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Infant feeding

9mo on feeding strike - any experiences and do I use this to stop bfing?

3 replies

ababycalledbrian · 02/09/2013 14:38

My ebf 9mo DS has been on strike for about 3 days. I'm pretty sure it's teeth-related. He did this once before on one boob, but returned to it and he's never been on full strike. I would like to keep bfing him until he's one, but was planning to do mixed feeding from about 10 months as I go back to work at 11.5 months.
Basically I have 2 questions: 1) should I use this strike to stop bfing and just express, say, 2 out of his 4 feeds for the next couple of months (replacing the others with formula)? He has literally just started sleeping through, is quite good at self-settling and eats really well; BUT I'm scared about hitting a sleep regression or difficult period without the Power Of Boob to calm him down (and feed him to sleep if necessary). And the thought of expressing twice a day for weeks on end doesn't exactly fill me with deep joy. Has anyone done this and either recommend it or warn against it?
2) If I decide to try to get through the strike, which I'm currently trying to do - offering him the chance to latch but trying not to pressure him, does anyone have any killer tips for getting him back on-boob?
TIA

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JosiePosiePuddingAndPie · 02/09/2013 22:14

Hi, I expressed for ages and it was fine for me. Freeze milk if you can though as it can separate if you don't. Still good but it tastes different and some of them don't like it. Is he eating well? If he is then he could be self weaning, my friends DS did that about 9.5m. Just stopped bf over night completely! Also feeding to sleep will stop working at some point soon anyway so don't worry about that. As to getting him back on the boob, I can't help with that one. Maybe try kellymom for advice?

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ababycalledbrian · 03/09/2013 06:45

Thanks very much Josie - that's helpful. From what I've read it doesn't sound likely that he's self-weaning as that doesn't usually happen so suddenly, but I guess all babies are different etc.

I've decided that I really would like to get him back on-boob but Day 4 has dawned and he's still pushing me away. I feel so depressed about it and it just doesn't seem like he's ever going to come back

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Bananice · 09/09/2013 09:03

Ababy, I'm going through the same thing with my nine month old. How are you doing now- is he back breast feeding?

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