My baby's on strike (apologies, it's a bit lengthy)

[Spoutlet]

Just in need of some advice and reassurance. 7 month old DD has been on a possible nursing strike since Sunday morning; rarely accepting the breast, when she does sucking briefly and coming off before the letdown, and turning away upset. I've managed to feed her a couple of times during the night whilst she's half asleep as I'm worried that she'll starve/dehydrate - ridiculous to think this, I know, as she eats 3 meals a day and is taking water from a cup and some expressed milk. Anyway, how can I get her back on the breast? We have had lots of skin to skin cuddles and play, I haven't forced her onto the breast - all very gentle coaxing, etc.

Perhaps some background might help. Apart from the usual early bf difficulties, bfing has gone well and since we began weaning, at 25/26 weeks, she has been taking 6 feeds a day from me. We last had her weighed 3 weeks ago, when she had dropped from the 50th to the 28th centile (in the 7 weeks between weigh ins she'd put on just over one pound); HV not overly concerned by this as DD looks well and is, in general, happy - we have to go and have her weighed again next week. Further to this we took DD to see the doctor last week as we wondered if she had reflux (frequent painful sounding hiccuping, strange smelling breath, often sick). He thought it possible so have been prescribed Gaviscon. The Gaviscon appears to have given her very bad constipation, so whilst in the midst of this strike we've stopped using it as she's evidently in some discomfort. She has not yet cut her first tooth, so this could also be due to teething; she bites down on my nipple and then pulls it through her gums - OUCH!

Sorry if this appears confused, I'm typing this as I'm expressing plus feeling a bit upset about my poor DD . Any help will be much appreciated. Might be slow to respond as I'll be going upstairs to try and feed her again shortly and put her down for a nap.

Thanks for reading

Hi Spoutlet, that sounds frustrating for you both!

3 meals a day and water from a cup sounds like a lot for a 7 month old, especially since she's only been on solids for a month. Are you doing purees or BLW? Have you been told by a paed to feed her this much solid food?

It does sound like she's teething too which can make BF uncomfortable for them (and you!). You could try letting her chew on something cold first, like a teething toy, and then try feeding her.

Skin to skin is brilliant, persevering with that might be worth a go. You could try taking a bath together or snuggling on the sofa under a blanket.

You said the gaviscon has made her constipated- is she pooping properly now? Is she showing any signs of an upset stomach?

We're at just about the same stage and having a very similar issue although it's only been going on a few days and at last HV appointment, ds had gained a good amount of weight. I can't really offer any advice but am looking forward to reading responses.

I am concerned though that 3 meals is said to be too much for a 7 month old?? I've read various sources including BLW book, AK and nhs guidance etc and thought I was ok that I'd built up to ds eating 3 times a day over the last month. He really enjoys this and I thought we were doing well. Now I'm worried he's not getting enough milk, my supply could suffer and I'm over-feeding him! Apologies for the slight hijack, op, but I'm sure you'll also be hoping that someone knowledgeable will come along and help us out?

Thanks for your reply, EauRouge. We've only recently started offering 3 meals a day; HV and various sources (inc. Mumsnet introducing solids, bit!) suggest 3 meals by 7 months. We're not strict about this at all and if she's not interested we don't push her, so to speak. We're mainly doing purees. We did start out with BLW, but DD was gagging (normal, I know) and vomiting a lot with each 'meal'.

Will definitely try your suggestions, thank you . She's taken her bedtime feed, very pleased about that.

Her poos are still solid-ish, but not as hard and dark as they were - she is, however, evidently in some discomfort still when passing them. Perhaps another trip to the doctor...

Here is some Kellymom info on starting solids. I've not read the Mumsnet starting solids bit, I'll go and have a read.

Just read the kellymom page. Don't know how I've never seen that before, am on there a lot. It's different to everything I've read but left me really worried as I'd rather ds was mainly breastfeeding and don't know if we can backtrack now we've come this far

No worries about the hijack, Pickle, the more the merrier - it's comforting to find others in a similar position .

Have read the Kellymom info before, EauRouge,it has helped me many times with BFing and let me know if we've misinterpreted the MN advice! Feeding advice is often so conflicting, but we do our best to pick our way through the minefield! Will just give her 2 meals tomorrow and see how we get on.

Don't worry, Pickle, you've said that your DS is enjoying his food and doing well - he'll be fine. There seems to be such a range of 'normal' for babies .

I did BLW with DD and around 7-8 months she suddenly got a taste for food and really wouldn't bf during the day (although was happy to at night). She would look at my breasts in disgust!

She did get constipated as she wasn't really drinking much water (although I obviously offered). It did straighten itself out after a while.

I had some success in feeding her in the day by taking her into a darkened room and sometimes feeding her lying down worked.

TCP - You can increase bfing and decrease solids (bfs should be offered before solids until 1 anyway). You can still keep what foods you are normally feeding your baby but just cut back a little on the amount offered.

Obviously if your baby is more of a toddler you wouldn't be too drastic but you could still swap snacks for bfs if they had dropped most of their bfs.

Lots more guidance here.

Hope this helps.

Thanks - that's really interesting reading - where is that document from?

World Health Organisation - so very well researched and thoroughly checked before being published.

Thanks for the link, TruthSweet, will have a read.

Your experience is interesting, RhinestoneCowgirl; DD has become more receptive to solids recently...

How are you getting on, TheCornishPickle?

We're going to cut out lunch today, for DD, to see if that helps.

DS is 7mo, BLW and daytime striking. He doesn't want boob, he wants solids. I do wonder whether it's teething related the way he chomps on his food. I'm worried reading that info now though

I really didn't mean to make anyone worried - sorry.

The thing is you can't force a child/baby to nurse if they don't want to but you can help make it less likely they are too reliant on complementary foods too early. Nursing before offering foods, not putting off nursing unless necessary when they ask, spending time with them in a way that is conducive to bfing (skin to skin, co-bathing, cuddling), not putting excessive amounts of food out for them to eat, encouraging them to eat a bit more than they want to/clearing their plates etc can help maintain bfing.

I'm sorry that you're experiencing similar issues, Fraktious - I wonder if this is a common problem at 7 months? Has your DS cut any teeth yet, if so was he refusing the boob prior to them coming through?

Well, DD had a very quick BF on waking, some yoghurt mixed with avocado for breakfast and has refused further BFing, so far.

No need to apologise, TruthSweet, the information is appreciated .

He has 4 teeth and has been a bit off food before all of them.

We do lots of skin to skin, sling him, co sleep etc but he's just not that interested in boob in the daytime. I know I should be happy that he's feeding well at night, aside from the effects on my sleep, but I worry. I was disquieted before this truth so please don't feel bad because it"s nice to have those concerns validated in a way.

It's just that he gets into such a paddy if we don't give him solids when he's in his chair, if we don't put him in he looks to his chair, if we don't give him more when he demands it then he has the screaming ab dabs - DH walked in last night just after DS dropped a bit of melon and he was really worried that something had happened. Instead he was greeted by a red faced shouty DS and me going 'it's okay, mummy's cutting you more melon, look, more melon's coming...' so I don't know how to persuade him that he wants boob over these new more interesting foods.

Seriously Truthsweet don't be apologising! Great info - thanks for linking to it. I've just been having a right wobbly start with weaning - me not ds! He sounds exactly like your boy Fraktious. He is loving his food - anything that's on offer gets stuffed in his mouth with gusto while I'm freaking out about choking, quantities, bf...you name it. And I didn't think it'd be like this because I was so looking forward to it!

So I'm going to try to lighten up what's on offer but still offer something when we've been sitting down for meals because we're into a routine and ds is loving it. I always have been offering bf before meals, an hour ish, but he's been refusing mainly the pre lunch one. Still he's been having nice feeds before naps and early morning. He's always fed about every 2 hours so I suppose slipping to 3 or 4 hours is within normal anyway - just a bit different for us. Will try to chill a bit about it all!

How is dd Spoutlet?

Well, today has been better than previous days when we've had to resort to EBM - not sure if this is due to cutting out lunch or not. The feeds are certainly much shorter than before this strike, perhaps this is just another stage. I'm most of the time with weaning and, like you Pickle, I was looking forward to it. Was really hope to BLW, but DD was so sick all the time and still can't tolerate a lump.

So far today we've had: short BF first thing; yoghurt and avocado; a 1 boob BF post nap (11 am); an ok-ish BF post baby group/pre nap (2.00 pm) - I knew she'd go for this as she latched onto my nose whilst at the group ; short BF (4 pm); beef stew and fruit for tea. I've still offered the boob many times more than she has accepted. Actually, having typed this out, this is a vast improvement, just hope she lengthens the feeds again; she was having 6 good (i.e. both boobs per feed) per day.

Perhaps you could try cutting out lunch as we've done Fraktious - worth a shot. It must be really tough having to BF so much at night.

Think we all need and for our efforts and stress

That sounds like a fairly good day Spoutlet. Love her latching onto your nose! My ds just tends to go for random body bits like shoulder or arm! Bless him. You think they'd have learnt by now! We had some ok ish feeds earlier on today and I cut lunch and breakfast right down. It was late afternoon today when he rejected the offer! Here's to a good night for all of us. With BLW - he's ok with lumps and chunks but likes to ram his mouth so full it terrifies me - don't know if this is common or not or how to discourage him. Every stage brings its new worries eh?

Ah, glad you had a better day too, Pickle; hopefully our LOs will be back on track soon (unless this is a new track, iyswim). I'm so pleased I posted this, it's really helped me feel less stressed about it. Thanks all