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Anyone else have a 10 mo who wont nurse except at naps/at home? What about water in the summer?

post #1 of 8
6/9/12 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
My nearly 10 mo dd will only nurse at home and only in conjunction with naps or bed time. She doesn't associate nursing with hunger or thirst, apparently, and is getting enough through the night and before and after he two naps and at bedtime. My concern is whether she will ever transition to aski g to nurse during the regular course of her life (she's been like this for months). Also, I was out yesterday for 7 hours and she refused to nurse that whole time. She did scream for sips of water from my water bottle and I gave her some, after 4,5 hours! I know she doesn't need supplemental water but she won't nurse at all. Screams and arches. I know it's not supply. I'm on Dom to try to help this but no dice. she won't even try. Someone pls tell me they were here and had a long and lovely nursing relationship and that their toddler eventually accepted the breast in public or for comfort!!

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post #2 of 8
6/11/12 at 6:16pm

This is common with babies with acid reflux (also known as GERD, or infant reflux). Babies with acid reflux will sometimes develop a feeding aversion which can be mild, to moderate, to severe. Since they frequently have heart burn and this heart burn is triggered or worsened by eating, they learn to associate eating with pain so they don't want to eat. But, when they are sleepy they are distracted and relaxed and can be coaxed more easily to eat. This has often been called "sleep feeding."

 

I'm not sure if this is what is going on with your daughter, but I did have two GERD babies and they would only eat when sleepy. 

 

You can get some information about infant reflux and ask questions on the forum at infantreflux dot org 

 

Is she a generally fussy baby? Does she sleep well? Does she eat any solids?

 

Here are some links I found that talk about sleep feeding and reflux.

 

http://www.healthcentral.com/acid-reflux/c/96/41498/feeding-treatment

 

http://parentingsolved.typepad.com/parenting_solved/2008/11/over-the-past-few-weeks-ive-had-several-questions-from--parents-on-an-evolving-phenomenon-referred-to-as-sleep-feeding.html

 

http://www.babyzone.com/baby/feeding-baby/is-sleep-feeding-normal_78580

post #3 of 8
6/12/12 at 9:45am
Thread Starter 
She's very happy, and eats solids happily, though she eats on the lesser end, quantity wise. She enjoys it though.

I wouldn't say she sleep feeds. She is awake and aware. She just won't feed out of the house or anywhere but bed or a darkened room. she doesn't seem to ask to nurse, nor does she seem to realize nursing would quench her thirst.

It's so inconvenient. And I feel like I'm missing out on so much comfort nursing, cuddles nd portability!!

S
post #4 of 8
6/12/12 at 9:52am

My son also did not realize that he needed to quench his thirst until he was about 18 months old. I worried about that a lot so I used to thin all of his solids with some breast milk to increase his fluid intake until he began drinking from a cup. 

 

Sleep feeding doesn't mean the the baby is fast asleep, just that they will only eat when groggy/falling asleep/half asleep/etc. I'd consider reflux especially since you mentioned that she screams and arches during feedings (another classic reflux symptom). My son would take food from a spoon, but he would not nurse or take a bottle unless he was dozing off to sleep. And eventually he quit even that and I had to spoon feed him his breast milk. 

 

Hopefully it's not reflux, but I would definitely consider it with her symptoms. 

post #5 of 8
6/12/12 at 10:52am
Thread Starter 
The arching is before she relents and latches. Once she latches she feeds and seems fine. Even when she doesn't fall asleep. She does not do it when lying down. Sigh.
post #6 of 8
6/12/12 at 12:00pm

My DS was also a reflux baby that acted that way. It was difficult at younger ages and meant it was hard to be away from home because he HAD to nurse. But by that age (10 mo) I just offered solids and water in a sippy during the day and he has been fine. He is now 16 months and still nurses at a nap if we are home, and several times at night. Otherwise he gets raw goat milk or water. 

post #7 of 8
6/12/12 at 12:23pm
Thread Starter 
She usually doesn't do it if I'm in "the chair". Just elsewhere. It's so maddening.
post #8 of 8
6/12/12 at 2:18pm

DS is the same! No more reflux now at 16 months, but he still will ONLY latch in our shared bed, even if he really wants to nurse when we are elsewhere!

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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Breastfeeding › Breastfeeding Challenges › Anyone else have a 10 mo who wont nurse except at naps/at home? What about water in the summer?