Anyone experienced a nursing strike? help please!!!

Hi have any of you lovely tb girls ever had their bf baby repeatedly refuse the breast? my lo is 9 months and has fed fine til 3 days ago. tues eve at bedtime he just wouldnt even latch on, turned away and got upset if i tried again, mananged to get him to sleep although he was obviously hungry, thought he'd want a feed during the night but same every time just desperate to get away and seemed really upset i'd tried. wanted nothing in the morning so i gave him water in a cup but he onyl drinks a few sips from his cup. and has always refused a bottle with anything in it.  he's been ill this week with cough cold etc and is still eating solids although not as much as normal. dosed up on calpol and ibuprofen (as doctor advised at start of week for his cough etc )and plug in vapour in his room, plus teethign gel and ashton parsons powder as i think he teeth are bothering him too. i thought maybe it's sore gums/teeth or a sore throat that's upsetting him but he seems happy enough to eat and have a cup in his mouth? 

yesterday i tried allsorts to get him tofeed, quiet dark room, differnet positions, skin to skin, had abath with himm let him just lie on my chest so if he wanted to to find the breast he could etc etc.... nothing. at bedtime i did manage to get him to have a short feed as he was sleepy and his eyes were closed so he didn;t see me coming (so to speak!) and he fed til he was asleep. thats the only milk he's had since tues afternoon - now thurs eve and he's a hungry boy normally! refused all day today and i tried again to get him when sleepy but no success this time. he  has just screamed for over 2 hours before falling asleep so tired and upset and i know he is hungry although he ate not too bad today solids. only liquids he's had are sips of water which i've given him often. refuses bottle and cup with ebm or formula or cowsmilk. 

if he doesn't want to bf any more i'll get over it but he  needs something!!! i'm feeling a bit rejected by it and although i've read it's not me he's rejecting but the milk/the feeding process but it's hard. 

does any one have any thoughts or suggestions as to what i do!!!!! any comments appreciated,

thanks, Zo and the stubborn Gabriel x

Hi Zo

im in a similar position at the min....my little man is 8 1/2 months and has also had the most horrendous cold/cough and has cut his first tooth this week. he is a fab bf'er and has never really taken to having milk from anything but the breast. Over the last month he's dropped his milk feeds right down to just bf'ing at bedtime, in the night when he wakes and first thing in the morning....during the day he just has solids and water. However, the last few days, since his cold was at its worse, he has been increasingly refusing the breas, latching on for a quick suck then just rolling off and getting mad if i try to get him to feed. He has been going to bed with hardly any milk, resulting in lots of night feeding as he will feed ok in the middle of the night when he is still mostly asleep. He rolls all over the bed at night, clearly knackered and needing his milk, taking ages to settle, whereas normally he would have his bf and go straight off to sleep without a problem.

the only thing i can put this down to is a combination of cold/cough and teething (it does hurt them more when sucking compared to sipping from a cup) and the milk prob doesnt mix well with a snotty baby and sore throat.

Stick with it, im sure Gabriel will come through it and when he is feeling a bit better will be straight back on to you and making up for lost time xx

thanks, i really hope so.  Gabriel had been reducing his feeds too but this was a very dramatic stop! i am going to keep trying especially at night when he's sleepy but am bothered if ti takes too long my milk will have dwindled - i've been expressing but am not veyr good at it and really jsut relieving the discomfort rather than getting much off to keep up a supply. i wouldn't even mind if he woudl take a bottle as i'm back to work soon and it would be easier then.

hope your little man is feeling better soon too xx

Hi girls - i know this might be a daft question but are either of you pregnant??? My youngest stopped feeding at 7 months, i couldnt understand it, she'd had a cold but was still eating ok etc, just like your guys, i thought about it and just to rule it out, did a test and low and behold i was pregnant!!!! Soooooo sometimes the taste of your milk changes and they just dont like it any more!!!! Sometimes too tho, they just decide thats it, im getting big and i will just have a cup thanks - try putting warmed breast milk in a beaker for them instead- if your not preg that is!! LOL but either way, they wont starve so dont fret!! LOL Hope thats helped, take care girls.

Karen - baby no.8 29+1 wks 

Karen, thanks for the thought but seeing as my oh left ten months ago and my two boys have kept me very busy since then it's not possible. much as i would love it, lol.

did i read right, no.8??? well done amd good luck! x