For the last few days now Allison has not wanted to nurse or take a bottle, expressed milk or formula. Last week I ate some chocolate that really flared up her reflux. Since then she is refusing all milk. I can barely get 16 ounces into her a day. That's with basically forcing the bottle into her mouth after she's had none for hours and hours. She's still eating cereal with the formula or breastmilk in it. I'm sick of pumping. I've tried lying with her skin to skin. She turns her head and clamps that mouth shut. Nothing has changed in my diet, no new soaps or fragrences. She's not sick, not teething. Help!:banghead:

It may still be to do with the samll amount of chocolate you ate over easter im not sure how long it takes to get out for your system its good thet she is still taking it with her cereal could you try spoon feeding ehr all he feeds until she is confident at drinking again, im sure its hard to do that though

Have you tried syringe feeding her small amouts of EBM when miki wasnt drinking her boltes and we was trying to avoid her tube we used to fill up a heap of 10 ml syringes and keep trying t get her to have bits all through the day its timeconsuming and it sucks i know but better than nothing

good luck

It could be that she's uncomfortable/in pain and doesn't want to drink. :-( We have gone through this countless times with our dd (who is now 2.5 years old) and it's frustrating to no end. Amy had a great idea re: the syringe feedings. We have done this many times and, though it's a pain in the pinfeathers, it's a reliable way of getting some calories into her.

How is she acting otherwise? Fussy/cranky and/or irritable? Does she act as if she wants to nurse/take a bottle, but won't latch?

Yes thats what miss hannah banana did for 8 months.. there's nothing more frustrating, im sorry your going through it. hannah would eat cereal, anything with milk in it, but woudlnt drink it. i would try the syringe.. see if it helps.. we ended up with an ng at that age.. im not an advocate of it, but sometimes you have to if they get dehydrated etc.. but if your still able to get 16 ounces in her a day, maybe adding formula into the solids and cereals would help. hope it gets better.

It's going to be hard, but try not to worry too much at this stage, if you start getting stressed and forcing the bottle then she's going to get stressed and her aversion is going to get worse.

How is she at eating? Could you add formula to cereal etc. I would try distraction, keep smiling don't force her, but keep an eye on her diapers to make sure she's still wetting them and if you ahve to feed her a bit when she's sleeping. It could well be a phase as much as the reflux problem x

Thanks everyone! I'm happy that I'm not the only one with this problem. I have been able to get anywhere from 1 to 2 1/2 ounces into her periodically today. I decided that I would not force the bottle into her as I fear she will completely refuse it if I do. I will try the syringe if I have to. She is otherwise well. A little cranky, not crying, not in pain. She will eat the cereal with added formula. I think the problem is constipation. She has been having this problem for 2 weeks now. :banghead: I have to give her so many prunes, prune juice, pears just to keep her going. I think she is getting cramps from them. But if she's constipated she doesn't eat either. Catch 22. :hairpull: She has no interest in nursing at all. :sad3: Everytime I put the bottle near her she clamps her mouth and turns her head. She has never had any bottle or food aversions. Why would this just start so suddenly? I'm pumping twice a day just to keep some milk flowing so I can increase it if she ever comes back to breastfeeding. But I am doubtful. I think this is the end of breastfeeding for me.:sad2:

Hurray hurray she breastfed tonight!:yahoo:

That's great!!! Good luck!!

That's great! I hope she keeps it up. When I went back to work part time, we had a little trouble getting Roman to eat. It was as if he was protesting me leaving him by not eating, but eventually he got over it and went back to breastfeeding. The bottlefeeding is another story. It took MONTHS of trying every bottle and nipple on the market until one day we finally found one that he liked. We also learned he likes his expressed milk VERY warm. If your little one tries the nursing strike again, you might want to experiment with different bottles and milk temps. We also used syringe feeding which Amy already mentioned, and we mixed milk with all of his solids - even fruits and veggies, just to increase his intake. But hopefully you won't need any of this advice because she's back on track!!! :yahoo:

thats great well done

Today we are syringing formula. :sad5:

Oh no...sorry to hear that. How she acting today? Is she still having wet diapers?

She's acting normally. Eating very well. Sleeping well. Happy. She's peeing, not as much as usual. But she's had 3 wet diapers since 7am. Her mouth is very moist. She seems fine so why won't she drink anything? Do you think she could be teething? She's not acting in pain.

:party0049: :smt041 :yahoo: on the positive side, we reached the 14lb marker today!! 14lbs 5 ounces

Do you think she could be teething? She's not acting in pain.

That is just what I was going to say. I would say if she doesn't "appear" to be in pain, it might very well be teething. Aubrey doesn't want anything to do with food when she is teething. She'd take baby food and a couple of ounces here and there and that is it. I can imagine the sucking can be painful for them when their whole mouth hurts. Maybe try a bit of oragel before she eats and see if that helps.

And WTG to on the weight gain!!!! YAHOO!

Ok she just woke up tonight(which she doesn't usually), downed 5 ounces of formula and went back to sleep. I didn't even stop to burb her because I was afraid to take the bottle out of her mouth for fear she would stop drinking! It's got to be teething. I gave her some tylenol. But she isn't drooling or biting things or have a diaper rash. Strange. thanks for the help!

But she isn't drooling or biting things or have a diaper rash. Strange. thanks for the help!

My DD never get a diaper rash either. I was always on the look out for one, but it never came.

Glad to hear she had a good bottle! Aubrey's a pretty good sleeper at night as well, but when she is teething she always wakes in the night. I too, usually have to give her a bottle to get her back down.

Hope she's feeling better soon!