5 month old refusing to nurse

My DS is just days over 5 months. He's always been high needs, fussy,
whatever you want to call it, but in most cases he would calm down if
nursed, and sometimes be right as rain within seconds. We co-sleep and he
has a nurse-to-sleep association, which we've been working to break for
about a month. Over the last few days he's begun to refuse to nurse when
tired or upset. He's still eating, but even when I know he's hungry it's a
struggle to get him to latch and eat. He'll root and take the nipple in his
mouth but he won't latch on, then he'll start to cry. It takes a couple
minutes and switching sides a couple times before he'll settle down and eat.
And now that he's refusing to comfort nurse altogether, he's not napping,
which is probably only compounding our problems. Ideas or suggestions are
appreciated!

Lissi

...

I'd recommend getting him checked for an ear infection ASAP. They can be
pretty painful and can also lead to not wanting to sleep since lying down is
uncomfortable...

Good luck,

Jen

"lissi" wrote in message
...

My DS is just days over 5 months. He's always been high needs, fussy,
whatever you want to call it, but in most cases he would calm down if
nursed, and sometimes be right as rain within seconds. We co-sleep and he
has a nurse-to-sleep association, which we've been working to break for
about a month. Over the last few days he's begun to refuse to nurse when
tired or upset. He's still eating, but even when I know he's hungry it's a
struggle to get him to latch and eat. He'll root and take the nipple in
his
mouth but he won't latch on, then he'll start to cry. It takes a couple
minutes and switching sides a couple times before he'll settle down and
eat.
And now that he's refusing to comfort nurse altogether, he's not napping,
which is probably only compounding our problems. Ideas or suggestions are
appreciated!

Lissi

..

When I tried to break the nurse/sleep association (ie popping her off before
she was completely asleep) my DD went through a stage of refusing to comfort
nurse because somehow she had learned that it was "wrong" I guess. I
stopped trying to break the association and the problem solved itself pretty
quickly. I don't know if that's what is going on here, but as Jen said, it
may also be an ear infection...just my $.02!
"lissi" wrote in message
...

My DS is just days over 5 months. He's always been high needs, fussy,
whatever you want to call it, but in most cases he would calm down if
nursed, and sometimes be right as rain within seconds. We co-sleep and he
has a nurse-to-sleep association, which we've been working to break for
about a month. Over the last few days he's begun to refuse to nurse when
tired or upset. He's still eating, but even when I know he's hungry it's a
struggle to get him to latch and eat. He'll root and take the nipple in
his
mouth but he won't latch on, then he'll start to cry. It takes a couple
minutes and switching sides a couple times before he'll settle down and
eat.
And now that he's refusing to comfort nurse altogether, he's not napping,
which is probably only compounding our problems. Ideas or suggestions are
appreciated!

Lissi

..