DS is refusing to breastfeed! HELP!

JeannetteS

So DS usually eats every 2-3 hours during the day and goes 5 hour stretches at night, usually eating 7-8 minutes each time (he has always been a fast nurser).  However today he only ate 5-6 minutes this morning and at lunch time and then refused to eat this afternoon (he would start to eat and then just scream his head off). He went 6 hours before he would agree to eat, and only then would he take a bottle of expressed milk.  We tried 3 times to breastfeed.  I know it is not the taste of my milk because he drank freshly pumped milk.  He usually only takes 4 oz in a bottle (which is a struggle to get him to finish), but he finished that and just screamed and ended up taking 2 more oz.  He is 4 months old, and we have never had any breastfeeding problems before.  I have considered teething, but when he is not trying to eat he is perfectly content.  Any help, ideas, suggestions? 

misssurly

My LO is acting strange the past few days while breastfeeding... I read these tonight and thought they might be helpful for you as well. I really liked reading this part

"Keep in mind that your nursing relationship will evolve over the months. It's natural for babies to have hungry phases and less hungry phases just as you do. And breastfeeding patterns change as babies move into various developmental stages (remember back when your now grinning, kicking, busybody of a nurser barely opened an eye when at the breast?)."

https://www.naturalchild.org/guest/alisa_ikeda.html

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

smj2301

Just keep offering him the boob.  Teething is a definite possibility.  Each time DS has gone through a major teething phase (4 months, 6 months, 9 months, and now) he's nursed less and drastically reduced solids as well.  It lasts anywhere from a few days to about a week and then he's back to normal.

As PP said the BFing relationship definitely evolves over time.  There's a lot going on developmentally at 4 months and LO start to get really distracted because they're learning to roll over, play with toys, etc.  You just have to go with their flow.  For me this means that I have to lay down on the living room floor with my boob out so that DS can crawl over and nurse, then crawl away to play, crawl back over for a few minutes to nurse, repeat.  He refuses to lay in my lap to nurse unless it's first thing in the morning or right before his nap or bedtime.

I would recommend using a slow flow nipple on the bottle so he doesn't get used to the fast flow and then get upset because your boob is too slow for him.

GL!