4 month old stopped nursing!

[Rachel320]

Looking for advice...
My baby is 4 months old today and for the last month has nursed less frequently during the day but nursing LOTS during the night. She continues to gain weight so it was never a concern until a week ago when she really hardly wanted to nurse at all during the day and screaming when I tried to. I was getting so little sleep that I started giving her a bottle of formula at night which she drank (she is used to getting bottles at weekends when I express).
Yesterday, as an experiment, I offered her a bottle of expressed milk after she refused nipple and she drank 100mls...what's going on!?
Today she wouldn't really suckle much at all and just screamed every time I tried but then took lots of EBM. She's also started biting my nipples and smiling when she does it.
I went through a lot of pain and heartache to get breastfeeding established and now I'm feeling so sad that she doesn't want to nurse anymore I love breastfeeding and will of course express if she won't nurse but I want her on me, not a bottle. It's making me so sad x

 

[xdxxtx]

This happens sometimes when a baby realizes the flow of a bottle is easier and faster than that of your breast. It makes them want that bottle, not the breast. If you cave in and give the bottle, you're reinforcing that your baby can cry and get the "quick" stuff. The one that worked best for me was to do breast compressions before feeding and getting that baby on just as I felt a let-down coming. That way, my baby got lots of milk right away just like they would with a bottle! I would compress the breast during the feeds to help the milk come out more consistently, again, like a bottle.

I'd Google "breast refusal" and take in ALL of the information. I LOVE Pinterest for breastfeeding information, but there are LOTS of good sources online. I believe La Leche League has a hotline you can call for information, too! And a website where TONS of people have written in asking questions that are already answered for you, and I AM SURE your problem is there! Check it out! I hope you can get this worked out. Breastfeeding is such hard work, and to feel like you've gotten THIS far and now are struggling... ugh... I can't imagine.

 

[Rachel320]

This happens sometimes when a baby realizes the flow of a bottle is easier and faster than that of your breast. It makes them want that bottle, not the breast. If you cave in and give the bottle, you're reinforcing that your baby can cry and get the "quick" stuff. The one that worked best for me was to do breast compressions before feeding and getting that baby on just as I felt a let-down coming. That way, my baby got lots of milk right away just like they would with a bottle! I would compress the breast during the feeds to help the milk come out more consistently, again, like a bottle.

I'd Google "breast refusal" and take in ALL of the information. I LOVE Pinterest for breastfeeding information, but there are LOTS of good sources online. I believe La Leche League has a hotline you can call for information, too! And a website where TONS of people have written in asking questions that are already answered for you, and I AM SURE your problem is there! Check it out! I hope you can get this worked out. Breastfeeding is such hard work, and to feel like you've gotten THIS far and now are struggling... ugh... I can't imagine.

Thanks for your comment. I just can't imagine that this started because she'd had a bottle because she's had a bottle every weekend for months and months and if anything she was difficult to get to drink from one, it was always a struggle up until a couple of days ago when she was hardly feeding during the day and I offered her one.

Part of me thinks it's teething but even if it is I can't keep giving her bottles because then she'll NEVER go back to boob . I also thought about a dairy sensitivity but I'm not entirely convinced...

 

[_Meep_]

Did it get better yet? My first daughter did this on and off for a week at a time from 10 weeks until she was about 5 months old. It was hideous at the time, and very worrying/stressful, but I just kept on waiting until she fell asleep or was drowsy from a nap and fed her that way, as she didn't seem so aware of whatever was bothering her at those times.

I still don't really know what caused it, though she often had teething symptoms (increased chewing/dribbling/screeching) during an 'episode' and continued to teethe for up to three months per tooth until she had the full set. She also had a hidden tongue tie that made nursing uncomfortable for her which wasn't picked up and treated until she was 4.5 months. It was after that that things got better. Her first tooth also popped through at 5 months. So it was a combination of those two things I think.

Movement in their gums, even if the tooth isn't yet cutting, can drive them crazy. The negative pressure created inside the mouth while breastfeeding (different technique to bottle feeding) can be very painful, especially if (as in our case) you are tongue tied.

She is still nursing aged 3 though and never had another nursing strike, so there is always hope. Hope it's improved for you. I remember those dark days well.

 

[Left wonderin]

It's a nursing strike and common. If you keep going to will resolve itself but the risk is you looses your supply by feeding her a bottle .. Keep offering boob first .... If refused ... Wait 15mins try again ..... If after this offer bottle but always offer boob first .