Breastfed baby refusing to nurse-help!

[BABYYOYO]

I've never posted on a site like this before but I really need some advice/support.

My baby is just shy of 9 months old and is exclusively breastfed. She has been teething and currently has 1 bottom tooth through with its next door neighbour and 1 top tooth breaking through. Last night when she was fed just before bed but when she woke during the night she refused to fed when she normally would. She was clearly distressed in the night, lots of tears, but still refused to feed. Fast forward to today and she has still not taken a breastfeed. I have been pumping to try and keep my supply up incase this continues and have been using my expressed milk in her porridge. Trouble is, she point blank refuses to drink anything from a bottle except water (not even expressed breastmilk!) I'm so worried she is going without and personally am so upset she won't fed. I'm just not ready to stop BF-ing. I called the HV who didn't seem concerned at all and just said she is probably weaning herself and to give her a multivitamin. Is this right? Has anyone else gone through what I can only assume is a nursing strike? Sorry this is so long, I'm an upset and worried mummy 🙁

Babies don't usually self wean before one, this sounds like a classic nursing strike because she's sore from teething. I usually find a good trick is to wake them up early from sleep or nap and stick on the breast, or dream feed now. And just keep offering milk, and water in a beaker in between. You've got to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated

kellymom.com/ages/newborn/nb-challenges/back-to-breast/

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/babyselfwean/

Oh no, poor you and poor baby. Maybe obvious but have you given her ibuprofen/calpol to relieve teething discomfort? Will she feed if not in pain?

Also, have you tried her with an open cup like a doidy cup? Maybe just with water if she objects to expressed milk? I think they start being able to (badly) handle doidy cups at that age - my little boy loved the novelty of trying them (soaked himself in the process, but if you need to get fluids in...)

Yep, classic nursing strike, and when she's over it please suggest your HV gets some breastfeeding training

I didn't think she would be weaning before 1 - we have always joked what a little breast-oholic she is! I assumed as you said that it must be teething pain but the HV didn't seem to think so. Have been offering water which she has guzzled and will try and feed her when she's sleepy. Thank you!

I've been giving her Calpol at night but not during the day Quodlibet; I don't want to get too medicine happy and her first tooth came through with no pain relief or issues at all. Hopefully this will only last a couple of days...i miss feeding her!

Hey, poor you and poor baby - it's so upsetting! My son did this exact same thing at 10 months, I was also told by the Health Visitor he was self weaning. I then called the NCT breastfeeding helpline on 0300 330 0771 in tears at 9pm at night and they were brilliant, gave me tips on how to get him back feeding and told me not to panic! 3 days later, he decided to feed again! They suggested having a bath together (i guess going "back to basics" of skin to skin) and I found it helpful to feed somewhere completely different to where we used to (we used to feed on my bed in the mornings and nights but I randomly did it on his nursery floor at a time which wasn't "usual", and as suggested, waking him up early from a nap and trying. He started feeding again and feed until he actually self weaned at 20 months! Good luck and try not to worry - if you are tense, she'll feel it and might clam up (I know that's so much easier said than done!)

Crazycatlady83 that is so helpful and so great to hear that your boy came back to the breast so quickly....ive read these can go on for weeks!!!! I knew the HV was talking rubbish, though I will get a multivit just to make myself feel better I guess! Baby is currently sleeping like the proverbial and I hate to disturb her but worth a go trying to dreamfeed. Starting to feel much better now. Husband looks at me like I'm mad for being so upset about bfing- he doesn't get it!

Just to say good luck and glad that you haven't taken the HV's advice at face value, I would also have thought that 9 months is much too young to self-wean. Hopefully dreamfeeding works for you and baby is back to regular feeding again soon. I also wanted to add you could try different positioning while feeding to "shake things up" maybe?
Your husband doesn't get it because it's not something he will ever be able to do!