I'm sitting here reading these posts about nursing strikes and sobbing. We're on a three-day strike, but it feels like an eternity. My ds is 23 months, nurses on a pretty regular basis (morning, naps, bedtime, night, when he's hurt/angry/sad), and then he gets a fever. This lasts for a few days, still nursing, and then this weekend- nada, nothing. He starts to latch on but stops and starts crying. Oh boy. I found out he's got canker sores (another thread in health and healing-but if anyone has ideas on how to help heal, LMK-BTW, Oragel did NOT help-it was a disaster). It also looks as if his stomach teeth are coming in. Now ds is adamantly refusing to nurse. When I ask the response ranges from a soft, sweet, "no," to "Mommy, milk is all gone!" or "Mommy, I'm all done!" Now, my milk is *not* all gone, trust me on this one. Of course, I thought, maybe he's weaning, but it goes against all I know about weaning. He's miserable too. Cries a lot, is tired. Part of that is that he hurts, but he's looking for comfort and having a hard time finding an alternative. I KNOW this can't be weaning, because if it were, he would be content and ready to "move on." It's so hard for him to sleep and get comfort, and he's really attached himself to Daddy, which isn't so bad, but, still, I want to be his Mommy. He often doesn't even want to snuggle, and at night he rolls on to his stomach, away from me. If I try to pull him toward me, he pushes himself as far as he can (we have a crib attached to our bed, so he can get away). I tried to nurse him after he was asleep, but he woke up right away and was really angry.
Some other things we've tried that haven't worked (though it MAY for someone else)
Nursing his stuffed animals. He thinks this is great, and was bringing me animals before this strike. Now, I tried to use it to get him to nurse. No doing.
Logical reasoning "I know your mouth hurts. But remember that milk has helped your other owies? Just try."
Milk in a cup. He loves to watch me pump, is facinated with the milk in the cup, but nothing doing. I even put it in the fridge, thinking it might feel better cold. Nope.
Not to hijack the conversation, but I have a few questions, if others have opinions or answers:
1) Do I continue to offer milk, or do I wait for him to ask?? I think my asking his causing him to push me away, and maybe if I let it go, he'll start to snuggle again (kind of like the sex and affection thing-don't let him/her snuggle with you because he/she will want sex, KWIM?
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2) How often should I pump? I'm not too worried about losing my milk supply.I've always an abundance, sometimes too much. I know when they're babies you need to pump when you would normally nurse, but ds is not "regular" in that sometimes he nurses two times, sometimes twelve (well, maybe not twelve, but you know what I mean!)
On a humorous note-I was explaining to my dh that ds is on a nursing strike. Dh said he has this picture of our son sitting in the living room with a sign that says,"No milk." Then he started chanting protest rhymes, substituting milk stuff instead. It was so funny-I'll ask him to tell me again, and then post them. We need a nursing strike smilie!
BTW- in regard to the AF thing, I did everything you're "supposed" to when it comes to breastfeeding, but got Auntie Flow at 3 months. Of course, at the time I was dealing with an "abundance" problem, and the lactation consultant thinks that when I got my supply to normal, it caused my body to think I was weaning. Whadya gonna do??
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It is so hard. He wakes up in the middle of the night and is lost about how to get back to sleep. It breaks my heart, and when I try to comfort him he gets really mad. Dad is the one who rocks him back to sleep. Naps have been a nightmare too. We are all lacking sleep. My LLL leader suggests letting it go, because as she says, he can communicate when he wants it. I continue to pump- which he really enjoys-which irritates me of course.
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