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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Help! nursing strike!

5 replies

sallyforth · 06/06/2008 22:10

LO is 16 weeks and getting increasingly difficult to bf. Takes a couple of sucks and then pulls off, arches back, screams... repeat ad infinitum. Usually happens either when we're out in a busy place, or at the end of an exciting day, when he's tired.
I have had supply issues previously but these are by and large sorted - LO has been gaining weight better over the past 6 weeks (4oz/week) and has been weeing and pooing fine.

It has been getting worse lately. I had been giving him a bottle of EBM when he did this in the evenings, but it was getting to be a daily ritual and I was advised to stop offering bottles. So I haven't offered him any bottles over the past 3 days and now in the evenings he is like a mad thing, almost to the extent of a nursing strike. He screams till he's exhausted, getting more furious whenever I offer him the breast, then when he's nearly asleep he latches on and seems to feed in his sleep. So he's still getting wet nappies etc but I am finding this VERY stressful and frustrating.

Can anyone advise please?

OP posts:
cadelaide · 07/06/2008 00:00

bumping for you sally.

Might it be reflux?

monthlymayhem · 07/06/2008 00:03

I'm having exactly the same problem with my LO who's 11 weeks so will be interested to read replies!

solo · 07/06/2008 00:06

The arched back sounds like it might be tummy ache/wind? have you tried any remedies for those before or during feeding? maybe a dose of Calpol 10 minutes before a feed. Worth a try.

violeta · 07/06/2008 11:17

I'm suffering from much the same thing (lo is 14 wks) and find that the best time to feed is when dd has woken up from a nap and is more relaxed - if she's been awake for a while or very excited, I get the same bobbing off the breast, looking round, etc. Switching sides seems to help as well.
Agree that the arched back sounds like wind - does your lo refuse to bend at the waist as well and sit? Winding over the shoulder usually works for me then.

sallyforth · 07/06/2008 18:02

Hi, thanks for replies.
I wondered about reflux but his breath does not smell acid-y and infant gasviscon does not stop him screaming.

Violeta your LO sounds rather like mine - sometimes he does refuse to sit- just arches back. Like you I also have found that switching sides (sometimes 5-6x/feed!) or winding over shoulder often helps, but annoyingly I have to also stand up and bob at the knees! And sometimes this does not help.

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