still tested positive which indicates he's still having a reaction. The doc asked me to give him the special formula for babies with mpa for 5 days, continue to pump and then resume breastfeeding after that. She wants to see if he gets better with the formula and hopes that the end result is that it helps him calm his system and gives me a little more time to clear mine and that when we start breastfeeding again that things are better. But she said that if he gets better with formula and then worse again with breastmilk then we're probably missing something.

So we started this plan on Monday mid-day. It's now the wee-hours of Wednesday morning. Bottle feeding formula and then pumping to keep my supply has been really hard and honestly, overwhelming. He initially seemed like he was feeling better the first 12-24 hours, but mid afternoon yesterday was so rough. He cried constantly and hadn't had a dirty diaper yet. (Which he just had this morning so it could have been that he was hurting bc of that) and my 5 year old is overwhelmed with how fussy he's been and how much attention he's getting (and to top it off my husband is out of town so I'm on my own with both)... And I think overall I'm the most worried about the thought that either he won't want to breastfeed again when we're done with this plan or I might lose my supply in the meantime or that my breastmilk is going to continued to make him sick and I'll have to stop permanently. I'm not one of those people that is like so super pro-breastfeeding or pushes that agenda on everyone... I'm totally fine with formula or woman who choose to feed that way, etc... But I just really wanted to breastfeed him.

I just feel like there is a lot of uncertainty and I'm worried about it (which I know can affect supply, so I'm trying not to get too worked up, haha).

Has anyone had a similar experience or any insight on allergies and how to navigate that? Or even how to manage an effective bottle feed/pumping schedule (bc ps- I'm exhausted now from having to get up and make bottles and then pump at night now after being able to breastfeed and then go right back to sleep) or just any thoughts in general?

Thank you in advance!

Trouble feeding

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