16 month old on nursing strike

[strikeordone]

Please any advice as I am feeling increasingly upset about this. My 16 month old has HFM and a throat infection. He's refused to breastfeed for 2 days despite being a round the clock feeder before hand.

Is this the end of our journey? I've been pumping and will continue to do so. He is taking his milk with a syringe and I'm worried he's getting too used to this and won't bf again.

He literally won't go near a breast, pushes it away. He's clearly in a lot of pain with his mouth.

All the threads I've read have said this means the end.

I tried a bath and skin to skin, no luck - any other advice?

I don't know how to put him to sleep or how to comfort him in the night any more, this is awful!

He’s 16 months old so surely he’s been eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day for a while and doesn’t have much milk anyway? At this age he’s not a small baby anymore and will know his food and drink preferences so it may be that he’s growing out of drinking milk as a regular drink and hfm has quickened it a bit if he’s in pain. You could try giving him expressed milk at bedtime in a sippy cup and see if he’ll have that instead.

As for putting him to sleep he’ll be learning to self settle at this age if he doesn’t already so it’s not a bad thing if he stops having milk to settle. Does he go to nursery?

@Overthebow it's highly unlikely he's self weaning to stop so suddenly. But thank you appreciate you posting

My one year old had HFM a week ago, and it followed up with oral thrush, so for a while he was shoving my boob away (fed from desperation), but he's happily back on it now.

Thank you @PlayDadiFreyr how long did he refuse it for? It's been almost 48 hours here

Sorry OP but when i saw the thread title I had an image of a baby on a picket line outside the hospital!

@Spidey66 my DH said he thought our son was a nurse on strike 🤣

This is how my youngest child stopped, sorry. She wasn’t ill but she just kept pushing away and became more and more disinterested.

It sounds like a natural end to it to be honest OP. 16 month old doesn't need to be a round the clock feeder so it's not a bad thing. Is he drinking other fluids or having proper food?

This is how both mine stopped. They just lost interest around the 9 or 10th month mark. Were ok with sippy cups instead.

@Pandasnacks yes loads of food and snacks etc, he used to have milk morning and before nap and before bed and a lot in the night still

Same with mine, at only 7 months after weaning her. I was devastated but she voted with her feet, nothing I could do 😕

Is he not sleeping through but also not drinking? Dropping the milk in the night is great if he sleeps more, but obviously just really stressful if he still wakes as much

Hello, no advice on how to help with the issue but do try posting on the breastfeeding groups. There are some very knowledgeable people on there. Look at breastfeeding older babies and beyond and breast buddies Teesside breastfeeding support.

@Pandasnacks still waking and inconsolable most of the night!

I fed all of mine until 2+ years they stopped at different points. However I would say it dwindled, I didn't offer/they didn't ask type weaning. I feel what you are describing is stemming from the pain in his mouth. I think if he's still that uncomfortable tomorrow then try calling your gp, as someone said above it could be thrush. Try not to get upset by the 'he eats meat and two veg' gang. He's still very much a baby. WHO don't advise weaning pre 2 years xxx hope he's feeling better soon xxx

Thank you @nopenotplaying

It's so hard sometimes because I just get comments like 'well he's not a baby any more' it doesn't really matter if he's technically a baby or not does it 🥺

Sorry this isn't what you want to hear but mine did stop entirely at 15 months in similar circumstances, after a brief vomiting illness. I tried for about 2 weeks but she turned her head away every single time! She was eating 3 square meals and loved her food so I think that was a factor, but it really can be that abrupt sorry.

48 hours isn’t too long! I’d keep pumping to keep your supply up and offering …

My little one didn’t wean until she was about 3yrs2months and there were periods in there where she’d go a week and then come back to it (even if I’d stopped actively offering when I got pregnant )

It happens to bottle fed babies too. My 17 month old also had HF&M recently and has refused the bottle ever since. All she wanted was freezing cold cows milk from the fridge in a sippy cup and refuses anything else now. It also makes me sad as it feels like she’s no longer my little baby!

I disagree . I suspect the pain in his mouth and the swollen throat makes breastfeeding very painful ! Keep pumping and feeding via syringe I suspect in a few days he will be looking to resume if that's what you want. I don't think nursing strike is the same when they are ill personally. Be guided by how he feeds when feeling better. In the meantime syringing breast milk is doing him good with antibodies and also getting fluids down. Hope he's on the mend soon, such a worry when then are poorly .

It is a sad moment, but as long as he is taking milk in a cup and eating well I reckon he'll be fine. Mine weren't getting much milk from me at this stage, it was mostly comfort.

Glad I'm not the only one! Impressive baby to have qualified so young 🤣

I had HFM when my eldest had it and it killed my appetite (which is also a known symptom). Keep trying if you want to continue BFing him, I’m sure it won’t last long