5 month old refusing to nurse

[Iammrsbeckham]

My 5 month old has refused to breastfeed all day. He's had nothing since 8am this morning. I have offered regularly since then. He sucks for 10 seconds then cries and pulls off. He's not crying from hunger either. He just doesn't seem interested in food.

He's at the tail end of a cold and a little snotty, but is by no means at his worst.

He has been very unsettled at night for the last 6 weeks or so which has got worse in the last week. My DH insisted on giving him a small bottle of expressed milk (40 ml) to help settle him last night which did work. I hope this hasn't caused this strike today. He's had bottles before and hasn't had a problem going back to the breast.

My supply has always a bit "just enough" and I can never express much out.

I really don't want to give him a bottle today especially as he isn't crying to be fed but I also don't want him to get dehydrated (or be up all night feeding!!)

Any advice? Thanks x

You have my sympathise. It's horrible. I had a nursing striker - DS2. He was EBF and I found it hugely stressful when he simply stopped feeding. It's partly hormonal because they won't feed and you worry about supply, partly worrying because you worry about hunger and dehydration (DS2 decided not to feed during an August heat wave when it hit 35C in the SE) and partly stressful because you don't know why. Never quite got to the bottom of it but mine refused to feed for 24 hours on two separate occasions.

Can you ring a Breastfeeding counsellor? Mine was very reassuring and positive. What helped me was feeding in a very quiet, dark environment with no tv or distractions (this was tricky with a toddler too) and feeding on the move. And DS was a big lump of baby so it hurt my arms but got enough I to him

Good luck

I'm going through with my 4 month old. Hes been like this for a couple of weeks and I've had to switch to mixed feeding. I've tried everything and up until yesterday the only way I could bf him was in his sleep but now he refuses then. HV basically just told me to let him starve and he'll feed when he's hungry but that only makes the situation worse. Every day I hope he'll just be ok again but at the moment I can only bf him at 4am and 8am when he's just woken from a proper sleep, the rest of the feeds are bottles. I've hardly left the house for weeks trying to focus on his feeding. Wish I knew the answer cos I've tried all the suggestions but sadly I think we're on the road to stopping so I'm trying to come to terms with that and not feel too guilty.

Is he dribbling a lot? Could he be teething?

I have found with my 3 that when they are teething they get snuffly and struggle to bf. I usually gave them a bit of Calpol for the pain and that calmed them enough to be able to latch on and feed to a much needed sleep. Hope that helps a bit.

I've got it at the moment with my 3 month old. One day she just wouldn't feed. Now she'll only feed when she's sleepy/just woken up - have you tried that? Or expressing and syringe feeding.

Other than that the only other thing that works is feeding her in the bath. It's been two weeks so far. I keep on hoping she will just snap out of it, but she's feeding well again now at least.

Also - whilst hes not feeding, express as much as you can to keep up your supply!