Breast refusal

Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with DD...

In the last week or so she's been refusing more and more often. She'll be 8
months old on Wednesday. She's down to 4 breastfeeds a day, 3 during the day
and 1 in the middle of the night. Yesterday, she breastfed once in the
middle of the night, then once in the morning, refused the midday and I
managed to get her to do 5 minutes on the right side and about 2 minutes on
the left in the afternoon, but only because she was really hungry and I
wouldn't give her solids before the milk. She refused to have anything to do
with my boobs in the evening. Then today she breastfed at 4am, then I
managed to persuade her to do 3 mins on the right and about 1 min on the
left. She then went to bed at 10am, woke up at midday and again totally
refused the breast.

There are no distractions. In the morning we were the first ones up, no TV,
barely any light with the blinds drawn. Now in the middle of the day DS is
asleep and I've sent out DH to buy some nappies so DD and I are alone for
all intents and purposes, TV is off, lights are off, no distractions - and
she won't breast feed! She just turns her head and arches her back, trying
to get away from me.

I have some milk in the freezer and will try her with a bottle of EBM but I
don't have enough to keep us going. I've never been able to pump much and I
get about 2oz per pumping, from both sides! This is either with an electric
pump or by hand. I get zilch from a manual pump. So she needs a whole day's
stash per feeding.

I don't know what to do. I was hoping to build up a stash for when I have to
have the radioactive iodine but if she won't breastfeed and eats her way
through my small (1 and 1/2 meals at the moment) frozen stash I won't have
anything but formula to give her I've tried her with a bottle before and
she absolutely refused it. Now she's refusing the breast as well. Is there
anything I can do apart from what I've already been doing (no distractions,
quiet, slightly darkened, feed when she's just woken up) to encourage her to
breastfeed? I was really hoping that our breastfeeding relationship would
last longer than 8 months... I was willing to delay the radioactive iodine
testing, research breastfeeding appropriate medications, delay treatment if
necessary, etc, and now it seems like it would all just be a wasted effort
anyway.

Engram

"Engram" wrote in message
u...
Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with DD...

Oh, wow. Seems as if you've tried most things. I don't have any
experience with breast refusal but I wonder if she would feed better if you
gave her a dose of Motrin 30-40 minutes before hand. That would make a
difference if it was teething, ear pain, etc. Mine would also pop off a lot
if they were congested.

Hope she turns around for you!


--
Nikki, mama to
Hunter 4/99
Luke 4/01
Brock 4/06
Ben 4/06

Engram wrote:

Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with DD...

How much solids is she getting? Can you back off
on that and always breastfeed first before giving
solids?

-- Anita --

do not give a bottle, it just reinforces the refusal

she sounds an awful lot like my DD, who is 2 today! She was just so keen for
solids she cut out her breastfeeds, I don't remember the exact numbers, but
the behaviour is very familiar! Nursing strike is common at roughly this
age, but that's more a sudden and complete refusal rather than gradual
cutting down, this is much more a normal step in weaning, just an awful lot
earlier than it naturally happens. I'd definitely keep offering, try
changing the environment, that kind of thing, she could be distracted. I
felt retrospectively, I didn't work hard enough on encouraging it, on the
other hand, she did nurse to 18mths, which is a lot more than most, but an
unusual age to self wean, I'd hoped for at least age 2, so I was
disappointed. She received a lesser proportion of breastmilk in her diet
than the absolute perfect recommendation from the breastfeeding experts, but
a relatively proportion compared to formula fed babies and she was
exclusively fed to 6mths. She is completely fine now! Fingers crossed and
yours will pick back up again in a few days and it's a distraction, not
wanting to stop to nurse issue, rather than her just deciding she doesn't
want to at that particular time!

Cheers

Anne

Thanks Anne. She definitely behaves likes she's gone on a breastfeeding
strike. I keep offering, and she ate 2 mins on right, 30 seconds on left
tonight. I'll pump and put the breastmilk in her rice cereal so she at least
gets it that way. I'll offer the breast again in an hour, just before she
goes to bed. Maybe with all the lights off and in her bedroom she might be
more willing to breastfeed.

I always breastfeed before solids. It's brestfeed, then an hour til solids,
so the two types of meals are definitely separate entities with lots of time
in-between. She gets rice cereal with milk and fruit morning and lunch and
meat with veges for dinner.

I think I'll just keep pumping even if she continues to refuse and even if
she ends up with bottles of formula I'll keep giving the breastmilk in
cereal or in bottles if the pumped volume increases. Hopefully she'll come
good in the next few days. I tried EBM in a bottle and sippy cup and she
wouldn't have anything to do with either. Was grimacing like I was giving
her something foul tasting!

I'll stay away from the bottles for now. She won't die of malnutrition in
just a few days and hopefully we'll be back on the boob in a couple of days.
If not, I'll get in touch with the Australian Breasfeeding Association and
see what ideas they have. And I'll keep pumping. Even though not much is
coming out for now, in time the volume will increase as my supply starts to
keep up with nursing and pumping. I've got some fenugreek and "mother's
milk" aniseed tea (I hate aniseed! Ugh!) and I'll start oatmeal in the
mornings to get things really flowing.

Engram

Irrational Number wrote:
Engram wrote:

Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with
DD...

How much solids is she getting? Can you back off
on that and always breastfeed first before giving
solids?

I always breastfeed first, then solids an hour later. It's hard to say how
much she gets but suffice it to say she's usually still wanting a bit more
when we run out of what's in the bowl. It's probably about as much as 1 and
1/2 handfuls if you cupped your hand? Depends on the size of your hand, I
suppose It's definitely not as much as 2 of my hands cupped. I can back
of on the solids if it would make a difference, but with breastmilk being
offered first and solids not till an hour later, even with the refusal I
give it a break before offering alternate food, reducing the amount of
solids might not do much.

Engram

Nikki wrote:
"Engram" wrote in message
u...
Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with
DD...

Oh, wow. Seems as if you've tried most things. I don't have any
experience with breast refusal but I wonder if she would feed better
if you gave her a dose of Motrin 30-40 minutes before hand. That
would make a difference if it was teething, ear pain, etc. Mine
would also pop off a lot if they were congested.

Hope she turns around for you!

She's a bit congested and popping off like a sailor after a bowlful of beans
but she's been sick before and fed through that.

We just had a lovely 5 minutes a side breastfeed after bath and before
bedtime, with lovely cuddles. She definitely still wants to breastfeed, just
for some reason is reluctant about it during the daytime. I'll keep plugging
away, though. It's definitely worth it to keep going - just watching her
busily gulping away 5 minutes ago gave me a nice warm feeling inside

Engram

In article ,
"Engram" wrote:

Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with DD...

In the last week or so she's been refusing more and more often. She'll be 8
months old on Wednesday. She's down to 4 breastfeeds a day, 3 during the day
and 1 in the middle of the night.

Do ring the ABA hotline for some advice -- there *are* ways through breast
refusal.

Secondly, I would be cutting back on the solids -- they don't need to eat very
much at that age. One way is to lower the amount you feed her. Another is to
move her to table foods and get her self-feeding. It's one thing to swallow
goo off a spoon; it's another to bring something to your mouth and chew it!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

"Engram" wrote in message
She's a bit congested and popping off like a sailor after a bowlful of
beans but she's been sick before and fed through that.

Just because she could before doesn't mean she can now. Possibly she has an
ear infection this time that is causing her some pain. I would try the
Motrin/Tylenol and see if that doesn't help and then go from there.
--
Sue

On Jun 10, 9:37 pm, "Engram" wrote:
Things are now getting desperate on the breast refusal front with DD...

In the last week or so she's been refusing more and more often. She'll be 8
months old on Wednesday. She's down to 4 breastfeeds a day, 3 during the day
and 1 in the middle of the night. Yesterday, she breastfed once in the
middle of the night, then once in the morning, refused the midday and I
managed to get her to do 5 minutes on the right side and about 2 minutes on
the left in the afternoon, but only because she was really hungry and I
wouldn't give her solids before the milk. She refused to have anything to do
with my boobs in the evening. Then today she breastfed at 4am, then I
managed to persuade her to do 3 mins on the right and about 1 min on the
left. She then went to bed at 10am, woke up at midday and again totally
refused the breast.

There are no distractions. In the morning we were the first ones up, no TV,
barely any light with the blinds drawn. Now in the middle of the day DS is
asleep and I've sent out DH to buy some nappies so DD and I are alone for
all intents and purposes, TV is off, lights are off, no distractions - and
she won't breast feed! She just turns her head and arches her back, trying
to get away from me.

I have some milk in the freezer and will try her with a bottle of EBM but I
don't have enough to keep us going. I've never been able to pump much and I
get about 2oz per pumping, from both sides! This is either with an electric
pump or by hand. I get zilch from a manual pump. So she needs a whole day's
stash per feeding.

I don't know what to do. I was hoping to build up a stash for when I have to
have the radioactive iodine but if she won't breastfeed and eats her way
through my small (1 and 1/2 meals at the moment) frozen stash I won't have
anything but formula to give her I've tried her with a bottle before and
she absolutely refused it. Now she's refusing the breast as well. Is there
anything I can do apart from what I've already been doing (no distractions,
quiet, slightly darkened, feed when she's just woken up) to encourage her to
breastfeed? I was really hoping that our breastfeeding relationship would
last longer than 8 months... I was willing to delay the radioactive iodine
testing, research breastfeeding appropriate medications, delay treatment if
necessary, etc, and now it seems like it would all just be a wasted effort
anyway.

Engram

Both of my DD's did that. I now have a happy and energetic 3 year old
DD and a 19 month DD that I'm trying to stop nursing. On both
occassions I remember completely freaking out. I backed off foods
completely and then the nursing went back full force. What's going on
with the radioactive iodine? I worked in radiology for a while it
really does have a very short half life depending on what your having
done. I think you can nurse the next day. The day you can't nurse you
can contact LL they have a list of all the "milk banks" in your area
all the milk is pasturized and "clean" or if your like me I just took
some from my beast friend. I hope this helps..........and I hope your
healthy.