to be contemplating closing the milk bar after tomorrow morning.

[FionaSH]

DS has been on nursing strike since Monday. He's 7mo. I'm contemplating offering tonight and tomorrow morning, but if he doesn't take it then, I'm shutting up shop. I'd still express, but feel totally stressed out with his not feeding and just want the situation resolved somehow. AIBU?

what has he been drinking in the mean time?
do you WANT to stop feeding him?

I've been expressing and syringing it into him 20ml by 20ml...very slow process and am in tears at the thought of this being the way forward until he can use a cup....HOWEVER, the continuous rejection is also driving me to tears as well! I don't want to stop, but he shows no sign of being interested in boob at all anymore.

Is he teething? I'd whack some Calpol in that syringe just to make sure and do some serious skin to skin before shutting up shop for good.

i think its early days to stop, he is very young and still needs the milk.

i agree its distressing, mine have all done it and its awful.

my suggestions would be to try and feed him when he is asleep or very sleepy, also have a bath with him and see if he will play with your boobs and then he may feed! i know crazy but it worked for me sometimes.

i also did lots of skin to skin and carried them around in a ring sling so they could have access to the breast if they wanted and somehow they preferred that than me sitting down to feed them.

have you tried giving him calpol incase he has a sore throat, sore ear or is teething etc? that can make them reluctant to feed.

hopefully tiktok or someone will come along and advise you

my advice would be to hang on in there, oh and also it could be that the hot weather is meaning he doesnt like to be held etc and so is resisting feeding, have you tried feeding him in diff positions to usual?

Well he is teething, but he also had an op on his mouth last week so I think he may have "forgotten" how to feed. However, he just doesn't seem interested in learning again - he just crawls away, wants game time etc. I don't see how I can teach him to breastfeed/bottlefeed/anythingfeed if he just isn't interested in milk anymore
He's fully dosed on max dose calpol and ibuprofen and has been for the last week, so I don't think he's in any pain.

I know I'd be giving up to save my sanity which feels selfish, but he seems so disinterested, I can't see he's going to go back on!

hoping someone with more experience will come along

in the meantime scroll down to nursing strike

is he having anything else to drink? Or have you tried expressing and giving it to him in a bottle? Surely it's the milk that's important, not how he gets it? I can definitely understand why you want him to carry on at the boob though.....my DD is almost 5 months and the thought of her rejecting me in a couple of months is very

At least by expressing though you would keep your supply and can continue to try......

i don't mean to sound harsh, but you've had a lot of threads about this and an awful lot of fab advice on how to encourage him back to the breast, inc getting in touch with local breastfeeding counsellors

many nbabies go on nursing strikes. it is horrid but they go back to the breast eventually

you aren't unreasonable to stop breastfeeding. you can stop whenever you want to
but please don't make out like it's his fault. he's just a baby and if you wanted to help him through this you could

4madboys I've tried all different positions, but he's so enormous and strong I can't hold him close enough and he just crawls off.
I've been trying skin to skin, again, not bothered about a cuddle, just wants to play.
Two weeks ago by morning feed time he'd be sucking on my neck as I carried him through to feed him in the morning he was so thirsty - I just don't understand why he's never thirsty anymore!!!
Agree, could be heat related.
Or psychological scarring from his op

i wouldnt stop if he has had an op and isnt taking a cup/other milk yet especially in this hot weather

could you wait a week or two then reassess?

if you want to stop bfing for your own reason(which is ok) then you need to get him to drink out of a cup

Well, you're going to have to carry on with the syringe anyway to get something into him I guess. I'd have to say keep up the expressing and offering the breast at every time he'd normally feed.

thisisyesterday I have had a lot of threads about this because it's my life at the moment - sorry to be boring everyone!
I've tried so hard with the breastfeeding through all sorts of problems because I wanted to be able to breastfeed him for comfort after his operation which we always knew would be in June, so I've been aiming for this.
I have read all the advice (and very much appreciated it) on nursing strikes, and read up on LaLeche league etc, but mine is not a normal nursing strike circumstance - it is related to his operation. He was very lucky to be able to breastfeed at all in the first place. I am seeking advice from other places (HV, paediatrician etc) but have started several threads on here to try to get other ideas as well.
I'm not blaming my son, blame doesn't really have anything to do with it. But I am ogffering it and he doesn't want it, so I'm not sure what else I can do.
diamondsandtiaras I have constructed a syringe with nasogastric tubing on the end and am syringing expressed into him 4 times a day. Hellish.

ah Fiona I see this is more than a run of the mill nursing strike

I think you need RL help, a specialist rather than paed or HV

Ring a BF counsellor asap

Good luck

i would go with the let him play with your breasts rather than trying to HOLD him and make him feed, that will probably put him off more.

this is why i found a sling helpful as mine liked to be carried, esp when tired and they would sometimes feed then but only in the sling.

i also did daft things like have playtime in bed with them, but not wear a top so you can be messing around doing rough and tumble play but they have access to your boobs, you may find he latches on when you least expect it, i remember being on all fours over one of mine, blowing raspberries on their belly and as i lifted up and away they grabbed a breast and latched on!

he really is veyr young to self wean and as he has just had an operation (what for if you dont mind me asking) then i would say it is maybe linked to that?

he wont have forgotten how to latch on, its an instinct that children grow out of, but he is too young to do that.

have you had him checked by a dr to make sure there is nothing else going on?

and also the heat may have a big part to play, mine simply didnt like cuddling up for feeds when it was really hot.

((fiona)) i know how upsetting it is, but try not to get upset and stressed as he will pick up on that xxx

wastingaway I think this is what I am likely to do, in concurrance with offering him a cup at every opportunity to get him clued up on that.

No reason to particularly want to give it up (I actually miss it dreadfully), but I think I'm going to have to up the dose of my AD's to cope with the panic attacks and then the worry of how much goes into breastmilk - whole different thread I think!!!

Thanks 4madboys I'll persevere with the skin to skin time and see if he's more interested, and if I can just try to relax!! I'm quite sure he can tell I'm freaking out about it and is reacting to it.

I'd never heard of this self weaning thing, and my MIL said that he had proably just had enough and was telling me so. I was like I didn't know THEY gave it up. I thought it would just be whenever the mum stopped.

He has a cleft, so his mouth has been sore after his op, and obviously feels new now and works in a different way. I just wish he'd practise on me!!

He had a full MOT before his op, so I don't think there's anything else wrong. The only other suggestion someone had was that going on the boob might remind him of the anaesthetic mask (tenuous in my opinion). My irrational thought is that he's angry with me for putting him through the operation and pain, and so is rejecting me. God I love hormones!

They get all funny in the heat though - it might just be a passing phase, I'd give it longer unless you want to stop for other reasons in which case that's an entirely different issue and also okay.

Does he have a dummy? Or a teething ring type toy to play with his mouth with?

Nope, not allowed a dummy. He sucks on a soft toy. He's been quite careful about keeping hard things away from his mouth so I guess he knows its sensitive at the mo. He's only just today started putting his fingers back in his mouth.

Fiona, you aren't boring everyone, but you do seem to be ignoring all the great advice you've had on your other 2 or 3 threads!!!

La Leche League leaders (as one example) can give fantastic one to one support for situations like this.
have you found your local branch and seen when their next meeting is?
it has been suggested on all your other threads

all I am saying is, if you want to give up then give up because YOU want to. if you don't then maybe take on board the advice you've been given ovefr and over again

Have you tried this site? I used to find it th eost comprehensive in terms of trouble-shooting bfing, no matter how unusual the situation.
www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html#strike

Thanks thisisyesterday. I have spoken with a LLL leader and while she is sending me out some leaflets, so couldn't offer me any other thoughts than what I've already tried.

And I wouldn't be surprised if I was boring others, I'm boring myself with all this!

I've had some skin to skin time with his this evening, just playing and he wasn't interested, but after his bath he had a look and latched on, but came off again instantly - I don't know if it's that let down wasn't quick enough, or if it feels so different with his new mouth that he's confused. I'm going to try, as has been suggested, to pick him up and feed him asleep tonight.

Yes, thanks staranise, I've had a look at the kellymom website, I hadn't heard of nursing strikes til I read that.
Since his one suck earlier I have been refuelled to keep on trying for a while longer. The LLL leader said she'd heard of cases where even weeks later the baby went back on. Which made me feel more positive.

do you have a local LLL group? that way you'd be able to see a BFC one to one, which I think is sometimes a lot easier

Yes, my friend's DD went on a nursing strike for weeks - my friend expressed throughout and then went cold turkey on giving bottles out of exasperation one weekend away and her baby went back to the breast and ended up feeding for years (literally!). So if you really want to breastfeed, hang in there.