4 month old suddenly refusing the breast

[Emmajane1987]

Hi, new here, just looking for advice I guess.
My 4 month old had suddenly decided she only wants to feed from the bottle.
Since birth she’s had both boob and formula with no problems, but recently she’s been less keen to be breast fed. Over the past two days she’s absolutely refusing to be breast fed and only wants formula/ bottle. She gets really upset if I try and feed her and actively pushes me away. When given the bottle she takes it quite happily.
Im really not ready for her to stop, she use to be so calm and content on me and now it’s the opposite and I’m finding it so sad. I can’t think of any big changes to my diet or anything that would cause this aversion. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Maybe she just doesn’t want to nurse anymore and I have to be ok with it but it’s very upsetting as until very recently she’d choose me over the bottle 😢

We went through this with my bottle refuser between 3-4 months. It lasted a few days at a time then he’d feed like a newborn for a few days, then back to screaming at the boob. It was so stressful. He still fed fairly well before bed, at night time and first thing in the morning so maybe switching up timing might help? I also found that he’d scream if he went near the boob and fortunately this was during a heatwave so I was walking around in a bra for lots of skin to skin. I found that listening to a song he found relaxing (for us The Happy Song) and rocking and patting as he was near the boob calmed him enough to latch and I’d often have to rock continuously through the feed. I tried to stay calm (probably didn’t do a good job!) and only offer once, and if he refused move on for at least half an hour and try again because we both got stressed with constant refusals.

There is a change in milk production at around this time where your body stops storing milk and instead produces it on demand which means it takes longer to get milk and they can get frustrated with that. I’m not sure that was my baby’s problem because it wasn’t that he’s latch and pull of frustrated, he just wouldn’t go near the boob at all. Could you pump to keep your supply up and keep offering throughout the day and see if she’ll start again? It surprised me how hard I took it. I found it really upsetting and it felt like a real rejection.

Thank you, yes it’s exactly that - feels like a rejection 😭 I’ve tried keeping the feeds I offer short and very calm today and she latched once so that’s better than nothing. Thank you for the advice 🙏
My son decided to stop at 6 months and I was pretty relieved so was really surprised by my emotions this time.
They always take you by surprise these kids! X

My son did this around 8-9 months. Just refused one day and never went back despite my attempts to get him back on. I thought he would relent and accept the breast at bedtime, when he was sleepy, but no. I found it difficult, as I wasn’t ready to stop, but he clearly was.

My DD did this intermittently. I just persevered with which ever she wasn’t into that time (sometimes bottle sometimes breast). For breast refusal, I made a point of getting us both in bed once a day (more during refusal) with our tops off for some good skin to skin and a contact nap and feed.

I got told this is called a nipple strike. Happened with my oldest and he never went back on despite the effort. Milk flow is easier and faster through a bottle. They get to the point where they can't be bothered with the effort of breastfeeding unfortunately x it's a horrible feeling, but just sounds like she's hungry and wants the fastest easiest option for her x