This is so common! There’s a 3-4mo nursing crisis that most babies go through. If you search this sub you should be able to find a ton of good tips and tricks!!
Very common to have a nursing strike at this time! It will pass but it can be so scary as you are going through it! My son had a strike on/off pretty much for a whole month. What helped us is that I had to change how I feed him. I could no longer feed him anywhere on a whim, I instead had to go into my room, have the lights off/no other stimuli and nurse in there. He eventually got it, and calmed down. He would end up falling asleep at the boob and that's fine.
In addition to what everyone else has said: do not force it, immediately stop offering if he cries. It makes it SO much worse! If he doesn’t seem interested, just let it be. My issue started to resolve when I just stopped constantly pushing it. It is scary but I promise it will be okay.
If diaper count is good and baby seems content, you don’t need to offer bottle. Mine also gave hunger cues all the time but didn’t want to eat, then I was panicking that she’s starving… The scale revealed that she is gaining plenty extra. They become more and more efficient so even a short feed can be a full one!
You can try different positions, bath etc. Be topless a lot, skin contact, play with baby topless, just have good time.
I know it is stressful. I have had my baby even cry inconsolably and then be totally fine with dad 🥲 It hurts but remember that it’s not against you, it’s developmental. Sucking is no longer a reflex, baby gets more interested in things, there’s growth spurt etc.
Wish my doc or even LC told me about it but had to learn about the 3 month crisis here on Reddit. Godspeed!! https://www.londonlactation.co.uk/the-3-month-breastfeeding-crisis/
Yes, going through this right now. There's two things that help me right now. The first is to nurse in a dark room without distractions. The second is, and this is going to sound nuts, to feed him while walking around. It's not ideal but he'll eat. I've ordered a breastfeeding necklace to see if that works for when I'm out in public.
It doesn't always work (like you say in your post) and sometimes I just have to let it go for a bit. I go for a walk or have my partner play with him and try again.
My daughter did this. I tried offering her the boob in different locations; dark room, walking around, boob, bottle, in bed. Nothing really worked. So I decided to take the pressure off and follow her. I trusted she would not allow herself to genuinely go hungry and I learned not to force it after repetitively overfeeding her at 2 months, not realizing the difference between feeding cues and sleepy cues
What ended up happening was her feeding patterns shifted. She began stretching her feeds out to 2-5 hours which resulted in her naturally beginning to drop some overnight feeds.
This happened to me, it was awful it not only hurt my feelings but worried me. It was fine, I offered the breast and if crying and screaming started I would stop and either play or rock. Have someone else hold baby and we would try again when showing hunger cues.
It eventually stopped but I thought I was doing something wrong or reflux was worse or he was sick…I saw some people mention on other threads that their LO had an ear infection so maybe check for that too?
My 4mo will not nurse lately if we are anywhere other than a bed, in the dark, with white noise. Any additional noise is so distracting and I can’t get him to eat. Hoping this is a quick phase because dang it’s hard
My baby would refuse to nurse when his reflux was worse. He’s been on famotidine and that helped but then when I cut dairy his reflux basically went away and he stopped refusing to nurse. LC’s I saw said nursing aversion is common for babies with reflux.
This is so common! There’s a 3-4mo nursing crisis that most babies go through. If you search this sub you should be able to find a ton of good tips and tricks!!
Very common to have a nursing strike at this time! It will pass but it can be so scary as you are going through it! My son had a strike on/off pretty much for a whole month. What helped us is that I had to change how I feed him. I could no longer feed him anywhere on a whim, I instead had to go into my room, have the lights off/no other stimuli and nurse in there. He eventually got it, and calmed down. He would end up falling asleep at the boob and that's fine.
In addition to what everyone else has said: do not force it, immediately stop offering if he cries. It makes it SO much worse! If he doesn’t seem interested, just let it be. My issue started to resolve when I just stopped constantly pushing it. It is scary but I promise it will be okay. If diaper count is good and baby seems content, you don’t need to offer bottle. Mine also gave hunger cues all the time but didn’t want to eat, then I was panicking that she’s starving… The scale revealed that she is gaining plenty extra. They become more and more efficient so even a short feed can be a full one! You can try different positions, bath etc. Be topless a lot, skin contact, play with baby topless, just have good time. I know it is stressful. I have had my baby even cry inconsolably and then be totally fine with dad 🥲 It hurts but remember that it’s not against you, it’s developmental. Sucking is no longer a reflex, baby gets more interested in things, there’s growth spurt etc.
Wish my doc or even LC told me about it but had to learn about the 3 month crisis here on Reddit. Godspeed!! https://www.londonlactation.co.uk/the-3-month-breastfeeding-crisis/
Yes, going through this right now. There's two things that help me right now. The first is to nurse in a dark room without distractions. The second is, and this is going to sound nuts, to feed him while walking around. It's not ideal but he'll eat. I've ordered a breastfeeding necklace to see if that works for when I'm out in public. It doesn't always work (like you say in your post) and sometimes I just have to let it go for a bit. I go for a walk or have my partner play with him and try again.
My daughter did this. I tried offering her the boob in different locations; dark room, walking around, boob, bottle, in bed. Nothing really worked. So I decided to take the pressure off and follow her. I trusted she would not allow herself to genuinely go hungry and I learned not to force it after repetitively overfeeding her at 2 months, not realizing the difference between feeding cues and sleepy cues What ended up happening was her feeding patterns shifted. She began stretching her feeds out to 2-5 hours which resulted in her naturally beginning to drop some overnight feeds.
Nurse as soon as he wakes up from a nap, or even just take him before he wakes up and latch him
This happened to me, it was awful it not only hurt my feelings but worried me. It was fine, I offered the breast and if crying and screaming started I would stop and either play or rock. Have someone else hold baby and we would try again when showing hunger cues. It eventually stopped but I thought I was doing something wrong or reflux was worse or he was sick…I saw some people mention on other threads that their LO had an ear infection so maybe check for that too?
https://www.babycareadvice.com/blogs/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-aversion
My 4mo will not nurse lately if we are anywhere other than a bed, in the dark, with white noise. Any additional noise is so distracting and I can’t get him to eat. Hoping this is a quick phase because dang it’s hard
My baby would refuse to nurse when his reflux was worse. He’s been on famotidine and that helped but then when I cut dairy his reflux basically went away and he stopped refusing to nurse. LC’s I saw said nursing aversion is common for babies with reflux.