My 6 week old won't nurse anymore. He cries and refuses to take the breast. What can I do?

Question

I want to breastfeed but don't want to see my son unhappy. Everything was going good and out of nowhere this started. He takes a bottle but thats a strugle as well. He cried for two hours straight last night. And finally nursed to sleep and slept most of the night. He woke up and nursed a little back to sleep than it all started agian. It starts off like he'll take the brest then he screams, after a while I give him a bottle, he fights that and over and over trying the breast and then the bottle. Till he takes one. Which isn't the breast!

Answer 1

I've done this before! It's called a nursing strike, and it's horrible for everyone involved. It's often started by an event: mom going back to work, mom screaming after baby bit the breast, something that baby found traumatic. Strikes always start suddenly. You need to call a lactation consultant, but I wouldn't go near a physician's office unless you have someone who is extremely pro-breastfeeding and has a lactation consultant on staff. Physicians only know what formula companies tell them (give lots of supplements), and it goes against research, experts' opinions and common sense. In the meantime, you can try to nurse baby while he is asleep. He'll probably have to be really tired in order to get him to nurse, but be patient and keep offering. Remember that he doesn't understand any of this nonsense either. You will all survive this! I hope this resolves quickly.

Answer 2

Hmm the fact that he is fighting both is NOT a good sign. If it were nipple confusion he would take a bottle. However as it is he is probably just getting so tired he can't fight anymore and bottles drip -boobs don't. So when he is done fighing the bottle drips in his mouth and he is too tired to fight it.

Consider to get through the night... if you have a pump. Pump breastmilk and try cup or syringe feeding. Medicine cups and syringes are available at most 24 hour drugstores. With cup feeding you don't pour it into the mouth you tip the cup and the baby sucks it out (I did this with my son the first 2 weeks due to problems). Offer the pumped milk every two hours.

Then PLEASE make an appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning. This abrupt a change usually indicates a problem causing pain. I don't even know what to tell you it is thrush generally isn't very painful for babies -though it can be. GERD could be painful but I don't know if it would strike out of the blue. The reason I say to push breastmilk is that it is an antacid, antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral.

Cup and syringe feeding won't cause nipple confusion and may be easier for the baby particularly if he has a sore mouth.

*IF* he doesn't pee in any 6 hour period GO TO THE HOSPITAL.

Answer 3

I feed my daughter from my breasts during the day, but for over night feedings, I use the pump and feed her from Playtex VentAir NATURALS botttles and she has no problem switching back and forth at all. The vent air bottles have vents on the bottoms of them so that the bubbles are depleted which is good for breast feeding babies. Be sure to get the wide, or 'natural' shaped bottles because the nipples are shaped like your nipple and areola. I didn't breast feed my son, who is now 3 1/2 years old, but I used the standard sized Ventair bottles and they were the only ones who could really prevent the gas issues he had (along with a better formula than standard)

Answer 4

When did you introduce the bottle?

It sounds like nipple confusion... the sucking done at the breast is different than the sucking done on a bottle. Hes upset because he doesn't know which to do.

Here are some links to check out... i could post it all here... but theres a bunch of important links and all that.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T022400.asp

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html

The important thing is to STOP GIVING BOTTLES. If he just will not take the breast, feed him with a cup, a spoon, a syringe or do finger feeding with an SNS (you would have to get that from a lactation consultant).


ETA: someone made a good point... does he have any white patches in his mouth that can't be scratched off? Thrush is a possibility.

Some more links to check out on that:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/thrush/thrush-resources.html

Answer 5

It is possible that your son might have some gas. Make notations of these incidents for your son's ped. Also, make a note of the times of the feeding and what's going on. I found that my daughter nursed better 1) after I had washed my breasts (without soap), 2) provided a warm light, with soft music and me in the rocking chair. Her problem became she was always hungry and my breast milk was not enough - eventually, she bit me and the nipples bled and that stopped the nursing. Finally, is he loosing weight? If the baby is not taking in enough nourishment and loosing weight, you will need to follow another path of feeding. GOod luck

Answer 6

Some children, when switching between bottle and breast, experience "nipple confusion". This is partially because the amount of suction required to breast feed is significantly more than that required to bottle feed. As a result, some children tend to gravitate towards bottle feeding when faced with the prospect of either. However, at 6 months (if you just started the bottle) this shouldn't be an issue. Typically this is an issue with younger infants.

Your child may be have other physiological factors that are influencing his/her ability to feed well. For example, the presence of reflux may result in him/her associating some level of pain with feeding. Does the child have a large number of wet burps or spit up frequently? Another sign/symptom might be the arching of the back when trying to feed. You may want to visit your health care practitioner.

Alternately, you may also try your local chapter of the "la leche league", which does provide support groups - and sometimes mentoring - for women who are having trouble with breast feeding.

Answer 7

Call your lactation consultant ASAP. they are the best. Try using a breast shied. Medela makes them. It's like sucking a bottle nipple. That might work. If not, get a good pump, like the Medela Pump and Style and pump and give it to him in the bottle. The pump is expensive, but worth every penny. What ever you do, try not to supplement. Ive been breastfeeding for 10 months 3 weeks. My daughter stopped taking my breast at about 7 months. She was nursing at night only and eventuall gave that up.

Answer 8

sounds like he has nipple confusion. with the bottle he will get the milk faster so when you try to nurse, he is giving up. I would pump and use a syringe to give him some of your milk, slowly, this will get him away from the artifical nipple and keep him from being so hungry. keep offering him th breast and you could pump right before you try to feed to get your milk to let down. I would also suggest calling a lactation consultant at the hospital where you delivered. Since he is fighting the bottle at times too I would call ASAP b/c something else may be going on. Dont give up, he will get it. so many women go through this.

Answer 9

My baby will be 4 weeks on wednesday and he does the same thing. He has been fighting me about the whole breast thing. I am going to call the lactation consultant in the morning.
I suggest if you wnat to keep breastfeeding, you should do the same thing.
I also broke down and got some gas drops for him and they seem to be working.
Good Luck.

Answer 10

I would recommend ditching the bottles and just nursing, You son may be confused or getting too much air from the bottle and it hurts his tummy. He could have thrush, do you see any white spots in his mouth, are your nipples itchy? See you if you can make an appointment with a lactaion specialist, they can help SO much!!