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Getting a latch, building supply, surviving mastitis, and pumping: answers for every stage.

Real help for the hard early days, and every stage after.

Had the flu for 3 days, barely fed, now my breasts feel empty. Is my supply gone?

Latch and supply · started Jul 8, 2026 · 5 replies · 480 views

July 8, 2026, 10:54 pm#1

I have just come out the other side of the worst flu of my life and I am panicking about my milk. Baby is 9 weeks, was exclusively breastfed and feeding beautifully until last Thursday when I got hit with a fever and could barely lift my head.

For about two and a half days I basically didn't feed properly. My partner gave a couple of bottles of formula we had for emergencies because I was shivering and useless, and I only fed when I could sit up. Now I am recovering but my breasts feel EMPTY and soft, nothing like the full heavy feeling I had before, and baby keeps pulling off and grizzling like there's nothing there.

My sister said I should have been pumping and dumping the whole time anyway because of the flu germs, so now I feel like I've done everything wrong. Have I killed my supply in three days?? Is the milk even safe now that I've been that ill?

July 9, 2026, 7:31 am#2

Right, breathe, you have not killed anything. I got a horrible chest infection when my second was about 8 weeks and my supply did exactly this, went soft and quiet for the best part of a week and I was convinced it was over. It came back. It really does come back.

A few days of less feeding plus a fever plus barely drinking anything will dip your supply, that is just supply and demand doing its thing, but a dip is not the same as gone. The empty soft feeling is the dip, not proof of the ending. Get baby back on as much as you can stand today and it climbs back up faster than you'd think.

July 9, 2026, 9:12 am#3

Seconding all of this. When I had a bad bug I was too rough to feed for a whole day and I hand expressed a bit just to keep things ticking over and stop myself getting engorged, didn't get much but it kept the signal going. If you've got a pump even a couple of short sessions today on top of feeding will help remind your body to get going again.

Also drink drink drink. I forgot to for two days when I was ill and I swear that did more damage to my supply than the missed feeds did.

July 9, 2026, 1:40 pm#4

laurenp91 said:

My sister said I should have been pumping and dumping the whole time anyway because of the flu germs

Just want to gently take this one off your shoulders because I had the exact same lecture from a well meaning aunt. You don't pump and dump for flu. The flu doesn't travel through your milk, it spreads by coughing and hands, and your body actually starts putting antibodies into your milk against the very thing you've got. So all that milk you did give was extra protection for the baby, not a risk. The site guide on feeding while ill spells this out really clearly, it's worth a read to stop the guilt.

July 9, 2026, 4:20 pm#5

Lauren, the short answer first: a three day dip after a feverish flu is one of the most ordinary things a feeding body does, and it is very unlikely your supply is gone. Between the fever, barely eating, dehydration, and feeding far less than usual, every lever that lowers supply got pulled at once, so a softer, emptier breast right now is the expected result, not the verdict.

Because milk works on supply and demand, the recovery is the same picture in reverse. Get frequent effective milk removal happening again, feed on demand aiming for the usual 8 to 12 times in 24 hours at this age, add a couple of short pump sessions if direct feeding isn't emptying you well yet, and drink to thirst. Most people see supply climb back within several days, and largely restored within one to two weeks. If baby is fighting the softer, slower breast, that grizzling is often just impatience with the reduced flow, so a calm relatch and a little breast compression usually helps more than topping up does.

Two things I want to name honestly, because a forum can't see your baby. First, watch wet nappies and nappy output over the next day or two: steady wet nappies mean milk is going in whatever your breasts feel like. If output drops off, or baby seems sleepy and hard to rouse rather than cross and busy, get them seen promptly. Second, if one breast becomes red, hot, and painful with the aches coming back, that can be mastitis rather than the tail of the flu, and that needs looking at rather than waiting out. Priya is exactly right that you never needed to pump and dump for flu, the guide to breastfeeding when you're sick covers why, and how to increase your milk supply has the step by step for rebuilding a dip. Come back and tell us how the week goes.

July 15, 2026, 8:03 pm#6

Update for anyone finding this in a panic like I was: it came back. Six days of feeding round the clock and drinking like I'd crossed a desert, and by yesterday my breasts felt full before feeds again and baby has stopped grizzling. Nappies were fine the whole time, I started counting like you said. Thank you all, and I have quietly forwarded the sick feeding guide to my sister.

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