"The whole situation was just far from ideal."

I was told to go to A&E by NHS 111. Sat waiting about 3 hours on the verge of collapse before they saw me. I'd continued breastfeeding my son through my illness even though I'd had no food and barely any fluids for days.

The triage nurses were lovely at first and were saying they'll have me kept in for a few days and get me straight. Great I thought. My Observations were borderline sepsis, Heart Rate was over 150 and temp nearly 39. They did bloods etc.

They asked if I was allergic to anything, I said no but my son is. They asked why does that matter, and I explained that he's allergic to cows milk, eggs and soya and he reacts through my milk. They seemed sceptical of this at first asking how I knew he reacted through my milk. I said that we did it under GP supervision and under the dietician. They asked how old he is. To which I told them over a year. They told me that was long enough, and that I've done my good thing, but I have to stop. They suggested that he is  draining the life out of me and that I'll just keep getting sick if I continue breastfeeding.

I said he's not ready yet, and that we're introducing oat milk but not enough to fill that gap yet. They kept saying that he'd never be ready to stop and that he'll never want to leave his mum. When will you stop? When he's ready I said. He'll never be, they replied.

Told me a good beef steak would sort me out. I'm vegetarian. Said they'd need to get some meat into me. No thanks.

Anyways I got a bed immediately as I was honestly so frail, I requested to speak to the infant feeding team or get access to a breast pump to allow me to comfort express. The breast pump never came. I was in the hospital from around 7 hours. I kept chasing it up but there was only so much strength I had.

I had to chase the second round of IV fluids as well.

They discharged me almost immediately after I tested positive for Flu A even though I said my baby son is at home and my immune suppressed gran. I was told just to mask up, not touch the baby and isolate in a room away from everyone.

We tried getting my son to drink expressed breastmilk in a bottle, in a straw cup, sippy cup, open cup. You name it. Nope he just screeched and screamed. It was heartbreaking.

To make matters worse, as I'd been told I'd be staying in for days they got me a cheese sandwich which I managed to eat. I felt comfortable doing this as I didn't believe I'd feed him whilst it was in my milk. He's already been sick tonight.

It went from a few days to a definite overnight to we have no bed space (I was literally told this), it's only flu, go home.

My husband had come to pick me up and had to bring my son in with him as he obviously couldn't leave him in the car, when we expressed concerns about my discharge for genuinely the 5th or 6th time about my gran and baby, the Doctor responded that if I was concerned, I’d better go because the baby is here now. I was in disbelief, he's here because I was being discharged and my husband had to pick me up.

They said the only thing we could do is observe me and give fluids overnight, I said yes can you do that, I would feel more comfortable with that, but was then told they don’t have any beds to be able to do that. Instead sending me home to an unsafe environment for two vulnerable people and not considering the fact that I'm primary caregiver for my son and I can't just not touch him, how unfair is that? My baby doesn't understand why, he knows his mum is near, but can't have her.

The Doctor also asked me if I was feeling any better since I came in. I said no not really, to which they replied that I should be!

As soon as they found out I had flu A they stopped doing observations, wouldn't come near me, left me without a breast pump which caused me to become engorged, without the second drip, that they told me they were just getting for me, for hours. I was sat alone in tears.

Such a horrific experience, I wasn't listened to, my concerns were ignored, I was treated as if I had no knowledge of my son's allergies and as if it's impossible to have an allergic reaction through breastmilk. And being told I must stop breastfeeding immediately. I was sobbing.

I did have some genuinely lovely folk but the whole situation was just far from ideal.

I made a judgement call to comfort and feed him over his non-IGE medicated food allergies. I decided a few days discomfort and awful nappies and sickness was outweighed by his need for comfort in that moment and every moment since.

Of course, I understand the flu is highly contagious, however there were many risk factors and the only reason I wasn't kept overnight for fluids like they'd discussed with me (and we had mutually agreed) was because of bed space.

Ended up getting no sleep at home as I was dealing with my son who took an allergic reaction through my breastmilk.