11MO nursing strike, advice please...

[Rowbot]

My 11MO DD has been refusing the breast since yesterday lunchtime, cries when I try to put her near the breast or put in any nursing position. She is eating well, but has started with a cold although she can breathe through her nose (have tried the feeding in steamy bathroom anyway).

I've been expressing and feeding with a cup (always a bottle refuser) but I've never been great at expressing and I know she isn't getting as much as her usual 3 feeds a day and two at night. How do I coax her back on the boob?!

Bump?

kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/ I've no experience myself but hope this link helps

Maybe she's self-weaning - both my DCs did around this age. At 11m solids have more or less taken over from milk as a source of nutrition (especially if she's getting calcium from other places like cheese, yogurt etc) so I wouldn't worry too much about getting the breastmilk into her, just make sure she's getting enough to eat and drink elsewhere.

Thanks for the link Pam.

Thanks Zuleika, I didn't expect her to self wean this early tho , I'd like to carry on for a bit yet...

I think self-weaning is pretty unlikely - it sounds like a nursing strike. Self-weaning usually involves dropping one feed at a time over a period of weeks or months (so the whole process takes months or years), and most usually happens between the ages of 2.5 and 7 years apparently.

I'd get take her to the GP - could be an ear infection, especially if she's had a cold. DS had a partial strike at 13 m.o. (would only feed when going to sleep). He seemed hale and hearty, but it turned out he had a bad ear infection plus chest infection and then went on to get a D&V bug and conjunctivitis as well. Another partial strike a few months later seemed to be down to an ear infection too.

Feeding when sleepy / asleep / just waking up can work well for some children, as can nursing in a sling.

DS's strike lasted for almost a fortnight, and was only sorted out once the course of antibiotics had done their work, so don't lose heart.

Angeldog thanks, yes I think that's a good idea to get her checked over, DH said he was very susceptible to ear infections when he was younger, she may have got the same.

So if your DCs refuse the breast full stop forever how does that not count as self weaning? Both mine just stopped bothering, DD at 10 months, DS at 11.

No, it would count as an unresolved nursing strike, I think.

The WHO / scientific consensus is that breastmilk should form 50% of nutrition between the ages of 6 and 12 months, and a third of nutrition between the ages of 12 and 24 months. It's recommended that until 12 months solids are only offered after a bf so that children don't prioritise solids over breastmilk. So true self-weaning (ie dropping one feed every few weeks or few months) would be unlikely to happen during that period.

Apparently wanting to stop bf'ing before 2 or 2.5 years can be related to illness, developmental leaps, allergies, early introduction / too frequent offering of solids and all sorts of other things, and is often mistaken for self-weaning.

Sadly the support/information for bf in this country is that most people don't know the difference. I had a friend whose baby went on nursing strike at 4 months. She assumed it was self-weaning (not having the info or support to know any different) and had to bottle-feed even though she didn't want to. I only found out in retrospect, but it was really sad as I think she could probably have managed to overcome it - but no-one told her that was a possibility.

DD still on strike, I have now caught her cold and it is nasty right in the sinuses so wouldn't be surprised if isto do with that.

I didn't know about the third of nutrition after 12 months, thanks for the info.