Wtf...nursing strike!??

Do they have them this young?

DS is being IMPOSSIBLE to feed - for the last week he'd suck pull off suck look around suck talk etc. I started dragging it out longer between feeds (from 2.5 hourly - 3 or 3.5 hourly) which seemed to solve the problem until yesterday and today when he's just flat out refusing to nurse! He's had his ears checked today and he is fine physically. Hes only had around 3 10min feeds today under duress and refused a bedtime feed and has gone to bed on an empty tum, though i will attempt to feed him in a few hours hopefully when he is sleepy and calm it'll go better. He is literally pulling his head as far away from me as possible and grizzling. If i really persevere he cries or bites which is stressful for him and no doubt doesnt make him want boob more so i switched tactics to just hanging out topless and hoping he'd latch on in his own good time. But a no go, he grizzles and pushes away from me.

He is still eating his solids but i hesitate to continue offering them without liquids as he doesnt have much if any water but don't want to remove them if he needs the substance...

What to do?

I just read your thread when i searched . I didnt think they got this whole thing so young though...

He saw an osteo when he was wee and was all fine though if he still has this problem i'll take him back for sure in a couple of days. He doesnt seem to prefer one side or the other though. He self settles well for naps, i wonder if i put him to sleep on my bed then sneak in when he's asleep to feed him. I think if i took him out of his cot he would wake up fully and refuse.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes - i found the link in an old thread i found when i searched. Will try some of the ideas tomorrow, though i snuck in an hour ago and he had a decent feed while mostly asleep so obviously my milk is poisoned he just doesnt want boob right now!

ETA: is it possible i'm over feeding him on solids so he's not hungry for boob? Though i always give him a hearty feed then offer solids after. But perhaps they are making him fuller for longer and he doesnt want feeding 3 hourly anymore?

Edited by Bowie

Wow really, only 4 or 5? I had an epiphany in bed and concluded perhaps now he's a big grown up boy (sarcasm plus) he doesnt want feeding all the time. I guess atm he has about 10 feeds a day though about half are those are offered because i think he might like a snuggle and a wee feed and i guess its just not cool to snuggle with your mom these days

Thanks Newme...it started with the distraction a few weeks ago so i've been feeding as soon as he wakes up in the dark, sometimes with a blanket over us so there is nothing to see at all but now he just refuses to feed full stop, won't even take a nipple. Though having said that he did feed once overnight and again this morning so perhaps he's getting back on board! Not helped by mother this morning telling me he will be self weaning soon

I would be careful about giving him too many solids, after all "food is for fun till after 1", and they need those nutrients from milk, they get bugger all out of solids...
if it is a nursing strike, dont stress him out, your doing hte right thing by having your boobs out, increase skin to skin time with out pressuring him to latch.
Have you tried to express a little so the milk is right there when he does latch on?

sounds nuts bowie, no wonder you are confused, these babies do such odd things sometimes. E hasnt had any of those probs and we are feeding her prob close to the same as you are feeding M. not too nutritionally useless tho, our specialist said we can take E off her vitadol supps once started solids, and can take her off her iron supps when she has 3 meat meals a day, so they are getting some good stuff from them that we cant provide (they dont get much iron from BM i know for a fact).

Remember reading in 'Womanly art..' that day feeds can be tricky at this time (as mentioned above) and that they may feed more at night cos there's nothing else at all going on and it's a chance to reconnect with you. I find blocking with a blanket doesn't work if A's fussy in the day, cos it's just another thing to play with. Hope you can figure it...I reckon he'll come round.

Entirely off topic, but was amused that your bf ticker appears to go to 12 years Emmi (small things small minds..) - that would be impressive..

Well, maybe YOU could but i think youd have trouble convincing a 12 year old to come latch!

I thought about the solids thing, i think you're right. I've drastically cut down the amount of food he's getting and he's feeding more but not as much as before this kicked off. He's also wickedly constipated. Trying to pump as much fluid into him as poss.

freckle wrote: CJsays wrote: sounds nuts bowie, no wonder you are confused, these babies do such odd things sometimes. E hasnt had any of those probs and we are feeding her prob close to the same as you are feeding M. not too nutritionally useless tho, our specialist said we can take E off her vitadol supps once started solids, and can take her off her iron supps when she has 3 meat meals a day, so they are getting some good stuff from them that we cant provide (they dont get much iron from BM i know for a fact). Fullterm babies get enough iron stores to last about 6 and up to 12 months... but they get them mostly in the last trimester so full term babies don't need generally need the extras at this stage :)...

And iron in BM is more readily absorbed than any other iron, therefore far more beneficial than a slab of steak