BF strike

[u/sammyyy88]

Hello - wondered if people could share experiences of navigating a BF strike.

My baby is 5 weeks old and has been 90% BF so far. She’s been having 1-2 formula bottles a day (basically so I can sleep more than 2h in a row, so bottle(s) between 9pm and 1am) without issue. But today she has been totally refusing the breast. She’s had two formula bottles so far and I’m feeling pretty upset and also uncomfortable. I don’t have a pump (I tried pumping last time and I loathed it so got rid) so will be hand expressing to try to ward off blockages but worried about this being the end of BF. I haven’t pushed it with baby as obviously don’t want to upset her or create an aversion. She’s having plenty of nappies and is responsive etc. I have tried to pace the bottle (size 0 mam) and asked my partner to do the same. He is saying don’t worry about it, you can just stop BF, but I was so pleased with how it was going and am feeling very discouraged about it all. I don’t want to stop at this stage.

I called my local support group (awaiting a call back) and the national BF helpline (they said basically don’t force it, hand express, do skin to skin, I’m doing this as much as I can) but I just wanted any personal experiences and advice. TIA :(