Breastfeeding

nursing strike

DS2 has been on a nursing strike for 2 weeks now.  It started when he was having a painful time with teething.  He almost never took a bottle before that, but he wouldn't nurse and I was pumping anyway, so I gave him a bottle.  Now he seems to be hooked.  I think he still has gum pain, but it seems to have gotten better.  

I offer him the breast at every feeding.  He sometimes just cries and wants the bottle, but occasionally he will try to suck on my nipple, but only bite it and pull away.  I really, really want him to go back to nursing.  I hate pumping!  Plus I just miss nursing him.  I don't really want to force him into it by denying him bottles though.  Is there anything else I can be doing?

Thanks, ladies!
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Re: nursing strike

  • i haven't been through this myself, but kellymom has an article with some good tips- Help-- My Baby Won't Nurse!
  • Try waiting until he's really sleepy and then offer the breast.  Sometimes being half asleep they'll nurse without really realizing it and that will get them back to the breast.

    image

    son#1 born 6/2010

    son#2 born 4/2012

    son#3 born 7/2014

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  • I have trie when he wakes for his one night feeding at 4:30 a.m., but he is actually pretty upset at that time, so it never works.  I thought about maybe going in there a little before he would wake up and try, does that seem like a better idea?
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  • I have trie when he wakes for his one night feeding at 4:30 a.m., but he is actually pretty upset at that time, so it never works.  I thought about maybe going in there a little before he would wake up and try, does that seem like a better idea?

    Yeah, try to catch him when he's half asleep.

    My 2nd son did something like this randomly around 13 or 14 months.  He would get upset when I offered the breast.  I was about ready to give up (it lasted about 2 days).  Then, I tried nursing when he was half asleep, and it worked.  After that we were back to normal.

    Good luck!

    image

    son#1 born 6/2010

    son#2 born 4/2012

    son#3 born 7/2014

  • A Mom from a FB group I'm a member of had the exact same issue.  It took her a few tries at night to try and get him to nurse again but eventually he came around. Keep trying and good luck!

    DD #1: March 20, 2013
    DD # 2: May 2, 2015
    EDD #3: March 4, 2018



                                              

  • My LO did the same around 2.5 mo. She will dream eat but during the day, she flat out refused and cried 5 min before nursing. I tried the "start out with bottle and switch to boob" many times with may be 50% success. She recovered after about a month before relapsing. Now the issue isnt crying. She likes to look around or squirm and practice roll over. So now half of the time I nurse when she is going down for a nap which is usually within every 3 hrs since she dreams eats with much less production.
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