Baby ill, worried about supply

[cat lover]

Hi ladies we went to the dr yesterday and,she said lo has either tonsillitis or hand foot and mouth. she has a lot of mouth and throat pain and is struggling to bf. i am trying to pump but only have a manual and am not managing to get much out i am worried about my supply if i am unable to empty my breasts. what can i do?

 

[Rachel_C]

Have you had previous supply problems? If not, I wouldn't worry too much. Your body is pretty clever and mostly will be able to deal with changes like that. Babies often go through phases of nursing less often e.g. teething or the many little bugs they can pick up. When your LO is feeling better, you may find she wants to BF a lot, like the early days of cluster feeding, to boost your supply back up, but she will be fine as your boobs can make more milk as she's feeding so you're never really 'empty'. If you just let her feed as she needs, she will get your supply back to normal fairly quickly, assuming you don't normally have supply issues.

If your manual pump isn't working to get some milk for her to drink now, have you tried hand expressing? I find it much more effective.

 

[cat lover]

thank you, that is reassuring. i will have a go at the hand expressing too x

 

[MissCurly]

yeah i second hand expressing, a little tiring but really effective- i am just too lazy to get the pump out and sterilize blah blah.

But, i have also boosted supply with a bit of fenugreek for a couple of days here an there if my boy doesnt feed enough.