10 month old refusing bedtime feed

[AnIncandescentGlow]

My baby is currently teething, he has 2 erupting atm. For the last few nights he's been refusing his bedtime milk. He's breastfed. At first, he was latching on as normal, then gagging on each breast. I offered him water in his straw cup the first night instead, which he took happily. Same happened the last couple of nights. Tonight, he didn't even latch, just wanted water.

Other than this, he breastfeeds 3 times a day fine. Is this likely teething related or could he be weaning off his milk already?

I'll be calling the health visitor team to ask about it on Monday, but I wondered if anyone has had the same thing? Is it okay that I'm just giving him water at night? I don't really pump, so dont have much expressed milk in the freezer. He does have 3 meals a day and eats well.

I'd mention it. It's possible your dc is weaning faster, but up to a year old milk is still their primary food source.

@Mumtobabyhavoc Is it something to worry about if he drops that one feed? The other times he breastfeeds in the day seem as normal. I wondered if it was extra pain from the teeth at night. But obviously unsure!

Is he nursing well? Strong? Gulps? Seems relaxed and content?

He’s fine. He’s 10 months old, presumably he’s eating solids and drinking water. I’m not sure why you’re worried? My youngest weaned himself at 11 months, he just lost interest.

@Mumtobabyhavoc yes to all 🙂

@Playingvideogames I'm not really worried, more just wanting to know if it sounds like weaning or teething. Yes he's on solids and drinks water. 🙂

If he is eating well then he's probably eating enough and not hungry. My daughter is a couple of weeks older and has been exactly the same. She's my second, eats well and so I have stopped giving her milk before bed as she doesnt want it.

I was getting down to about one feed a day at that age and the night before she turned one stuck her thumb in her mouth at that was it! I wouldn’t worry at all.

Both of my kids weaned themselves - one before 12 months old, one shortly after. It started with them refusing bedtime feeds. I remember my eldest dc, at 11 months, would simply tuck their head under my boob 😆 until I got the message.

By this age I was down to two breastfeeds a day, so this seems absolutely fine to me.

Thanks everyone, I'm going to keep offering for a bit just to make sure. I'm a little sad about it tbh 😌 but he'll just have to get extra cuddles before bed instead!

Bit of a update, the last feed seems to have dropped. I've continued offering, but he just wants water, which is fine. However, he's now not taking other feeds. He'll have his first one in the morning, but the other 2, which are usually after naps, he's just refusing. It's not helping that I'm getting frustrated with it now too. 😢

A few days ago, he was refusing the feed straight after his nap, so I'd do his nappy then he'd have it. Then he wouldn't, so I'd delay it and offer again a few minutes later and he'd usually take it. Now, I'm offering maybe 3 times over the space of 30mins or so just to make sure and he's just refusing. Pulling and pushing away, whining. He's only having one breastfeed first thing. Surely that's not enough? I've tried everything to get it back to what it was, but he's just getting angry and I'm not feeling great about it either tbh. 😢

One of my DC was similar to this. Is he getting plenty of milk based products at mealtimes (eg cheese, yogurt, milk on cereal etc)? If so I think it's fine.

Oh really? It's happened very quickly, over the last week or so he's gone down from 4 feeds reliably, to only the morning one being certain. So this is why I'm a bit concerned. Yes he has milk with his breakfast and yogurt with lunch and dinner @LesserSootyOwl

My DC was a little bit older than yours (11 months rather than 10). But I think it's ok as long as they're getting calcium, protein etc from other sources. Mine is now a healthy teen.

Thank you @LesserSootyOwl were they only down to 1 or 2 feeds at this point too? It's just creating a stress for us both. I'm taking him to thr go tomorrow to check for an ear infection as he has just had a cold. But this has never happened before. 😔 If I knew he was okay and genuinely didnt need the milk, I wouldn't be worried!

At this point (as I say a little bit older than your DC) she dropped all breastfeeds and weaned herself! I didn't bother introducing bottles / formula as she was so close to 12 months. So she had milk from a cup / on cereal, and as I say other sources of dairy like cheese, yogurts etc.

My 10 month old did that last month. I think it was a mixture of teeth and my period coming back this month. He wouldn't even drink my milk from a bottle for 2 weeks. He's back to being fine with a bottle and nursing all the time

2 of mine gave up milk completely before 12 months, had dwindled down to one feed by 11 months.

The other 2 were milk monsters 🤷🏽‍♀️

Oh that's interesting. Which teeth if you dont mind me asking? My little boy has had 2 more bottom teeth come in the last couple of weeks. He's got 8 so far, I'm wondering if it could be a molar already? Ftm, so not sure at all. He's really not himself atm and pulling on an ear. So I'm wondering either ear infection or another teething episode. I just have a feeling he isn't weaning yet, at least not off all of those feeds, becuase surely he wouldnt drop that many feeds so quickly.

Wow, did it feel really unexpected? We're you sad or did you feel okay with it?

Ahh really, I've only personally heard of one other baby doing the same! I've heard it's pretty rare. Did they enjoy their solids? My little boy absolutely loves his food. I do think he's in pain atm though. 😔

They ate decently. The younger one was a bit of a sparrow in terms of quantity was very tall & lean until her later teen years.

He's a very good eater. He got his 8th tooth at 9 months. It took its sweet time to come through! I wonder about an upper molar too. There's something there, but I don't think I checked the shape of his palate at the back when he was tiny so it might just always have been bumpy. He's seems happy again anyway, and has got much better at crawling and is starting to walk.

I wasn't really sad. My eldest had to be "persuaded" to stop so it was quite nice when DC2 did it all by herself!

Aw that's good to know. Did you keep offering breastmilk throughout even though he refused? I'm guessing from what you said earlier that you pumped to keep your supply up? I dont get too much when I pump these days, so I'm a little worried about my supply dropping too low and not picking up again.