Nursing strike?

Question

My daughter is 4 and a half months old and mostly breastfed ( maybe 1 bottle a day is given) she nursed fine yesterday then it's like today she woke up this morning and wants nothing to do with it! She will only take bottles! 
Does this sound like a nursing strike? Breaks my heart... any advice is appreciated

Answer

I just went thru this and mine was definitely due to preferring the bottle. But unlike you, I was giving her several bottles of breastmilk a day (so more bottle-fed than nursing). On Monday she refused to latch at all and was just fussy at the breast.

Luckily I was home the whole week with her so I could work on getting her back to breastfeeding. I researched all sorts of info online but the thing that helped me the most was breastfeeding her before she showed huger signs. If I waited till she started to cry, it was too late and she would be too frustrated at the breast. Instead, I would breastfeed her as soon as she woke up from naps while she was still groggy and before she started crying. If she was awake and it was more than 1.5 hrs since she last ate, I would breastfeed, even tho she wasn't crying or hungry yet. I just had to get her use to nursing again and doing it while hungry was too frustrating for her. So it's been about 5 days and everyday it's getting better. Took a lot of patience and tolerance to her crying but it's so worth it. I still had to give her a bottle here and there when the screaming was too much but I noticed everyday I had to fight less and less for her to nurse.

Feeding in the side-lying position seemed to help too, not sure why.

Answer

Did u put faster flow nipples on your bottles? Mine did this too right around the same age and it was shortly after I put the level 2 nipples on his bottles (daycare). I didn't think anything of it till a friend asked that question and I switched back to 1s. Within a few days he was nursing normally again.

Answer

Yes it does. She could be preferring the bottle. Try nursing when she's sleepy

Answer

If she will take bottles fine it's likely more her getting bottle preference.
Skin to skin will help. Plan a nursing vacation. Get under the blankets skin to skin and stay there for the weekend. No pressure on her and let her latch as often as she wants whenever she wants. A warm bath together will also help encourage latching.
Kellymom has a good post called 'help, my baby won't nurse'. The tips I mentioned plus a ton more are in the post.

Nursing strike?

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