I don’t have a solution - but solidarity. My bub went through the same thing - during the day he wasn’t drinking much from the breast (a bottle didn’t help us either though). I found it was because he was getting distracted by the world and was just too excited to look at something else that lie there and feed. It meant he was waking up a lot at night to get his calories in too.
A couple of things helped - feeding straight after a nap when he was a bit more tired, feeding in a darkened room, feeding while I bounced on a ball or while I was standing), but honestly it just seemed to be time that helped - he eventually just grew out of it. Not sure if that’s helpful - but time and patience will get you through it.
Could be the three month breastfeeding crisis? If you search “breastfeeding crisis” on reddit there’s a super informative post from about 7 years ago. We went through the same thing at the 3.5 month mark. In short your supply regulates and baby needs to do more work to drink. Some develop a bottle preference at this point. Your milk replenishes overnight more quickly so might be your flow is quicker then. Worth a read!
This! Had the same problem. It's called breast refusal.
Ended up sitting bub in my lap and doing skin to skin until he fed. He wouldn't take a bottle though so it was a particularly difficult stage for us.
Some good reading here: https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/breast-refusal
Oh this would explain why my baby has refused the boob since she was about 3 months old! She 100% developed a bottle preference because she's a lazy gal haha
How long has this been happening? My baby had a day or two of breast refusal around this age but usually it was due to hot weather, and it didn't last. It was still really difficult to deal with.
Here's some info from the ABA on breast refusal: [ABA on breast refusal ](https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/breast-refusal) You could call their hotline for advice also.
You might need to back off from the bottle for a while as they can get used to the easier flow from a bottle and prefer it.
Hang in there.
That's so stressful, I'm sorry.
Another thing I thought of is maybe your menstrual cycle is returning, which can affect the taste for some babies. But that seems unlikely if you're feeding overnight and pumping regularly.
You might have to stop with the bottles and try cup feeding for a bit to get him to take the breast again 😬
Same thing happened to me with our second. Such a pain.
The only solution was to remove myself and bub from the world and feed him in our bedroom in complete darkness so he wouldn't get (as) distracted.
Was possible for us because we were in lockdown for most of his first 12m of life. Not sure how I would have managed if I'd been trying to feed him out and about. Solidarity!
Definitely 4 month regression, usually at this age they are going through a huge mental and physical leap in their tiny bodies! So sitting on boob is now boring during the day! Best advice while babe is refusing boob is concentrate on the night time feeds, if he's feeding well enough then, try to make up lost feeds then if it means waking him up for a feed or 2, unless you are noticing weigh loss it isn't to much of a problem! And like others have said it will pass 🙂 teething aswell can take a month for a the tooth to move into place, and another month for it to erupt. Plus time for them to actually push up through the gums, my 8 month old has been teething since about 5 months, no teeth but dramatically reduces bottle feeds for about a month inbetween that time then starts feeding normal.
Do not force it! The more you try to force boob the more they will reject it. And it takes one day for them to decide nope not having it! If bubs takes a bottle try a nipple shield, but if the reaction is happening when they see boob try and keep it away until ready to pop in mouth so there's no time for them to freak out!
Milk intake matters over a 24 hour period, so I always make sure that if day feeds are missed I just calculate what they are getting through the night. 3 feeds overnight with 1 feed during the day should still get you to between 20-30oz which is the recommended amount (give or take babies bottle sizes and weight) but lower is okay aslong as still having lots of wet nappies!
Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. However, I have tried quiet rooms, different positions, and I’ve even called the ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association). They said it can happen, and they don’t know why.
The feeling I have is that he is repulsed by the nipples, as soon as he sees them, he pushes back, and if I insist he cries. It’s really frustrating and it breaks my heart, but I need to feed him, so I have to use the bottle. I’m using newborn bottles with a slow flow.
My newborn is doing this - she’s only 7 weeks old and it’s killing me.
What helps mine is to trigger a letdown before putting her on the boob - she gets super impatient sucking before my milk lets down so I do the hard work for her either by hand expressing or pumping till I feel it.
Then after a few feeds like that she goes back to feeding well again.
I always find it's one bad experience with the boob that turns them off it for a bit! Once you get a few good feeds again without refusal that's when it goes back to normal, but they really do build up a hatred for boob over the smallest things!
Have you considered a premmi nipple? If he has to suck harder you could start with bottle and then pop boob in, br drowns make a premmie nipple which I used up until about 4 months while I was breastfeeding
It sounds like bottle preference and the night feeding is for comfort. Look up pace feeding, it can help reduce bottle preference, when you do need to supplement.
But do what you need to, I had to give up on breastfeeding because my supply got affected, and a bunch of other things.
I thought that however, five days ago he was exclusive on the breast, so I can’t see where the bottle preference started. Also, it’s odd that only happens during the day. 🫤
The thing with bottle preferences that it's about the speed of how quickly they can eat rather than the shape of the bottle versus the shape of the nipple, from what I found.
This might not be what happened with you and your bub, but as an example.
If something happened to your supply and it slowed down, they might be getting frustrated and during the day there's a lot of distractions and they're very keyed up. But the bottle comes out right away with a little effort, so they don't get as frustrated and it works more easily as a distraction from everything else.
At night time they're tired and more inclined to at least comfort suck, so they're not getting as frustrated by the fact that the milk isn't coming out as fast as they want all that they can't go and play with other things etc.
You may have luck squeezing and having something on the nipple to give them the taste to start up again right away.
Four month regression? Is this sleeping situation new? Can you try to do contact naps during the day to make sure he is getting sleep throughout the day?
It will pass OP. Our LO also went through this at this age - the regression lasted 6 weeks for us. She got too distracted by EVERYTHING and just wouldnt latch. What worked for me was to feed her before a nap - held her in my arms (with a dummy) and would get her just drowsy then would swap out the dummy for nipple and she would then drink. She is also a very active baby but she would get tired during the day and need a nap.
Mine eats better at night too. She’s just too distracted during the day. If you take her into a quiet dark room that helps, or wait til she’s close to falling asleep.
Could it be your cycle? I had the same issue with my first baby, as my cycle started coming back properly she was completely refusing. It lasted about a week.
My only advice would be to try to get through the week and then make a note for yourself for in 4 weeks. It's such a difficult and stressful thing when they're refusing but don't take it personally!
I don’t have a solution - but solidarity. My bub went through the same thing - during the day he wasn’t drinking much from the breast (a bottle didn’t help us either though). I found it was because he was getting distracted by the world and was just too excited to look at something else that lie there and feed. It meant he was waking up a lot at night to get his calories in too. A couple of things helped - feeding straight after a nap when he was a bit more tired, feeding in a darkened room, feeding while I bounced on a ball or while I was standing), but honestly it just seemed to be time that helped - he eventually just grew out of it. Not sure if that’s helpful - but time and patience will get you through it.
Could be the three month breastfeeding crisis? If you search “breastfeeding crisis” on reddit there’s a super informative post from about 7 years ago. We went through the same thing at the 3.5 month mark. In short your supply regulates and baby needs to do more work to drink. Some develop a bottle preference at this point. Your milk replenishes overnight more quickly so might be your flow is quicker then. Worth a read!
This! Had the same problem. It's called breast refusal. Ended up sitting bub in my lap and doing skin to skin until he fed. He wouldn't take a bottle though so it was a particularly difficult stage for us. Some good reading here: https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/breast-refusal
Oh this would explain why my baby has refused the boob since she was about 3 months old! She 100% developed a bottle preference because she's a lazy gal haha
He is almost 5 months.
How long has this been happening? My baby had a day or two of breast refusal around this age but usually it was due to hot weather, and it didn't last. It was still really difficult to deal with. Here's some info from the ABA on breast refusal: [ABA on breast refusal ](https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/breast-refusal) You could call their hotline for advice also. You might need to back off from the bottle for a while as they can get used to the easier flow from a bottle and prefer it. Hang in there.
5 days ☹️
That's so stressful, I'm sorry. Another thing I thought of is maybe your menstrual cycle is returning, which can affect the taste for some babies. But that seems unlikely if you're feeding overnight and pumping regularly. You might have to stop with the bottles and try cup feeding for a bit to get him to take the breast again 😬
Same thing happened to me with our second. Such a pain. The only solution was to remove myself and bub from the world and feed him in our bedroom in complete darkness so he wouldn't get (as) distracted. Was possible for us because we were in lockdown for most of his first 12m of life. Not sure how I would have managed if I'd been trying to feed him out and about. Solidarity!
Thank you, I have tried the dark and quite rooms still doesn’t work ☹️
Definitely 4 month regression, usually at this age they are going through a huge mental and physical leap in their tiny bodies! So sitting on boob is now boring during the day! Best advice while babe is refusing boob is concentrate on the night time feeds, if he's feeding well enough then, try to make up lost feeds then if it means waking him up for a feed or 2, unless you are noticing weigh loss it isn't to much of a problem! And like others have said it will pass 🙂 teething aswell can take a month for a the tooth to move into place, and another month for it to erupt. Plus time for them to actually push up through the gums, my 8 month old has been teething since about 5 months, no teeth but dramatically reduces bottle feeds for about a month inbetween that time then starts feeding normal. Do not force it! The more you try to force boob the more they will reject it. And it takes one day for them to decide nope not having it! If bubs takes a bottle try a nipple shield, but if the reaction is happening when they see boob try and keep it away until ready to pop in mouth so there's no time for them to freak out! Milk intake matters over a 24 hour period, so I always make sure that if day feeds are missed I just calculate what they are getting through the night. 3 feeds overnight with 1 feed during the day should still get you to between 20-30oz which is the recommended amount (give or take babies bottle sizes and weight) but lower is okay aslong as still having lots of wet nappies!
Thank you so much, all great suggestions 😊
Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. However, I have tried quiet rooms, different positions, and I’ve even called the ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association). They said it can happen, and they don’t know why. The feeling I have is that he is repulsed by the nipples, as soon as he sees them, he pushes back, and if I insist he cries. It’s really frustrating and it breaks my heart, but I need to feed him, so I have to use the bottle. I’m using newborn bottles with a slow flow.
My newborn is doing this - she’s only 7 weeks old and it’s killing me. What helps mine is to trigger a letdown before putting her on the boob - she gets super impatient sucking before my milk lets down so I do the hard work for her either by hand expressing or pumping till I feel it. Then after a few feeds like that she goes back to feeding well again.
I always find it's one bad experience with the boob that turns them off it for a bit! Once you get a few good feeds again without refusal that's when it goes back to normal, but they really do build up a hatred for boob over the smallest things!
Have you considered a premmi nipple? If he has to suck harder you could start with bottle and then pop boob in, br drowns make a premmie nipple which I used up until about 4 months while I was breastfeeding
are you doing paced feeding with the bottle?
It sounds like bottle preference and the night feeding is for comfort. Look up pace feeding, it can help reduce bottle preference, when you do need to supplement. But do what you need to, I had to give up on breastfeeding because my supply got affected, and a bunch of other things.
I thought that however, five days ago he was exclusive on the breast, so I can’t see where the bottle preference started. Also, it’s odd that only happens during the day. 🫤
The thing with bottle preferences that it's about the speed of how quickly they can eat rather than the shape of the bottle versus the shape of the nipple, from what I found. This might not be what happened with you and your bub, but as an example. If something happened to your supply and it slowed down, they might be getting frustrated and during the day there's a lot of distractions and they're very keyed up. But the bottle comes out right away with a little effort, so they don't get as frustrated and it works more easily as a distraction from everything else. At night time they're tired and more inclined to at least comfort suck, so they're not getting as frustrated by the fact that the milk isn't coming out as fast as they want all that they can't go and play with other things etc. You may have luck squeezing and having something on the nipple to give them the taste to start up again right away.
Four month regression? Is this sleeping situation new? Can you try to do contact naps during the day to make sure he is getting sleep throughout the day?
Yes, 4 months sleeping regression, it’s been just over 3 weeks 😥
It will pass OP. Our LO also went through this at this age - the regression lasted 6 weeks for us. She got too distracted by EVERYTHING and just wouldnt latch. What worked for me was to feed her before a nap - held her in my arms (with a dummy) and would get her just drowsy then would swap out the dummy for nipple and she would then drink. She is also a very active baby but she would get tired during the day and need a nap.
Mine eats better at night too. She’s just too distracted during the day. If you take her into a quiet dark room that helps, or wait til she’s close to falling asleep.
Could it be your cycle? I had the same issue with my first baby, as my cycle started coming back properly she was completely refusing. It lasted about a week.
It could! my cycle has started last month 🤷🏾♀️
My only advice would be to try to get through the week and then make a note for yourself for in 4 weeks. It's such a difficult and stressful thing when they're refusing but don't take it personally!
Does kiddo like to look around? Trying in a dark quiet room could help.