Could teething be affecting my 10mth old when bfing

[Minnie24]

For the 3rd night in a row ds has gone to bed after refusing to feed. In fact she has not fed since 1am. Everytime I have offered a feed she has cried and cried. I am at a complete loss as to whats going on. She has been cutting back on her feeds recently, a little too much for my liking, but it is literally overnight that she has completely refused feeds. I am very concerned and more than a bit upset. It feels like she is rejecting me and it breaks my heart to see her crying when I am trying to comfort her. She doesnt appear to be teething but someone has suggested that maybe thats the problem. I really dont know what to do.

Aw, that sounds rotten for both of you. Could you try ringing any of the bfing helplines? They are good at times like this and not just for those early days. Or go to a support group? A nursing strike can be because of many things. My ds had one when he had mouth ulcers from Hand foot and mouth. Some do go on a strike when their teeth/gums hurt. COuld you try her with a wee bit of calpol half an hour before feeding?

Could be. From experience I know that ibuprofen 10 minutes before a feed can help, as does feeding when sleepy in a darkened room.

Could also be a full-on nursing strike though. I have no Ecperience of this, someone will be along soon with help about that I expect.

www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html Good info here

Could well be a nursing strike. The Kellymom link is useful, and you can search the archives here / Google 'nursing strike'.

It's worth a trip to the GP. DS went on strike for 12 days when he was 13 months old. It turned out the problem was an ear infection making him uncomfortable (although he also went on to get a chest infection, v&d bug and conjunctivitis at the same time - and teething).

Someone on MN suggested I took him to the doctor and I'm glad I did, as it was only a course of antibiotics which improved things. It wouldn't have occurred to me as he didn't have a temperature and seemed as happy as normal.

Minnie I came on here to write the exact same thing. DD is 11mths next week and has suddenly stopped feeding. She hasn't fed since 5.45am on Monday and screams and arches away every time I offer the breast. She's normally a total boob monster and up until then was still feeding 4x a day. She's also teething. ( Tooth no.8 ) She has done this before but not for so long and she'd feed at least once a day normally in the middle of the night. I took her to the Doctors on Monday and he said she had a slightly sore throat but he didn't check her ears which I wished I'd insisted he had. Unfortunately she won't take a bottle and dislikes formula. She eats pretty well and has a balanced diet and will drink plenty of water from a sippy cup. I've got some Abidec vitamin drops to start her on to make sure she's not missing out on anything vital. I'm just hoping she'll start feeding again soon. I have given calpol half an hour before a feed but it's made no difference.

It's hard as this time round, I'm not emotionally ready to stop feeding. Ds quit breast feeding at 11mths when his top teeth came through but he would happily take a bottle so I just switched him over and it was all stress free. I thought DD would happily feed til a year and then I was planning to just feed morning and night. At least I know it's possible for her to go to sleep without a feed of any kind but I miss that closeness.

Thanks everyone, I was thinking in the night that maybe I should get her checked out at the gp but I definitely will phone for an appt tomorrow. Had the same thing again today so no improvement. EBB - I could have written your post! You have echoed everything I am feeling. It is heartbreaking holding your baby trying to comfort her while she is screaming and arching away from you. I cant help but to think its something Ive done wrong. It feels so wrong to me that she is going to bed without having any milk, she just seems too young for that. I struggled so much in the beginning and had a really tough time getting going with the feeding and wanted to carry on feeding her till I was ready to stop, never for a minute thinking that may not be an option. Have you managed to feed your little one at all today? I havent unfortuantely. Are you expressing, if so hows that going?

No, she wouldn't feed again today and stupidly, I threw out my breast pump only last week as haven't used it since the early days and figured I wouldn't need it again. I ended up hand expressing 4oz off this morning feeling like Daisy the cow! I might have buy a new pump if she continues much longer. She seems perfectly happy in herself although her fingers are constantly in her mouth being chewed. She's been sick quite a bit with teething for some reason so I think she'll have dropped quite a bit of weight when I get her weighed again. She's only a dinky thing anyway. I think I find it hard as she's always been so into the boob. She was born screaming and latched on immediately after birth and stayed there for 40mins before the MW removed her to be weighed and she screamed her disapproval until she was put back.

I hope your DD feeds again soon too.

Sorry to hear of no improvement.

Trying feeds when sleepy / just waking up / walking in a sling / in the bath can sometimes help.

I found it really hard not to take personally when DS was on strike, and that was even though he still fed 3 times a day when going to sleep. When he got ill and started vomiting up those feeds it was even more depressing.

I didn't express much when DS was on strike and it didn't take long to get my supply back up (he had a few days of extra long feeds). Obviously for a LO who isn't feeding at all that'd take longer, but it can be done.

Hope things improve soon for both of you.