Babe refusing to nurse

[Nillarilla]

Hi all,

My friend is having a lot of problems getting her 4 1/2month old back on the breast. I'm posting with her permission. Any help you can give would be much appreciated. She made some mistakes but can't take them back so now we must go from here. Here is here words:

I saw my doctor today asking for breastfeeding advice and he told me to give up and just give him the bottle! So mamma's I am going to ask you if you have any advice for me here is my situation:

My son is 4 1/2 months old and was exclusively breastfed the first 3 months, until christmas time. With all the shopping chaos and cooking, and family around, new years etc, he was given a few bottles, about one every day or two. first it was only if I had enough pumped milk but I could only get a 1/2 ounce in 30 minutes so that didnt last very long and we tried him on some formula. Slowly one every two days turned into one every day, two a day and then one day he decided he wasnt going to nurse at all. this was about 5 or 6 weeks ago. Since then, he's been nursing only at night, when he's too tired to realize its not the bottle he's getting. I treated him for thrush, tried an SNS, I use the avent bottles. 

To try to keep my supply up, I would pump and pump but hardly got anything at all (with a avent hand pump and a medela dual electric pump) so I went and rented a hospital pump from save on but still, only got 1/2 ounce, even if I pumped for an hour. My supply is very low now, I dont even feel full. I want so desperately to nurse my baby but i just done know what to do. when i put him to the breast he screams and screams. 

has anyone gone through this and successfully got babe to nurse again?

[3girls1boy]

It sounds like the baby is getting used to the easy, fast flow of a bottle.  4 1/2 months is not to early to give any other liquids in a cup.  Use a cup with a spouted top (but not with a no-spill valve, which can lead to other lazy latch problems) and assist the baby in drinking with the cup (so he doesn't just grab it, spill everything out and throw it on the floor).  Since he is willing to nurse at night, nurse him during this time as much as he is willing.  There are some babies that get the bulk of their nutrition during the night, since they often start to get too busy and distracted during the day.

I wouldn't judge your supply by how much you can pump.  The baby is always more effective in extracting milk than a pump.  Getting closer to the middle of the first year is typically the time where you will not feel very full anymore.  Milk is produced when the baby nurses and not as much between nursings.  You also might want to consider if you want to try solid foods at this time instead of offering formula---just remember to always nurse BEFORE offering solid food.  You don't want the baby to fill up on solid food which is still nutritionally incomplete at this time.

Hang in there. Jeanne, mom to 4