5 month old poorly not feeding as much - will it affect supply in the long term?

[stottiecake]

hi

my poor ds2 has caught a dreadful croupy flu-y cough off his big brother but he's really suffering. He's not feeding as much and last night I leaked from both breasts. just worried that if he's off his milk for as long as ds was off his food my supply will be badly affected. Hoping nature will have taken into account this type of thing and as long as I keep offering and feeding when he asks it will all be fine!

fingers crossed I will avoid blocked ducts too! urgh...

You could always express just to be on the safe side and stop you getting too uncomfortable. I don't think a couple of days would make much difference at that age but I guess you don't know how long it'll last. Hope dc get better soon.

stottie - by this time supply is not a fragile thing at all.

You are almost certainly ok and as you say, nature sorts it out :)

I've been trying to cut out a couple of feeds for a week now, ds also 5 mths and have found that a good supply isn't an easy thing to turn off so I'm sure you'll be fine!

thanks all!

Just to say if you see any signs that baby is struggling to breathe (skin sucked in between ribs/notch at the base of the neck, under the ribcage, tummy bulging, or shoulders rising on breathing/lips or skin around lips going grey, lilac, blue or purple tinged) then get baby to A&E/ambulance (depending on bad it seems) as they can be symptoms of bronchiolitis/respiratory distress.

Bronchiolitis can put babies off feeding, as it seems to take too much effort, and if they are struggling to breathe they need monitoring or palliative treatment (oxygen, suctioning, etc) until they feel well again.

That is not to say your baby has anything more than a cough (I'm not diagnosing via internet!) but just something to watch out for just in case.

Hope baby gets better soon and picks up their feeding as normal.