Moms of older babies - HELP! teething? nursing strike? both?!

Melanie2003 · September 2011

Samantha is small. She's 11 months and a little over 16 lbs. She gains maybe half a pound a month.

I needed to stop pumping, so I am trying to get her on formula during the day. It's been over 2 weeks, and she will not drink it. Not from a bottle. Not from a straw cup (she'll take water from straw cups). I am buying it, pouring it into bottles, and throwing it out every single night. It's a complete waste of money.

She has been eating a lot of solid food, and I was continuing to send veggie and fruit purees to daycare along with solids, figuring it was adding to hydration at least. She does get yogurt once a day.

I nurse her in the morning, when we get home from work/daycare, and before bed. She's now not sleeping through the night. She's been getting up for about an hour and half in the middle of the night, pretty upset.

Last night was worse than usual. She nursed one side only when we got home, when it's usually both. She hardly ate solids at dinner and wouldn't drink water. Refused the purees too. She refused to nurse at bedtime. She eventually fell asleep.

and then was up from midnight until 3am. I struggled for three hours, offering the breast and formula. She finally nursed a few minutes and then cried herself to sleep.

this morning, she refused to nurse. i went to work an hour late, between trying to get her to latch for even a few minutes - and she did finally, for minutes, again one side only - and delayed mass transit.

i am stressed out. and tired.

she is getting one of her top front teeth in. she slept through her first two bottom teeth, so i am just assuming it's different this time.

is she on a nursing strike of sorts? is it because she's teething? should i worry about an ear infection? she seems fine, but dh, my older daughter and i all have colds.

i feel like i've worked very hard to get her weight either up or constant (she's between 2-5% on the charts), and since we stopped sending breastmilk in bottles to daycare, it's all been going downhill.

i cannot pump, so that is not an option. we've tried good start and enfamil - RTF and powder. i guess similac is next.

ETA: I have a mild case of thrush on one breast. I have been using Nystatin for three days. Baby is not being treated because there is nothing visible and my pediatrician does not feel comfortable treating without seeing symptoms. But she's refusing both sides - not just the one.

azuremama · September 2011

It sounds like it could be any of those things. Sometimes if the kids are upset for no reason that I can tell, I give a dose of tylenol in case it's something like teething pain. If it keeps up for a few days, I'd call the pedi.

Melanie2003 · September 2011

we did try motrin last night too - forgot to write that in. That was around 12:45...and she still was a mess until nearly 3am

bump310301121 · September 2011

Since she didn't respond to the Motrin, and she isn't eating her solids well either, I would give the ped a call.

momofmanyinthemitten · September 2011

Will she let you help her drink the formula out of an open cup? Nursing and sucking from a straw may be bothering her teeth. I will sometimes put orajel on LO before I nurse her when she's teething because then it doesn't hurt her so much. When my LO is teething, she will wake up and stay up for 2-3 hrs in the middle of the night. It doesn't usually last for more than 3 nights in a row.

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Moms of older babies - HELP! teething? nursing strike? both?!

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