Boob refusal/ nursing strike

I had this. It lasted a week or so, so just be patient. I kept offering little and often until he got through it. We did have to do a few extra bottles when he absolutely refused. I found he fed best when he was sleepy. I used to cuddle him with a dummy then when I thought he was calm enough, take the dummy away and transfer him on. Also make sure you’re still on the smallest teat size. I made the mistake of moving up. Apparently if your combi feeding it’s best to stay on a smaller teat, otherwise the bottle flow is a lot faster and they end up preferring this. I know it’s upsetting but my LO is back to himself now and feeding well

@Jenny ahhh no way :( I’ll keep trying but he SCREAMS! I loved the sleepy feeds in the middle of the night with him but 2am this morning he would not go on and then we had to wait for the bottle to be warm enough. I hate pumping too but will have to ensure my supply doesn’t drop :( Thank you for this! We are on size 2 MAM as he was clicking on size 1? I have HV weds so I will double check with her on him being right. I don’t think it helped he had horrendous belly ache this morning bless him x

My best bit of advice would be don’t force it! My daughter is breastfed, and she also went through a strike (I think that’s developmentally normal!) and I was getting stressed thinking I’d have to stop. And I’m sure she felt this, because I kept trying to get her to latch and she was getting so angry. I let her lead, I would offer it once and if she didn’t take I would leave it for a little while until she would. It passed as quickly as it came! Itll all be okay, just try not to stress and maybe incorporate extra pumps into your day incase it lasts a while and your supply dips. You will come out the other side 🩷🩷🩷

@Katie the nighttime refusal was awful. He only completely refused for me once at night but I was in tears. Had to wake my husband and ask him to go feed him. I feel your pain ☹️ If he wasn’t feeling well that could be making it worse? I was really ill when we went through it and I did wonder if there was a link. Just don’t give up. He will go back to normal again soon

@Charlotte what age did it happen for you? And how long? He’s fine on bottles. I honestly think he’s gotten lazy. It will be interesting to see what he weighs this week. At his 12 weeks he was still only 8lb 13oz but he was born 5lb 4oz xx

@Jenny I wanted to cry so bad. He was inconsolably crying :( poor babies. I wish they could tell us what’s wrong xx

Mine went on boob strike when he was post-vaccines (another one coming up so waiting for it again!). It took a week and he was okay with boob again and it was as though it never happened. We fed him pumped milk for that time but always offered boob first and eventually it just clicked and was as though he never had a problem. We are still on 0 teats though so he’s always had to work a lot for food. I was so stressed and upset about it though, i really was starting to imagine my life as an exclusive pumper and it really upset me. I feel your pain and just keep at it, hopefully the strike is temporary

My ebf is going through a strike atm. Doesn't take a bottle either 🤣 Currently we're doing a cradle hold while standing and rocking her as she'll accept that. I'd suggest mixing up your positions til you find one that's novel enough to be accepted again - there will usually be one 🥲

I’ve seen people on a breastfeeding group saying lots of skin to skin and try having a bath with them? X

We're going through something similar with our boy. I think he gets bored/frustrated on the boob as he has to lie still and can't look around. He only really feeds well when he's sleepy but the other thing I've found that helps a bit is some kind of movement while feeding - he's fed okay if stand up and sway/bounce while holding him (I think we'll have to get the pregnancy ball out again as it's exhausting 😂) It's really hard and like you I don't want to stop breastfeeding yet. I've been trying to offer him the boob at every feed to give him the chance, but being prepared to switch to bottle if he gets unhappy. I think it's starting to get a bit better the last few days so is probably just a tricky phase, like everything. Really hope it gets better for you!

I managed to do the dummy trick on him both last night and this morning. Middle of the night again though he wasn’t having any of it and SCREAMED again 😩 tempted to move him back to 0 teats on the bottles…

Bless u! I do the dummy/boobie switcheroo where i settle him with the dodie then put the nipple in. Or, feeding him just as he’s about to go for a nap or big sleep. It’s hard but u got this x