Monday, February 18, 2013


Help, my 6-month-old baby is refusing breastfeeding? / İmdat ,6 aylık bebğim göğüsten beslenmeyi ret ediyor...

Source / Kaynak : http://www.circleofmoms.com/welcome-to-circle-of-moms/help-my-6-month-old-baby-is-refusing-breastfeeding-514301

Burada bizim de zaman zaman yaşadığımız bu sorunla ilgili faydalı yorumlar bulduğum için paylaşmak istedim.
I wanted to share this, since I havefound some commentsI found usefull on an issue we have been going through.
Since two nights ago, my 6month old daughter has been refusing to nurse. She will arch her back and scream when I put her to my breast. I walk her around and rock her while I try to feed her or I will wait until she is sleepy, but still unsuccessful. I thought she was teething since she bites/sucks fingers sometimes, but I don't see any tooth cutting out. (She aleady had two cutting out couple weeks ago). I doubt she has ear infection since looks normal and plays well. This is especially frustrating when she awakes in the middle of night or morning hungry but can't eat and we both loose a lot of sleep. 
She does take bottle better twice yesterday and drank 15oz all day with some rice cereal and applesauce. I tried to pump but can barely pump anything out now, guess I'm too stressful. I'm afraid my milk supply will stop soon. One of my guess is she just learned to drink from bottle few days ago, and has been eating with spoon. So she is either too busy with learning all the new skills or confused. 
I am stressed out and frustrated I'm thinking about weaning her to a bottle. Is this just a stage she is going through? What can I do to get her back to breastfeeding or at least eat at normal amount?


-          However, she also had a couple of bouts of oral thrush which also stopped her nursing. Its awful isn't it, a horrid feeling, but my advice is keep offering the breast, that's what I did, contrary to the annoying advice I kept being given ("she's obviously not wanting the breast anymore, you should give up" !!!), and sure enough she went back on. It took a few weeks but try to be patient.
-          My son will refuse to nurse almost at least once a day, so I'll give him a bottle & then next time he's hungry - I offer to nurse again. The longest he went without nursing was 2 days, I kept pumping & he came around. I think he just wants MORE sometimes & maybe he's so tired sometimes it's EASIER to take the bottle.
-          Ruchi Joshi, you can never pump what the baby removes when you are nursing. Babies are more efficient than the machine, so don't count what you pump as what your little guy is getting when he nurses. I got my periods back after 6 weeks with my first baby. He was a 29-week preemie, so I had to pump full time and could measure how much milk I produced. There were mornings when I could get 13 ounces from one pumping session. Having periods does not mean you are not producing enough milk.
-          Nursing strikes stink. Keep pumping, keep offering the breast and definitely use sippy cups rather than a bottle. She's old enough to use a cup successfully. I had this happen with one of my babies. She went back to breastfeeding after a couple of days. One standard trick for a nursing strike is to try when the baby is sleepy, since they're more likely to nurse out of habit.
-          When my son was a few months old he completely stopped nursing, wouldn't take a bottle either. We found out he had severe acid reflux. once on medication for it he did better. Usually babies will outgrow the reflux, but a few like my son may always have an issue with it. He is 5 years old now and still has reflux issues. So check with the babies dr. and see if reflux might be an issue. Hope she starts eating soon, I know it can be scary when you know they aren't eating enough.
-          I breastfed all four of my children. You can't give them the bottle yourself when your breastfeeding them or they get confused. Also, I only let my husband give them one bottle at night to give me a break. If you have someone give them more than one bottle a day they should be split up with you breastfeeding in between. The bottle is much easier for them to drink, it's harder to get it out of you. They tend to get lazy and once they get more than one or two bottles a day or in a row, they don't want the breast anymore, I hope you can get your daughter to nurse again.
-          Babies will sometimes go on a nursing strike. Usually they'll eventually go back to it, but you never know. They will also take the easy way out which means a bottle. I would try to just keep nursing her and avoid the bottles. Keep pumping, try some mother's milk tea, and drink plenty of water. Keep track of her diapers to make sure she's not getting dehydrated too. Sometimes you can't pump near as much as you actually produce while nursing. 

Also, if your period is about to start OR you're pregnant, it can affect your milk. If it's your period, your milk supply can temporarily drop.
-          Maybe try a sippy cup instead of a bottle? It's as easy as a bottle for her and then you don't have to get her to give up the bottle for a cup later. Also, less confusion between the cup spouts and you. Just keep offering the breast, maybe do that before the other stuff and separate by about 15 to 20 minutes. She will work a little harder to get what she needs/wants from you and not just give up to go with the other. Just a thought.

If you want to keep her breastfeeding, take away the bottles for a bit. At least while she is learning to eat solids. Then start over with the cup/bottle.

As for the teething, the other mom's are right. It's the time leading to the tooth cutting through that's a nightmare for them. As soon as it's through, the pain and pressure are gone. 

No matter what, if you are really concerned, go see her doctor and/or yours. They are there to help you. You can always contact a lactation specialist too. If she still won't take the breast after everything, don't worry too much. You did great feeding her for six months and she will continue to grow and thrive getting food from other sources.
-          Did you just start introducing bottles before this started? It could be a nipple confusion thing. Sometimes babies will prefer a bottle because they don't have to work as hard to get out the milk. I would keep offering the breast as much as possible, and try not to give the bottles. If she doesn't think bottles are an option, she will nurse.

The other thing I can think is it may just be a nursing strike. Sometimes babies will go through this for a few days, then they snap out of it and go back to nursing. 

You said she only drank 15oz all day yesterday.. it's possible she has some kind of virus too that's making her not feel well. If that's the case, she should start eating more in a few days. 

Either way, I don't think you should need to quit nursing. This is just a stage... babies this young do not self-wean.

You also might try asking over at the breastfeeding moms community. You may get more help there.


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