Nursing Strike?

MegsB1112

My LO is seven weeks old and every so often will refuse the breast and will only take a bottle. It's not every feeding, and happens mostly in the evenings. When I try to nurse her she screams and cries and I know she's hungry. When I finally give in (usually after we're both in tears) and give her a bottle she guzzles it down like that's what she wanted the whole time. At first I thought maybe it was gas so I've been giving her gripe water before evening feedings but that didn't work tonight. I'm just feeling disheartened and like a failure. Any suggestions to get her back on the breast?

devinsmommy31115

In the evenings, your body doesn't produce as much milk- that is probably frustrating your baby. Try pumping some in the evening hours, that should cue your body to produce more milk in the evening.

MegsB1112

She won't even try though. There's milk there, but she won't take it.

bunnya

MegsB1112 said:

She won't even try though. There's milk there, but she won't take it.

I don't know how often you bottle feed so I don't know if this is even an issue, but do you use the slowest flowing nipple when you bottle feed? Sometimes if a fast flow nipple is used in bottle feeding, a baby can become accustomed to the flow. This can cause the baby to get frustrated at the breast because it doesn't flow as fast as the fast flow nipple. HTH

etayislove

How frustrating momma! Try to stop using a bottle completely in the evenings, go to a quiet place before she gets really hungry (look for early hunger cues, putting hands in mouth, opening mouth, etc.) then try putting on the breast while talking soothingly. You can also have your milk 'ready' by pumping or hand expressing/ massaging until you feel yourself letdown, or there is a good amount of milk on your nipple. That way she won't have to wait.

Try that for a few nights and see if it gets better, if she's being really stubborn you can feed her by syringe or a little medicine cup instead of a bottle. It sounds like she is used to the fast flow of the nipple.

wintersong

Also, you can try different nursing positions.