20 years
But she is refusing my breast, what should I do?
Oct 23, 2014
During a breast-feeding strike, your baby might appear to want to breast feed, but as soon as you offer her your breasts, she refuses it or starts to cry. Sometimes a breast-feeding strike happens suddenly. In other cases, a strike begins gradually.
Common causes of a breast-feeding strike include:
• Pain or discomfort: oral thrush (whitish patches inside the mouth caused by a fungal infection, common in babies at this age) can cause mouth pain during breast-feeding. I f so, it should be treated.
• Illness. A stuffy nose can make it difficult for your baby to breathe during breast-feeding; you can tell if her breathing is noisy. What you should do is cleanse her nose with nasal saline drops and suction with a bulb to remove any nasal secretions.
• Stress or distraction. Overstimulation, delayed feedings or a long separation from you might cause irritation and nursing becomes difficult. If you react harshly to being bitten during breast-feeding might have the same effect. Sometimes a baby is simply too distracted to breast-feed.
• Unusual scents or tastes. Changes in your smell due to a new soap, perfume, lotion or deodorant might cause your baby to lose interest in breast-feeding. Changes in the taste of breast milk — triggered by factors such as the food you eat, your period or getting pregnant again — also can trigger a breast-feeding strike.
• Reduced milk supply. Supplementing with formula or using a pacifier too much might reduce your milk supply. Sometimes reduced milk supply is a sign of pregnancy.
A breast-feeding strike can be an unpleasant and frustrating experience for you and your baby. You need to be patient.
• To prevent engorgement and maintain your milk supply, pump milk on the same schedule your baby used to breast-feed. You can feed the expressed milk to your baby with a bottle.
• Keep trying. Express milk onto your nipple or your baby's mouth to encourage her to nurse. If your baby is frustrated, stop and try again later.
• Change positions. Try different breast-feeding positions. If your baby’s nose is congested, suction your baby's nose half an hour before feedings (not too close to feeding otherwise she may vomit from agitation), and hold her in an upright position during breast-feeding.
• Minimize distractions: try to be in a dark, quiet room with no distractions while breast feeding.
• Cuddle your baby. Skin-to-skin contact between you and your baby might renew your baby's interest in breast-feeding.
• Evaluate changes in your routine. You are obviously stressed, so you need to ask for help and take good care of yourself, because your baby can tell if you're angry or unhappy, and you should not undermine the effects of these negative emotions on the breast feeding experience.
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