Nursing Strike (13 month old)

[TifosiGirl]

DD is nearly 13 months and has either coxsackie or strep (waiting for test results and have been on antibiotics since Friday) and she hasn't nursed since 09/14 -- 5 days. Prior to that, she was nursing 4-5x per day. We have been syringe-feeding liquids and also using an open cup; water, pedialyte and my pumped milk. I'm pumping 3-4 times per day to try to keep my supply up. She's eating solids MUCH better in the last 24 hours. The act of sucking on a straw cup seems really uncomfortable still so I'm assuming nursing would be WAY worse. I keep offering to nurse and she either walks away or if she does allow me to start to latch her, when it comes time to actually latch and suck, she moves away and signs "all done."

I know that the recommendation for breaking a strike is lots of skin-to-skin and bedding down to woo them back to the breast, which is all great... for a younger and less active kid! Now that she's feeling a little better, she doesn't want to sit and cuddle, she wants to go play. We took a bath together yesterday but of course she just wanted to play and splash with me. I try to sneak it in when I'm rocking/singing/wearing her down and she's drifting off but it's not working. She wakes back up. Yesterday I did lay on the couch topless and express a few drops to show her and she licked them a bit, which was super positive. I asked for kisses and then asked if she could give Mama's milk kisses and she did both. Very sweet. I've nursed her favorite toys and she's interested in watching but doesn't try to nurse afterwards.

I'm trying to be zen with it if she's done but man, I'm so not ready for her to wean… and especially not so abruptly. It's seriously breaking my heart.. not to mention the crazy hormone roller coaster I'm on from a sharp drop in oxytocin and prolactin. Pumping just isn't the same. :(

Any tips or thoughts? I would so greatly appreciate any insight you Mamas can offer! Thank you.

[dharmabum]

Whew!  We are in the same boat.  I was just on here looking for some validation, support, or answers.  My son is just shy of 13 months and went from nursing like a champ to once a day for two days, to zilch today.  I want to respect his space and not shove my boob at him--I just feel like he is changing and I need to change with him.  I couldn't be more emotional and sad about it though--if you told me a week ago that our nursing relationship would be ending I would have said a big ol "yeah right!".  Who knew?  I offer nursies and let it all hang out, but he really isn't interested.  So, not trying to steal your thunder, but I just wanted to say I know how much it hurts to have nursing end or, maybe in your case, reach a rocky impasse.  I am going to keep pumping for a week and hope he returns to it.

[TifosiGirl]

Hold crap, illness aside, that sounds exactly the same.

I'm also still planning on pumping and continuing to offer. She'll take EBM in a sippy a few times a day but I'm not sure how long I want to maintain my supply. I'll probably give it a few more weeks just to make sure she's really, REALLY done.

A friend of mine shared something with me that gave me quite a bit of solace and I hope it does for you, too Mama:

"if i've learned one darn thing from parenting, it's that you can't control your children's bodily functions - not eating, sleeping, toileting, not even nursing... even though it's also your bodily function!  you can set the stage, you can issue invitations... but you can't make it happen.  it's terrifying and humbling, but it's also really awe-inspiring to know that your child is her own SELF, her own entity."

Hang in there.

[dharmabum]

Thanks for sharing!  The more positive thoughts the better!