Nursing Strike
A nursing strike is a time when the baby is refusing the breast for an unknown reason before one year old.If your child has refused more than 1 feeding in a row and is under 12 months old, it is likely a strike. NOT self-weaning. It is my opinion, that a child will not naturally self wean prior to one year. Often this does occur, but is likely a result of those babies being supplemented with bottle feeds. Rarely does an exclusively breastfed (no bottles or sippy cups) baby self wean prior to a year.

A baby can refuse to nurse due to teething, ear infections,
thrush,
milk changes (from mom menstruating or working out), 9 month growth spurt or due to a multitude of other reasons. Whatever the reason for breast refusal, here are some tips to help you make it through and resume breastfeeding:
- Pump to maintain your supply: stay on the same feeding schedule as baby.
Use a good pump
- Keep offering the breast - reduce stimuli (dark room)
- Offer expressed breastmilk feeds as needed
- Have your child evaluated by your primary care physician
You can syringe feed, bottle feed, sippy cup feed, cup feed or spoon feed your baby your breastmilk during a strike. Continue to monitor output, making sure you baby is having a minimum of 6 diaper changes during a 24 hour period. Wet diapers should be saturated wet. Strikes usually resolves on its own within 24 hours. Hang in there, don't give up. Find support from a lactation consultant, friend or la leche league leader. Want more breastfeeding answers?
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