Panic 9 month old refused all BFs in the last 24 hours, his sister has swine flu

[cranbury]

I have posted before about DS looking like he is self weaning. Now DS has not had any breastmilk in 24 hours, will not even entertain the nipple in his mouth. He has been gradually reducing his feeds . He is nearly 9 months old, talked to HV and a paedetrician both say make sure he has lots of dairy and a balanced diet and there is no need for formula, which I really don't want to do.
DD has swine flu, BFing meant to help, he won't feed.

Tried feeding before solids, skin-to-skin, cutting down on water - he is not interested. DD self weaned at 2 and hated solids and just BF until nearly 2, worried sick she wouldn't eat. Now worried sick DS won't take BFs. Why don't I have textbook babies...

I've had no engorgement so he has been reducing slowly. Kellymom, LLL all say they don't self wean at this age. What is happening.

Don't know anything about bf but doesn't sound right does it? With your Dd having the SF I mean.

Can you bear to try getting through to NHS direct?

Could you try to express a bit & see if he'll take it in a bottle/sippy cup or off a spoon. Does he seem well other than the lack of interest in bf. Is he still eating & drinking some water?does he have any signs of swine flu?

He has a bad cold, thats what my DD seemed she had the first 2 days of her illness, then she worsened so I'm worried he will be next. with DD at least when she was sick she had BFing, DS is still eating solids but less so. Hoping he will turn to BFing when unwell.

I presume my supply is still okay but difficult to tell.

I can understand why you're worried. But it sounds as if DS has been cutting down on the milk for a long time so that by itself doesn't mean anything. And my friend's DD just self-weaned at about 81/2mo btw, so it's not unheard of.

Given the swine flu worry, could you try expressing for the next couple of days, so you have something to offer him if he does get sick? I know this is the last thing you need when your DD is already poorly. Hope you're all feeling much much better soon.

sounds like self weening to me. Is he having any fluid? is he eating? if yes, please don't worry, you have to take the lead from them.

It sounds more like a nursing strike at this age - kellymom has more info here. That page also has some great links.

DS (now 16 months) has had a couple of nursing strikes. First one lasted 6-7 days. I expressed to keep up my supply and fed him EBM in a bottle. I also offered all the time but didn't make a big deal if he refused.

I also did lots of skin-to-skin, had bath with him etc, but didn't try to force this issue IYSWIM - just made sure boob was available if he wanted it.

Towards the end I found he'd latch on if he was sleepy, so I'd get him up from a nap before he woke up, lie down with him and latch him on.

Trying to think of what else I did. Think I hand expressed a bit and let him sort of lick it off the boob, or let it dribble into his mouth, or hand expressed into his mouth a couple of times.

Hope that helps.

I thought nursing strikes were sudden stops rather than gradual. Can't face expressing, never have in this pregnancy. I know he is fine but don't know what to give him to drink other than water. Everybody says no to milk because too high in salt and low in iron, but give lots of dairy - cooking it or yoghurt must still have the same problems. If he is full eating solids - he started to sleep through as he stopped having BM, if I gave him formula wouldn't I be giving him too many calories