8 month old not as interested in BF

JulesLuvsSean

In the last couple weeks, my 8 month old DD hasn't been as interested in BF. There are times she'll start, then push away and cry and I'll give her a bottle with no problems. She has cut back to BF to about 3 times during the day. With that said, I feel like my supply is really dropping. She barely nurses at all on one side. Any advice on my situation? Thank you!

mari_gold

Have you tried nursing in a quiet, dark room? Or nursing right before naps/bedtime? (I know that nursing to sleep is generally looked down upon, but I do find that Zack will nurse longer at those times because he's not rarin' to go. You know?)

PAmiler82

ditto pp

most of our nursing is right before or after a sleeping time.  since we're there already, we nurse in his room in the glider.  It's quiet, cool, and he pays much better attention.  I can hardly get him to nurse anywhere else, but in his room, at those quiet times, he is a great nurser.

AMYfromKY

We had to switch to EPing at 8 months.  He just refused to nurse anymore.  I didn't give up easily though.  He started to refuse at 7 months and I made it for a month before I couldn't do it anymore and he started totally refusing.

ncbelle

Sounds like a nursing strike - very common at this age.  Read more here:

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html

ENev

I've become an "almost" exclusive pumper for this reason. Like Amy, I'm not giving up without a fight. I still offer it in the morning and before bed, and he'll nurse for a few minutes at a time, but like your LO, he'll come off the boob and begin to cry when he has to start working for it. Then DH brings in a bottle (at night) and he sucks that down before bed.

I haven't seen a change in my supply because I pump regularly (4x/day) and that gets him enough to eat. I'm going to keep trying with the nursing, though, because I'll be sad to totally give it up!