June 2011 Moms
naddles
member
Nursing Strike! HELP!
naddles
member
I know I'm mostly a lurker on this forum but I could seriously use some advice or at least some words of encouragement. My LO has never had a problem latching on but recently the past two nights and days she has not wanted anything to do with the boob. I am still pumping so she's getting expressed milk and if need be I'll just keep pumping and feeding her like that but it just breaks my heart that she doesn't want to nurse anymore. Any other moms have this problem? Was it just a phase and how long did it last? Or did you just becoming a EPer afterwards and did you notice a decrease in your supply? I'm so super paranoid about maintaining my supply so hopefully she'll go back to wanting to nurse. I'm hoping, praying and rubbing a lucky rabbit's foot that this is just a phase and everything will be back to normal tomorrow.
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Re: Nursing Strike! HELP!
On baby center, they've got this to say on it:
- Mouth pain from teething, a cold sore, or an infection (such as thrush)
- An ear infection, which may cause pressure or pain while nursing
- A cold or stuffy nose, which can make breathing difficult while nursing
- Reduced milk supply or a slow letdown
- A major disruption in your baby's nursing routine or schedule
- If your teething baby has bitten you and your reaction startled him, he may be afraid to nurse after that.
- A change in soap or other toiletry that causes you to smell different to your baby
- A
change in the taste of your milk, caused by a vitamin or drug or by
hormonal changes (from pregnancy or your period, for example)
And then they have some info on what to do about it. Mostly though, don't freak out! It will all work itself out.When I went back to work about two weeks into it my LO went on a nursing strike. I think it was just preference for the bottle and the faster flow. Every weekend we'd be great by the end of the weekend (when she would on the breast feed the whole time) only to struggle again through the next week's evenings.
What I would do on the weekends is sit in a quiet corner of her bedroom in the glider with no distractions for her, relax and I would just keep latching her until she would stop fussing and just eat. I'd tell her to be patient but I think that was more for calming me down but her :-) Basically I out stubborned her because I wouldn't give in and just give her a bottle. We also completely cut out giving her a bottle anytime I was in the house and that seemed to help a lot.
One thing I did that I think helped was to give her bottles right out of the fridge. Part of her strike was a bottle preference, so that gave breastfeeding an edge.
That happened to us, it went on about 3 days. I gave a lot of bottles, but I kept offering the breast. Sometimes what helped was side-lying nursing where he could control when he latched. I'd just lay there with him for awhile with my top off.
I also would give him a bottle for a few ounces, and then quickly switch to the breast.
I still have no idea what caused it, but he got back to normal.
This. It is probably just a phase. Anytime we have a strike it's for a day or two, but I can usually "break" it during a middle of the night feeding when he's too sleepy to care. Rule number one is "feed the baby." Getting a starving baby to nurse it too stressful for everyone involved. Be patient and everything will be back to normal in no time!