refusing to nurse
my 11 week old is refusing to nurse. he wouldn't eat much yesterday including at his bedtime around 9pm. I pumped at that point as I do most nights for my stash. He woke up crying about 30 min later and I had to give him a bottle of what i just pumped because i was empty, which he took without issue. he then woke up around 1 to eat (he usually sleeps until 4 or 5) and again at 5. Both time he nursed sort of, but it was a struggle. I just weaned him off the nipple shield in the past couple of weeks, but i tried to offer it to him, and he didn't want that. when he woke up at 8, he refused to nurse. finally i gave him a little in a bottle because i don't want him to be hungry and he ate it up, when i tried to switch out the boob, he wouldn't have it. Any advice? I'm really upset about this, and I don't want to have to pump all the time. for his next feeding, I'm going to offer him the boob and if he doesn't take it, I'll feed him by cup so he doesn't get so used to the bottle.
Apologies for the messy writing, he passed out in my lap. (he's also been sleeping crappy, blah)
Re: refusing to nurse
I'm not sure here, but I don't think that feeding an 11week old with a cup is going to work our well. I don't have any advice either, but I will tell you that the same thing happened to me and I just let it ride. I always offered the breast before giving a bottle, and DS would only nurse from me in the middle of the night for about a month or longer. DH stays home with him during the day and said that when he would feed from the bottle, he fed him so that he could look around. And I noticed that when DS would latch for just a second and pull off and look around. DH then started feeding the bottle in a position so that it mimicked how DS would face if he was at the breast. I don't know if that's what did it or not, but DS started nursing again after that and we have no problems. I still take DS to a quiet room to nurse though as he is still somewhat distractable. Hope that helps!