Refusing the boob....help?

cfattig

Sawyer will be 1 in one week. Since he was 16 weeks old and I went back to work, I've nursed him three or four times a day: morning, on my lunch, dinner, and night. For the past few months we have dropped one evening feeding. We started easing to whole milk about two weeks ago, and he LOVES it, and we've had no problems. I wanted to continue nursing as long as he wanted to, so he just gets about 1-2 ounces of cows milk mixed with breast milk at day care and I still nurse at normal times. 

 Then last Monday he threw a fit and refused to nurse at his noon nursing session. It was weird because my kid NEVER refuses food. He nursed fine that night and again the next morning. The same thing happened Tuesday, Wednesday he nursed at noon, Thursday through Saturday (even when he was home) he skipped that noon feeding, and was fine Sunday. Now today he refused his noon AND night feelings....I tried several different times tonight and finally gave up and gave him cows milk. He just refuses to nurse and will pitch a fit if I keep trying.. 

Breast feeding moms who started cows milk...anyone have this issue? Kellymom says babies don't usually wean themselves until around age two. I want to keep nursing, but I'm done pumping at work because I'm only getting about 1/2 -1 ounces per session (I'm using my freezer stash for him at daycare).. I am tonight because I'm in pain, but don't want to continue. Could he just prefer the cows milk to me? It just makes me so sad to think I might be done, and I think I might be taking it harder because I wasn't expecting this to happen.

 I would much appreciate any advice any of you have.

MKC12/22/2006

I have a different problem, but I had your problem a couple weeks ago. It definitely sounds like a strike! You can get through it if you want to. My solution was to not try nursing for a day. Then when I did offer, we were at my IL's and I think the different scenery tricked him somehow. He's been fine ever since. His strike started during an ear infection, as it probably made nursing painful.

skidderdo

cfattig, this happened to us exactly. Warner literally just... stopped nursing during the day. At first I thought it was due to teething, but it has pretty much continued. I viewed it as an opportunity to decrease pumping sessions and to get him transitioned to sippy cups. I was terrrrrrrrified that my supply would plummet and that would be the end of nursing, but it seems to be going well so far. I nurse him to sleep and in the MOTN, and my supply is normal. If I throw in a random pumping or nap-time nursing session here and there, that has been working for us too.

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Sarahbeth1169

Mason started weaning about 3 weeks ago and he won't be 1 until the 24th. I been giving him whole milk with bm because since he hasn't wanted to nurse and being pregnant my supply is going down. I still pump 3 times but starting next week I'm dropping it down to 2. Sounds like he is self weaning. Mason will nurse during the night and in the morning not at all during the day anymore. :-( Makes me sad.

Erin10408

Claire just abruptly weaned herself as well. I thought it was a nursing strike at first, and keep trying, but she is totally over the boob.Won't even nurse at night or in the morning.She  drinks bottles and sippy's like a champ...I think she is so busy that she doesn't want to take the time to nurse anymore. She also appears to be cutting a few teeth, so that may be it, too.

I"m so sad about it, but coming to terms. I really did not expect her to wean herself, and so early (she just turned 11 months). Especially since everything I read says that babies don't wean before one. It kind of makes me feel better that others are going through it as well, because I just couldn't figure out why she wanted to stop out of the blue.

I just keep dropping pumping sessions, and my supply is adjusting. I have enough milk in the freezer to last until she is one, and probably longer. Hang in there...I know how emotional it is. I've been a wreck over it. But getting better

>:D<

pinottoparenthood

Ugh @erin10408 @sarahbeth1169 that is hard. I am not even weaning yet, although we will start WCM next week... and I am already an emotional wreck. I remember being pregnant and afraid that I wouldn't LIKE nursing... I didn't know I'd be crying and freaking out over stopping (or cutting back). Hang in there!

cfattig

Erin10408 said:

Claire just abruptly weaned herself as well. I thought it was a nursing strike at first, and keep trying, but she is totally over the boob.Won't even nurse at night or in the morning.She  drinks bottles and sippy's like a champ...I think she is so busy that she doesn't want to take the time to nurse anymore. She also appears to be cutting a few teeth, so that may be it, too.

I"m so sad about it, but coming to terms. I really did not expect her to wean herself, and so early (she just turned 11 months). Especially since everything I read says that babies don't wean before one. It kind of makes me feel better that others are going through it as well, because I just couldn't figure out why she wanted to stop out of the blue.

I just keep dropping pumping sessions, and my supply is adjusting. I have enough milk in the freezer to last until she is one, and probably longer. Hang in there...I know how emotional it is. I've been a wreck over it. But getting better

>:

This helps.  Glad to know I'm not the only one going through this and feeling really crappy about it.  Thank you for all the advice, ladies!  I'm going to pump for about another week and keep trying to see if it's a nursing strike, but if he is indeed weaning, I guess I'll just let him go.  We have our 1 year appointment on Monday, so I'll keep trying until then and ask at that point.  I had my emotional breakdown about it all last night, so hopefully that's all I needed to get it out of my system.

MKC12/22/2006

According to what I have read, the difference between a strike and weaning is the baby's attitude. If he is just disinterested, it's weaning. If it's upsetting to him like you mentioned, it's a strike and can end. So, if it sounds more like the latter and you aren't ready to quit nursing, then definitely keep trying.