Advice needed

[MummyLena]

Hi everyone,

I was breasfeeding my daughter till recently, but she refuses to take breast now. She starts crying and gets all stressed, so I am now expressing milk and then feeding from the bottle.

Do you think she is just lazy because she tried the bottle or could it be smth serious? I will speak to HV anyway, but wanted to check if any of you came acrooss similar problem.

Tnx

It's difficult to know. How old is she and how long has she been off the breast? Nursing strikes can go on for days and the only way out of them is to just keep offering until they're willing to take the breast. If you have given a bottle before the strike it is possible that she's decided they're much easier.

Thank you for your reply.

She is just over 3 mnth and it's been over a month now that she's been off the breat. She only takes it when she is half asleep or has just woken up.

I waited extra half an hour once and then extra hour above the feeding time and she did take breast, but there was so much tears I could not take it any more.

bumping for you. Sorry, no advice at the moment. Sleep-deprived!!

At that age it could be she's starting to take too much interest in the world to feed, is it any better in a dark and quiet room?

mummylena, I'm afraid that some babies do just go off the breast - mine did at about 4 months - and actually she wouldn't take it from a bottle either and she just preferred a cup !! even at that age we had to tip it into her mouth! Get things checked out by your health visitor and assuming there's no underlying cause (sore mouth for eg), then it could just be that she's dropping the breast earlier than most - not that unusual but rather annoying for you!

It's not usual to just go off the breast, there's a reason underlying it. At around 4 months they often start getting too nosey to feed so you have to make it dark and quiet for them, introducing a dummy or bottle are other reasons why they may go off the breast. Self weaning won't happen at that age naturally unless it's been helped along.

Yep, dark and quiet room is better. If she is distracted by pictures in the room while she is on the breast, she is giving it a short go, but as soon as she is bored or there is a sudden loud sound, she stops.

Very intresting about the cup. I will try it.

Thanks a million for your comments.

Eventually she will realise that those things will still be there when she's finished and start to settle down again. It's the object permanence skills that she's learning, it's fascinating how they go through the different stages of working things out. Are you also having problems leaving the room without her?

mummylena - Tinkerbelle is right. It's highly unusual for babies to go off the breast like this, and they can be lured back to it. Call one of the breastfeeding lines for RL help.

She is well behaved bambina, so unless I am gone for over 5 mins she starts "calling me back" and saying Ey-ey-ey-ey!

Great idea, will ring the breastfeeding lines.

It's nothing about being behaved they get to a point where they know Mummy exists but when she walks out the room they can't get their head around she is still there and is coming back. If she's realising you're still there then she may start leaving the prettys alone when she's feeding!

Oh, I see.