Nursing strike

[jemjabella]

Mums who've successfully beaten nursing strikes - please give me your stories, tips, reassurance etc.

Excellent news. It's so encouraging to hear she's reacting better to the boob :)

My DS went of strike for 10 days, when the temps were 28 over the summer. I was beside myself. I expressed, kept offering boob, but then held him down and syringed milk in. He hated it but I was so worried about dehydration.
On day 10 I'd decided that he obviously wasn't going to feed, so I was going to give up trying and just persist with the beaker. I don't know whether her sensed I'd relaxed about it, or that he was in last-chance-saloon, but he started feeding again then. Straight back to normal.
On the plus side it eradicated the 11pm dream feed that I'd been wondering how to get rid of!

Good luck.

My LO started feeding again in the evening so all ok but has been a little cagey with feeds today. Trying to be patient but is very stressful.

Jem feel so bad for you especially not being able to express. Try putting a hot flannel on the breast or hot baths were always the best for me and hand expressing. Try the usual of thinking of ur baby to let the milk down and i've heard that thinking of sex can help too! Your GP sounds useless. Try any BF counsellors. Try and keep your spirits up and get someone to take ur LO a while so you can try to relax a little. Good luck.

One step forward, two steps back. Tried sleepy feeding for her afternoon nap which resulted in awake screaming DD.

Left boob looking very dodgy - lumpy and red on left. Managed to get minute amounts in hot shower with hand expressions and soapy comb but not great. Started popping ibuprofen as I know I'm heading v. fast for mastitis. Right boob OK as it responds ok to pump now - can get about 4oz off every 4-5 hours.

Nearly bedtime so another opportunity to try the sleepy feeding.

Thank you for continued ideas/support. Just noting down as I go along as a point of reference for any other mums who end up in this same situation.

Finally managed to get left boob to let down with pump on full whack this morning - no longer resemble Pamela Anderson. :)

Couldn't get DD to sleep feed last night...

Hope things went a bit better today x

Still refusing. Managed 2 sleepy feeds during her 1st nap yesterday but couldn't get her to take again. My supply is already affected. I only managed to get anything out with the morning pumping yesterday. Barely 'full' this morning.

Does anyone know if dry pumping has a positive effect on supply? (Am thinking along the same lines of a baby comfort suckling...)

Can you hire a hospital grade pump from NCT? They're much better. I've used one myself.

I think you need to pump at night (e.g. before bed) as well to maintain supply.

Is she drinking enough milk otherwise?

Kellymom has some tips you could also try here

Will look into hiring a bigger/better pump.

Had tried pumping at night without success. Now my body is reacting better/quicker to the pump but there's less there which is bloody frustrating.

Dunno if she is getting enough milk - probably close to the minimum. Pumped 10oz-ish yesterday but she also had those sleepy feeds. Only pumped 7-8oz this morning so desperately need to get her on the boob/get more out.

This is really starting to get me down now. I feel so fucking rejected.

Can she have dairy etc to make sure she's getting enough calcium and fat?

Yes I completely understand the rejection feeling. And anger - I was angry. Speaking to NCT helped me carry on trying.

In the end, DS went on strike for months as he'd developed a fear of pain from feeding. It was depressing but he couldn't have dairy and I'm bloody stubborn. I did read up on some who's strikes lasted for weeks and they went back on the boob eventually.

Have been reducing dairy dramatically as she was having problems with constipation and it has improved since we did that so loathe to re-introduce it in significant quantities except as a last resort. Not overly worried about fat levels as she eats loads of other good stuff - nut butters, avocado, oily fishes etc Will need to refresh my memory on what other stuff is a good source of calcium though.

Just had another sleepy feed with extensive post-feed comfort suckling. She lets go as soon as she realises what she's doing though.

Am willing to keep this up as long as my boobs let me (and possibly into relactating territory if it gets that bloody far?!) - I'm a stubborn bugger too :)

It's really hard not to take it personally, but you know it isn't.

Does she have milk in her food.

Dry pumping goes help to stimulate, as long as it's not hurting you. I love my rental pump so much, that I'm finding it hard to send it back now that things are fine (fingers crossed). I personally was on the verge of switching to full time pumping.

Amounts that you pump daily do vary, but if your worried about supply I would try and fit in pumping sessions as often as you can.

Being stubborn is great at times isn't it . Looking back it's hard to remember her being so hard to feed for those few months, so hopefully you get there as well.

Limited milk in foods but will increase as I'm starting to have trouble getting milk in her - she won't take more than a couple of OZ at a time (even though she will happily drink an entire cupful of water).

Left boob has gone totally floppy - even overnight - so going to have to do some hardcore pumping I think.

Thanks again for the continued support. :)

2 sleepy feeds today. Second one my sister accidentally woke her, she came off the boob looked at sis then went back to boob without hesitation! Heading in the right direction I hope :)

Good to hear! If you have any setbacks, think of the progress like today.

Only people who have suffered strikes can appreciate the joy of having a baby who chooses to go back on the breast without intervention. It still makes me everytime

It certainly makes me more determined to allow her to wean naturally from the breast.

She's still striking. It's almost like she's forgotten how to latch because she does keep trying in the day - but I know that's not true because she's having have 1/2 sleepy feeds during her naps and if she'd forgotten she wouldn't be able to (right?)

I meant "because she's having 1-2 sleepy feeds"

Still striking...

what's that? A week now.

I take she's still taken some sleepy feeds?

Hows the expressing going, managed to sneak any milk into her porridge?

We're on day 10. She's still taking feeds during her naps (which is 1-2 feeds depending on whether or not I can get her to sleep).

Amount I'm getting with the pump is slowly decreasing despite trying to pump every 2 hours but I have a double pump on the way thanks to a v. kind MNer.

She's having about 8-10oz of expressed milk a day, plus the 1-2 feeds, and I've making sure she gets small amounts of milk in her food so I think we're probably doing OK on the intake for now.

Poss. day 9 actually, I can't count.

Hey jem sorry to hear it's still ongoing. Fingers crossed for you

She's still striking but am managing to get her to feed while asleep twice most days.

Getting rather bored of pumping mind you.