Baby won't take the boob anymore and only 8 weeks!

[MotherofKitties]

Hi all,

As the title says. DD has been refusing the boob for the last week and she's only 2 months old so I'm really keen to continue breast feeding until at least 6 months, but no matter what I try she just cries and won't take it!

She's been combo fed since birth and we've had no issues swapping her between boob and bottle, so I don't know what's happened these last few days, I just know I really want to continue feeding her and any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated xx

Bottles are too easy for them. Can you try moving back to a new born teat?

I combination fed my ds (although not from birth) but with a newborn teat so the flow was slow and therefore hard work too.

I combination fed my daughter (as she lost too much weight) and she definitely preferred bottle and eventually only wanted that (but I was lucky as she was 1 then). I don't have any proper advice, sorry. I think you're meant to still keep offering breast every feed. Have you got a local breast feeding support group? They're great and experts on all things breast feeding.

Thanks for your replies, I'm offering it to her at every feed, but she's been crying and pulling away every time I try. She's always been so happy to swap between me and the bottle and I've never had any problems until the last few days and it's like she's decided she dies to want to know!

I haven't heard of these newborn teats/bottles before so I'll look into those now, thanks for the tip!

She's had a bottle from the start as it took her about a week to properly latch on due to various issues, so we had no choice but to give her bottles, but I'm not ready to stop breast feeding yet, it's our special bonding time and I wanted to feed her until at least 6 months Fingers crossed these newborn bottles help! Xx

Don't just hope the bottles solve it, get yourself some expert help from a breastfeeding support group such as la ledge league, before it's too late/gets harder. Good luck x

I can absolutly understand that you whant to go on with breast feeding. But if it didn´t work at last you should sweep back to bottle and formula feeding only. If there are also problems. then maybe you should try some variety´on the formula. webshops like www.myorganicformula.com are specialized in formula and offer some quite good products which I used for my son when e was this age.

How much formula are you using and how often? If it's been from day 1 and you've not been expressing at the same time to replace these feeds then your supply will have been dropping further and further this whole time. This would explain the breast refusal.
Mixed feeding from the outset very often means that breastfeeding can't survive beyond the first few weeks.
Have you got any access to breastfeeding support? Relactation is doable but it would be best to do this with expert help.

What above said. If you have been doing it from the beginning then you haven't let your milk supply come in properly, and every time you switched it went down again. Honestly it's best to just stick to one or the other because of this reason, not to mention pure breast is best anyways because it's specific to your childs needs.
My advice is to squeeze and see if you produce any milk and if you do only breastfeed from now on or at least until your supply comes in properly

Have you had her checked for an ear infection? I had the same with my DS but turned out to be an ear infection which was v uncomfortable when tilted on his side bf. He took the bottle because he was more upright & less pressure on his ears. Just my twopence worth

MotherofKitties, chances are overwhelming that your baby is preferring the bottle because it is productive, and the breast isn't - combination feeding from the start is incredibly undermining to the establishment of BF....it's biology, and I can't understand why women are not warned of this in explicit terms. The early days are the time when supply is calibrated, and it's absolutely typical, and totally physiological, that the natural over supply of the first weeks can allow you to 'coast' with an apparent adequate supply. But weeks in, you get what has happened with you....a serious fall off in supply because your body has been 'told' your milk is not needed.

However, if you want to continue breastfeeding, you can :). You will need to effectively relactate (plenty of info on the web on relactation, and get real life help and support, too - with effort and time and a cooperative baby, it can happen.

Can I ask - did anyone tell you that this is a major downside of early combination feeding?

You've heard a lot here, but I wanted to tell you only that it's possible to increase supply through feeding, and at this early stage you should still be able to do so fairly quickly.

I started combination feeding too, because my son was being tube/bottle fed in NICU. It was hard work, but we switched to breastfeeding after taper By down bottle feeds.

Do go and chat with a breastfeeding cafe supporter/lactation consultant - they're so great for increasing confidence and helping with a plan.

I combination fed my son from one day old without any issues with my supply.

Sounds horrible- you poor thing! I've been combi feeding my 3month old DD since she was born and haven't had problems with my supply. Keep on offering the boob every feed & this will signal your body to make more milk, hopefully then you can reduce the amount of formula you need.

The advice I was given for bottle feeding was to keep the baby upright & far away so it's not comforting like breastfeeding. This should help build preference for the boob.

Good luck xx

It's true that some women can manage to BF beyond a couple of months despite having introduced formula from the start. How much formula and how often makes a real difference - infrequent formula and smaller volumes reduce the impact.