9 month old refusing boob suddenly

[BabyBobbins32]

Hi All, just after any advice or experience of this...my 9month old has suddenly (since 3 days ago) decided she does not want to take milk from my boob. Point blank refuses it, gets really upset and screams. Oddly she takes it from a bottle, something she's never been that keen on before!

The only problem is I can't pump enough to sustain her on bottles...in fact I can't seem to get much off at all (could be rubbish pump, although have previously got a lot more off!) Am worried I am drying up already and she is going to get dehydrated.

She did have a stinking cold but seems OK in herself and is eating food fine. She also seems to be teething. I guess both of these could be the problem but I'm worried I'm drying up already so even if she wanted it it's too late now.

The other big problem is she has a suspected milk protein allergy so only substitute I can use at the moment is baby soya milk and tried that earlier and she took a bit and then refused to take any more (it does smell awful!)

Not sure what to do to keep her hydrated, she drinks a bit of water from a sippy cup but not a lot. I've also been adding more water to her food but again not the equivalent of a bottle.

I don't really know how much she's been having previously as bf but was feeding her 3 times a day (only cut out 4th feed about 2 weeks ago)

Am struggling to pump much at all and am getting really upset and stressed about it which is prob making it worse. Feel like I can't go anywhere or do anything as I have to pump constantly to get like 4oz for morning and evening which isn't even a proper feed anyway!

Any advice or experience of this would be good to know. Thanks

Sorry you've been struggling, teething can make them temperamental on the boob, I find teething powders good and also used anbesol on the gums just before a feed. My DD is now nine months and I stopped breastfeeding at eight months. When I first introduced formula I used to mix my breastmilk with the formula, initially a 70/30 split and slowly increasing the amount of formula.

If you're having no luck with the handpump it may be worth googling to see if there is anywhere you can hire an electric pump from for a month or so, I found that I would always get more milk after a nap or first thing in the morning, however everyone is different. You can also pop a hot flannel on the boob during expressing which can help to increase supply.

Sorry I am about to rush, but this sounds like classic nursing strike. There is no need to assume a switch to formula is on the cards. Call any of the BF helplines, and/or google. It is common, temporary and fixable :)

Thanks all for your replies. Well it carried on for several more days and in the end I just couldn't get enough milk off even with electric pump. Luckily on Mother's Day she decided to take the formula (her little present to me to stop me worrying!) and so have now stopped breastfeeding.

It's a little emotional stopping but she seems happy with it...was thinking of moving her on soon anyway, she just made that decision for me ha!

Typically though boobs seem full of milk now!! Expressing a little each day to relieve them until dry up and loads seems to be streaming out...grrr!!

Ah well. Thanks again for your messages xx

You can go back to BF if you want to. You could just try her on the breast when she's relaxed and see what happens.