Virus caused very low milk supply - help

[Wheresallthemilkgone]

I had a horrible virus which started last Friday - high fever for days, cough etc - felt awful. On Tuesday my period started unexpectedly early by about 10days and with that my breastmilk has completely disappeared. My dd is 19mo and we've been feeding happily up until the last few days. My breasts have gone so so soft, like there's no milk at all. My dd latches on and off straightaway and looks up at me as if to say 'wtf'
I'm upset it's all come to a sudden end.

Can anyone recommend anything that might help bring my supply back?

oats, fenugreek, keep feeding.

Drink loads (no alcohol) and take a magnesium supplement. Make sure you get rest. Encourage her to feed for longer.

Did you take lemsip or anything else containing decongestant? That will dry up milk.

You can get it back, as pp said oats and keep feeding and drink loads.

I'm sorry to hear and despite having a lot of experience feeding my two DDs, I can't think of any specific help except drink loads of water, rest, keep trying to feed and reassuring your DD that it will come back while giving them water in the meantime when they are thirsty. My mum lost her milk through stress of moving house when I was 6wks old. The doc gave her a nasal hormone spray. Not sure if this is still a thing. I hope it works out. My DD refused to continue feeding at 13months bc he bit me and I told him off! Despite every effort he refused to feed again!!

Just rest, drink lots of fluids and spend some time cuddling with her. But that might just be it, depends on your DD. She's old enough to wean if she wants to. DD1 was always a lazy feeder and gave up pretty quickly when my milk started declining at 15 months old, DD2 pointed at my breast and told me 'that's not working' at 2 1/2 (both cases my milk declined because of pregnancy). FWIW it's always a bit sad when it ends however long you BF for (DS fed for longer than his sisters due to a CMPA and ended BFing much more gradually).

Do you want to continue @Wheresallthemilkgone? If so, I'd give one of the BFing Helplines a call and talk it through with a BFC

This happened to me when I had covid and DD was only four months and wouldn’t take a bottle so was very distressing.
Oats and drinking lots of water helped.
Fenugreek tea actually dropped my supply more.

If this is making your daughter not want to feed or not stay on for long (which I guess it is if there's no milk, though some children are happy to dry nurse) then add in some pumping sessions. This will tell your breasts that there's still a demand and will help you not lose your milk totally. Even if you get nothing out of the pump, apparently it's still good just to stimulate the breasts. I'm in hospital and away from my baby and was told that by a lactation consultant because I'm trying not to lose my milk.

Another thing is Domperidone. It's a drug you'd need to be prescribed and it's actually an anti-emetic but has the bizarre side effect of increasing milk supply! Worth a chat with your GP if you think things aren't improving. Good luck.

I had this a few weeks ago and my milk came back within 2 days following advice from national breastfeeding helpline which was:

• rest and drinks loads of water
• skin on skin as much as possible with baby on breast
• attempt hand express every 4 hours even if only a tiny amount comes out
• up calorie intake and eat oats twice a day
• domperidone from GP

good luck x