8 mos old refusing to nurse??

JenChrisBabyH

HELP!!!  

Has this happened to any of you?  I know she's teething, but I wouldn't think nursing would hurt the gums-- plus she's got tylenol and orajel on board.

 

JenChrisBabyH

this is terrible! I feel like I've been rejected  

Also- she ate dinner, but not her regular amount and isn't sleeping...

And neither am I... 

noah-bear

Nursing strikes are very typical with teething. Surprisingly, it does hurt. Let her chew on a cool washcloth, nurse her when you can and consider bedsharing if you can.

springbride0515

DS did this exact same thing... I tried everything, as he had already been on a bottle strike since 3 months old-- he ultimately didn't eat much for a few days and then started taking a bottle... but weaned himself completely... it was hard at first, but it got better with time.  GL!

carlab44

DS went on a brief nursing strike last week. There were a few days where he nursed much less frequently, and then on Friday he went 12 hours without eating. What eventually worked for me was to bring him into a quite, dark room and then just sit there with him with my shirt off and wait it out. He was kind of rolling around looking at things and after 5-10 minutes he finally latched on. He's been fine ever since then.

?I'd go to www.kellymom.com and search nursing strike. They have some great information.

?

Good luck!?

Harper'smom

I'm a lurker on these boards but I created a log in last week out of desperation to post about the same topic only I had to wait for 2 days for my account to be activated...Anyways this happened to us last week as well although I'm pretty sure teething was not the cause but who knows.... DS is 7.5 months and started freaking out and just going ballistic when I would put her on the right side and then her phobia transferred to the left side as well. I was able to get her to take a little when she would fall asleep but as soon as she would realize what was happening "baby exorcist" would come out. I just kept offering every feeding and would pump if she refused. It was really hard and I was not emotionally prepared for her to stop all at once. I ended up feeding her while sitting on the floor in our pitch black bathroom with her in her diaper to block out distractions and get the skin to skin thing going. It is working and is a lot better this week but it definetly rocked my confidence in my ability to BF. I'm used to taking her places, going out of town, etc. and never would have thought to bring my pump. Hang in there and try not to get discouraged. Chances are that if you don't quit your LO won't either. Oh and it sounds kind of corny but I really try to savor each feeding now and am also trying not to complain about having to be on a dairy free diet due to her allergy, just in case the karma gods are listening.

DestinationWeddingKeyWest

Harper'smom:

I'm a lurker on these boards but I created a log in last week out of desperation to post about the same topic only I had to wait for 2 days for my account to be activated...Anyways this happened to us last week as well although I'm pretty sure teething was not the cause but who knows.... DS is 7.5 months and started freaking out and just going ballistic when I would put her on the right side and then her phobia transferred to the left side as well. I was able to get her to take a little when she would fall asleep but as soon as she would realize what was happening "baby exorcist" would come out. I just kept offering every feeding and would pump if she refused. It was really hard and I was not emotionally prepared for her to stop all at once. I ended up feeding her while sitting on the floor in our pitch black bathroom with her in her diaper to block out distractions and get the skin to skin thing going. It is working and is a lot better this week but it definetly rocked my confidence in my ability to BF. I'm used to taking her places, going out of town, etc. and never would have thought to bring my pump. Hang in there and try not to get discouraged. Chances are that if you don't quit your LO won't either. Oh and it sounds kind of corny but I really try to savor each feeding now and am also trying not to complain about having to be on a dairy free diet due to her allergy, just in case the karma gods are listening.

I hear you on the dairy free diet thing...

My DD occasionally does this, especially out in public.  She prefers to nurse in bed.  I'm not sure why this age is problematic...maybe they are starting to form opinions. GL