Nursing strike - please help!!!!

[amiandlils]

My 8 month old dd has refused to breastfeed since Sunday morning. Have been expressing to keep up the supply but don't know what to do to overcome it.

She is poorly at the moment with a wretched cold and probably teething, but I would have thought that this would make her more clingy?

She will take a bottle as I only now feed her morning and night since returning to work (2 months ago), but I'm so distressed by this as I so want to carry on feeding her myself when I can.

Has anyone had a similar episode and then managed to return to bfeeding?

[amiandlils]

A desparate bump

[FrannyandZooey]

Hi Ami I experienced a brief nursing strike and my ds went on to breastfeed for several years! I contacted my local LLL for support and found the emotional and practical help very useful.

This page and links on Kellymom are pretty thorough, but I would advise ringing LLL as well

[FrannyandZooey]

LLL 24 hour helpline 0845 120 2918

[amiandlils]

Thanks Franny - the Kellymom website is terrific.

How long did you nursing strike last and what do you think triggered it?

[FrannyandZooey]

Ami it was only a couple of days before we got back to normal - I was relieved!

I think a combination of things - he had experimented with a gentle bite to which I shouted "Ow!", he had a bit of a cold, and the LLL leader also said it was classic for a strike to occur when the mother was more busy than normal or had generally taken too much on, which was certainly the case for me at the time. She said it was almost as if the baby were responding in an extreme way to get your attention. I don't know if that makes sense to you.

[amiandlils]

We are on day five now of the strike...

She definitely has been poorly with a cold or virus of some sort, and could well be teething. I don't really think our lives have been unusually hectic - I work three days a week but have been for a couple of months now.

Whenever I try to offer her the breast - and I'm careful to offer it in a very calm and relaxed way - its as if she simply doesn't know what to do???

[FrannyandZooey]

Have you tried lots of skin to skin, having baths together, lying around naked in bed together?

Also try just as she is falling asleep or while she is actually asleep

[MG72]

It sounds exactly like what we have just been through, and I'm sorry to say my ds hasn't gone back to it (now 4 weeks on). I have had to accept he was ready to stop bf, but as a real positive, he has been sleeping through ever since! It feels horrible though while it is happening, I have been very teary.

Well done for getting to 8 months though - that's great! Good luck.

[amiandlils]

Just thought I'd post an update to say that after 6 days of offering and refusal, she suddenly accepted the boob one morning.

I was so thrilled and now we seem to be back to normal again.

I noticed whilst putting her in the car on Friday morning that she had some tiny, white ulcers on her tongue, so I am guessing this is what made her stop. The ulcers are still there (doc a bit clueless...) but at least she is feeding again.

What a relief! The breastfeeding counsellor I spoke to said 99% of babies do return to bfeeding which gave me the hope to persevere. Sorry that didn't work out for you MG72 - I was like you and really tearful about the whole thing.

[MG72]

I'm really pleased for you that she has come back to it - enjoy it!