Milk Supply and The Flu

I should be in the desert right now. I should have slept in a camper and I should be surrounded by dirtbikes. Instead I'm laying in bed with my sheets soaked through and a bottle of Gatorade within reach.

Without going into the gory details I will just say I caught a stomach bug. It is the worst stomach flu I've had in years. Needless to say when dehydration is preferable to drinking water, one doesn't go on vacation. One stays home until she feels better.

I share this with you not because I want sympathy, but because of the secondary problem this sickness creates. Dehydration (and not eating) impacts milk supply.

Fortunately I'm drinking and eating mild foods (like toast) now so my supply wasn't as impacted as I heard it *could* be. That said, I did a couple of things to keep it from disappearing which I'd like to share so you can be prepared through flu season:

1. We nursed. Nursing through most sicknesses is good for babies because even though mom is sick, baby doesn't get sick. This is because baby gets mom's antibodies and so he can fight off infection in no time!

2. We nursed both sides. Stimulation is what keeps supply up, and kiddo is quite the comfort nurser so even when nothing was available, he was happy to nurse.

3. If after nursing kiddo was still hungry, he got some of my thawed milk stash. This way we could keep crankiness at bay and keep kiddo exclusively drinking breastmilk.

4. To help prevent any serious drop, I also drank a cup of Mother's Milk tea by Traditional Medicinals. Can I just say, that stuff worked fast! The first time kiddo nursed after I drank that tea I didn't need to supplement with my frozen stash at all! And he only needed one side!

We'll see how things go today, but I have a feeling everything will be just fine. It seems a serious supply drop crisis was averted, and I'm really thankful because I'm sold even more on the power of breast milk. Kiddo isn't remotely sick despite being in very close quarters with me. He's just as happy and smiley as usual. Thank God for antibodies in breastmilk! That was a stroke of genius!