Please support me through DS nursing strike!

[anonymxxx]

DS 8 months has gone on nursing strike. He initially latched on and then pulled away (I posted yesterday), now he is on full-on strike.
I am not aware of any trigger, except that he is conjested and had trouble nursing at night (but not in the day).
Will read up on Kelly-Mom now, but need also emotional support. I guess, I feel rejected, although I know this is silly. (Does anybody know why they do it - is it part of becoming an independent individuum?)
Also, am very worried about Mastitis. I always had a lot of difficulties with expressing. I have managed to express about 2oz each, but reckon he drinks at least 8oz per meal and it's quite painful.

anon - nursing strikes are temporary, they really are Sometimes, they happen after a fright, or a change, and sometimes they appear to come out of the blue. I would say the age your baby is a common one for them to happen.

Not understanding your Q about mastitis, sorry.

Hi Tiktok. Thanks so much for your reply! So here is how the last 24h went:
DS rejected BF yesterday all day and in the evening. I offered, but didn't push it. Then I literally dreamfed him, i.e I offered while he was sleeping and he latched on!!! Big relief (physically and emotionally).
Today he again rejected the breast all day long. I have a lot of difficulties expressing, so was very engorged in the evening. (Got only about 3oz/per day by expressing). I then asked him if he could maybe help me with all this milk and he latched on and drank a lot. I again was able to dream-feed, so he had milk twice today and once last night.
We have always lots of skin-to-skin and cuddle time, so didn't change anything regarding this.
It's really difficult not to get worked up but to stay casual abd relaxed about it.
But it's wonderful that he latched on at night, and I cherish now much more how easy BF has been in the last 8 months.

Thanks for your support.

anon - you are well on the way to resolving this, with your patience and loving responsiveness. Hang on in there

Just a quick update (Mumsnet was down last night my time) : The strike is OVER!!!!! Yeayyy!! Everything back to normal: breast is best :-)
Although it was only 3 days and maybe two days of fuzziness beforehand I found it quite stressful.

Thanks Tiktok for responding to my post!