Hand hold for BF

[Situp]

Hi, I have a 6 week old baby and she is bf with 1 bottle per day. I have come down with strep throat and have a temp of 39 and am on antibiotics.

I have slept most of the day and feel so shit I want to cry. Sweats and Chills, excruciating pain when swallowing and just feel completely wiped out. Have tried bf but it makes me feel physically sick when she sucks.

Firstly, how long can I supplement with formula before ruining my supply or can you give me a kick up the arse and tell me to bf my baby? I live abroad and do't have access to bf support here.

I am afraid I totally regress when I am sick and just want to be alone. We also have 2 older kids who need feeding, sorting etc.

Are you expressing? Basically your boobs will take the order from today to make up the order for tomorrow, so whatever your baby demands today, that's what supply will be tomorrow. If you're expressing as much as your baby has been wanting your supply will stay the same.

However, even if you stop completely (not recommended as then you could get mastitis) you will still be able to go by to BFing for a while. I stopped BFing my last DC in June last year and could still have started BFing again at late as Christmas, I was still able to produce a little milk, but it would taken a few days to build my supply back up again.

A lot depends on your baby, if your baby really likes taking a bottle now, you may find it hard to get them back on the boob. At 6 weeks your baby is still growing rapidly and can do a lot of cluster feeding to get your supply to increase in response.

I think you have a choice here. How much do you want to keep BFing and how much BFing do you want to do. You have already done really well, so anything more is a bonus. If it were me, I'd do as much BFing as I could face right now to keep things on track, but that was my choice. I had to feed through gastroenteritis once, feeding in five minute bursts between trips to the loo, but it was worth it to me for the convenience and cheapness and cuddliness of BFing. Other people I know had a horrible time with BFing and they wouldn't think twice giving up in your situation.

Whatever, I'm sorry you're feeling poorly. Make sure you clear milk from you milk ducts to prevent mastitis (tub down from the outside of your boob towards the nipple and catch any milk for the bottle).

So many typos, hope you can make sense of that OP

Hey @allthatmalarkey thank you so much for replying. I was out of it most of yesterday so couldn't reply but I read your message.

Sadly, for whatever reason, I have never been able to express but DH has been taking DD and just bringing her in to feed. It is rotten but will be worth it. We have given a couple of bottles but I hope to be back to ebf tomorrow so hopefully not too much damage done x

I could never express much either. Glad it's going a bit better. Welcome to the wonderful world of being ill when you have kids