Need Breastfeeding Advice - Wylie,TX

Pump milk and give it to her in a sippy. She might like that, it also gives you a leg up on starting with cups. No bottles no fun! Please go to kellymom.com for more info, it's great. This "strike" has nothing to do with you, it's not negative she's just hitting milestones and changing. Just keep trying. Early morning and before sleep is the best time to try breast again. Don't give up, Mom. Believe me if I can do it for a year...anyone can!

L.

My middle child did the same thing. My lactation consultant suggested I try and nurse him while he was sleeping. I tried during nap time. It worked like a charm! Good luck! Don't give up!!

Could she be sick? My 15 mnth old son just had a virus and there were no symptoms besides fussiness & refusing to nurse or eat pretty much anything. We took him to the pedi who only said it was teething (even though I knew it had to be something more) and sure enough that same night we noticed small red blisters on his tongue. Even though he's 15 mnths I was so worried my milk would dry up and he would be done nursing because I didn't feel he was ready to quit nursing and he ended up going almost a full week w/out eating or drinking. I could only get him to nurse about 20 minutes at night time which thankfully my milk didn't dry up and now he's back to eating like a little piggy. Check your baby girls mouth and see if you see any blisters. Take her to the pedi if so and good luck to you!!

I also have a nine month old that is teething on the top and just very busy. She is very distracted by anything going on- tv, radio, and especially big brother & sister. I have to take her into a dark, quiet room to nurse, and even still she won't take much. I give her formula, pumped milk or water in a sippy cup (she likes the Nuby cup with handles). I've also had good luck when she was half asleep with getting her to nurse. Her strike is probably due to teething, hot weather, and being busy/distracted- keep trying and pumping- her strike will most likely come to an end and she'll go back to nursing. Good luck!

Girls are different than boys she may not be on strike she might be growing up and want to be like her older siblings. Girls are very smart and breast fed babies are the smartest. I would keep pumping and just put your milk in her sippy cup and move forward. No worries every child is different. God bless you,
K.

K.,
Has your baby been getting more of her nourishment from solids than from breastmilk before the nursing strike? If so he could be reacting from the teething. She may be more receptive to nursing at nap and bedtime. Giving her lots of cuddle time and perhaps some skin to skin time will get her back on the breast.This may get her back in the nursing mode.
I would skip the bottles altogether. If she will go straight to the cup for now, you have a better chance of her wanting to go back to the breast. Some babies just let you know when they want to stop. Sad but true.

K. Voigtsberger, CD(DONA), AAHCC
Certified Birth Doula (DONA)
Certified Bradley®Method of Childbirth Educator

When I was b/f my now toddler, she went on a nursing strike too for about a week. I just kept offering at each feeding, and if she wouldn't take it, I would put thawed milk in the sippy cup. Just keep pumping if she wont eat, and keep offering. It's temporary hopefully. Mine was, and we went on to b/f until she was one.
Oh, and another thing, I would give her hyland's teething tablets before a feeding and she would nurse. You might try that too.

It might be your milk is drying up? I know they say your supply will keep up with their demand but that wasn't the case when my daughter was 8 1/2 months old. She wanted to nurse and was teething at the same time. She already had two bottom teeth and at this time her top two teeth were coming in. Something changed in the way she latched on and it hurt so bad. I kept thinking it would get better but after days of trying to nurse my own wounds, I called it quits. I hated to quit before she was 1 but when I started pumping I was getting barely 2 ounces out. I know you can't get as much out pumping as you can nursing but 2 ounces?? Also, during this time, for about 2-3 weeks, she would hardly take a nap and would go down crying and then wake up crying - not like her at all. At night it took forever for her to go to sleep, too. Guess what happened when I stopped nursing her and she had a full tummy from a bottle? No more crying and back to longer (normal) naps! And going to sleep at night without crying. So in the long run it turned out to be a blessing that I stopped because I was about to go crazy with "Why is my baby not sleeping and crying all of the time??" I would have not ever thought of it being my milk supply because everyone tells you that your supply keeps up with their demand.

I know this was long but it's my 2 cents for ya! :-)

Hang in there,
M.

Eh, it happens. She will not starve, and just keep offering your milk. She'll take back to it when she's ready. Unless you're ready to wean her, don't offer the bottle. I really believe that even at this tender age, it is partly a discipline issue. By that I mean you are the mother who knows best, so while you certainly can't force her to nurse, you can keep that the only option for times when she'd normally nurse. Fortunately for you, she's too little to stay stubborn long enough to really hurt herself (in this manner, anyway!) :)

My MIL said she made a grave mistake in thinking my DH was ready to wean b/c he went on strike at 9 mo. He was her first, and she went on to successfully breastfeed her other 5 kids through nursing strikes as long as they (and she) wanted. :)