Boobie Refusal

[SnoozesWithCats]

Someone's taken away my baby and replaced her with a non-breastfeeding little girl!

:eek:

Up till about 2 days ago, she was a four-drinks-a-day girl (more if she could get 'em). She's eleven months old.

Anyway, she had a really wierd night Friday night - kept waking up, didn't want boobie (which is just unheard of) - finally consented to a drink at 4, after which things looked normal again for a bit. Had a morning-tea drink after she got up and since then - nothing. Any time I offer her a drink she blows raspberries at it (if she's in a good mood) or turns away crying ("what's this THING you're shoving in my face mummy?")

She has her first top tooth coming in. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. The two front bottom ones came through without any dramas.

Anyone have any words of wisdom? Ways to make the boobie more enticing? And if she keeps this up, how long have we got till she can't change her mind even if she wants to?

[Nickster]

Hmmm....it could be a number of things - ie. teething, or just learning she can refuse things IYKWIM. The ABA has the best info on breast refusal (maybe check out their website - they have forums there too!), but from what I've read I think it may just be a temporary state of affairs, or you can use this as an opportunity to wean now if you prefer, but I think I would probably just keep offering it to her at the usual times and express if she refuses just to make sure your supply doesn't drop too much.

Good luck whatever you choose to do.:)

[Funkychicken]

The teething sounds like it may be a big part of it. My DD self-weaned from 9 months (I managed to get her to 11 months on BF and expressed BM) and it was an awful experience for me. I'm sure she is unaffected but it took me years to accept it. (B*&^%y self-imposed mother guilt!) My DS is showing signs of dropping his day feeds from 4 to 3 and has been doing the raspberry blowing on my boob thing but he is also cranky with a tooth coming through at the moment.
I agree with Nickster here. Give the ABA a call as they can help you out with this. They were fantastic with me when I needed reassurance when my DD started to wean herself. :yelclap:

[Niksmum26]

hi,
my son was doing the same thing @ 3 months- he was actually latching on, would eat for a minute and latch off and then SCREAM not wanting to eat anymore. Carrying on as though he hated the taste of my milk. I first thought it was something i ate but 4 days later he was still carrying on. I spoke to my maternal health nurse who said it could be either

1) too much supply where the milk is flowing too fast for him or
2) not enough supply and baby is wanting more then i had to offer- therefore was finding it too much of an effort to suck and was hungry.

i realised it was #2 and that he was quite hungry and getting frustrated so she suggested that i express my milk into a bottle for him, or to top him up with formula.

don't know if this is any help to you...

[meme]

sometimes hormonal changes can affect breastmilk, for instance i had 2 days of similar behaviour from my dd when i was early pregnant. i just kept offerring and she went back to the breast.
she would also fuss when i was getting my periods.
i support the aba suggestion, they have a good fact sheet on their website.

[SnoozesWithCats]

thanks guys for your support. I've tried a couple of suggestions from the ABA factsheet but she seems pretty adamant that she's not going for it :no:

I guess eleven months isn't all that bad a time to give it up - I'm still a bit freaked by how FAST the turnaround was though. This time last week I would have sworn black-and-blue she was a complete boobaholic who'd be drinking till after she was two! I wish I'd known beforehand - I'd have made more of an effort to appreciate those last couple of drinks if I'd known they WERE the last couple of drinks...

[Niksmum26]

I wish I'd known beforehand - I'd have made more of an effort to appreciate those last couple of drinks if I'd known they WERE the last couple of drinks...[/quote]


I totally agree, my son decided what seemed like overnight that he didn't want my milk anymore. Oh well :no:, i guess the next time i will learn to appreciate it more :yes: is your bub on formula now??? how are they doing???