Zoloft, nursing strike??? X-posted Breastfeeding

[Christine&men]

Wednesday night DD nursed at 2AM and I had a hard time getting her to nurse at 6:30 AM that morning. All day she was upset, crying, kicking around and would not latch. I called the doctor and they said that most likely it was gas. Okay, I thought, gas passes. In the meantime I was to give her warm water. I was so engorged that I pumped (once, out came ... a lot) and waited for her to calm down and nurse again. Did not happen, at least not really. She sucked a couple of times and that's that, more crying. I gave her the bottle of expressed BM and she drank it (a first, but not the way I wanted to experience it). And today, more of the same (ended up giving her the bottle again).

So, I started taking Zoloft on Monday of last week. Could that affect me?

Is this what they call a nursing strike?

Now, I am drinking lots and lots of water, take my supplements for healthy lactation, drink Mothers Milk Tea. Anything else I can do? (rest is not an option, have an active toddler) Of course I am scared now that my milk is going to vanish, with her not nursing as often as she should... I keep pumping, but I don't think I have the let-down effect anymore. My breasts used to tickle when the milk came and now: NOTHING

[MothertheMother]

Yes this sounds like a nursing strike to me and anything could have caused it. For great information (that really helped me) check Le Leche Leagues website. There are a lot of great tips for getting through a nursing strike. The biggest two I remember are skin to skin contact-as much as possible. And nurse the baby when she is asleep or nearly. I would rock her to sleep and once she was pretty sound I would lay down with her and she would latch on. Its like she didn't realize she wanted to protest because she was tired.

I don't know how old your dd is but it is not uncommon for the "let down" feeling to fade as your milk supply gets more regulated to baby's needs. Keep pumping to feed baby and to keep your supply up. If you don't have one try getting a sling and wearing baby for skin to skin contact. Wear a button up shirt so you can have it open under the sling and not feel like you are hanging out lol

Also, is she young enough that it could be nipple confusion from previous bottles?

I am not an expert but I have been through this!!