Baby Uninterested in Breastfeeding, Only Wants the Bottle.

Y.,

Ditto Susan's advice...

My son was comob fed breast/bottle until he was almost a year old. He went through phases where he just wanted a bottle, and really I just had to give in. But, mostly it was during times when the bottle was just more suited to his needs. Like Susan said during times of teething and sometimes when he was sick, too. By the time he was 1 yr. I had to give in and let him go with the bottle and take care of my health issues.

If you are really concerned you might enlist the help of a lactation consultant...they can give you tips and help that apply to your situation. I found mine through the hospital where my son was born...often a consultation is free and sometimes they will come to your house!

Good Luck!

i agree with SH. as much and its awesome to breast feed somethimes you have to give into the bottle. with my daughter she was in the nicu for a week and only got a bottle all but a couple times. i pumped for her. she liked the bottle because she didnt have to work for the milk. like SH said she may be self weaning even if your not ready. listen to your babies cues. good luck!

look up info on breastfeeding strike. or go to breast-feeding-information.com they have a really good article on it.

truth is, there could be a number of reasons why she is refusing the breast. but don't give up hope. just because she doesn't want to right now, doesn't mean that breastfeeding has to end. what you do need to find out is how committed you are to breastfeeding. know that if there were no breastmilk substitutes, your baby would not thrive. but as long as you want to continue to nurse, there is support out there and answers to your questions. :)

It's either:

1) teething. (nursing from breast is harder than a bottle because a bottle only works by gravity. But with a breast, a baby has to work harder to "drink" because it requires a ton of different mouth/tongue coordination movements). When teething a baby many times will 'seem' to reject nursing, because it's uncomfortable. Both my kids were like that.

2) Oral Thrush: if she has white patches in her mouth, then it is oral thrush. It makes it sore & uncomfortable to nurse. You would need to take her to the Doctor, and you would need to get treated as well, because of nipple contact during nursing.

3) she may just like bottles now. (with my son, I used both bottles & direct nursing. BUT, by the time he was 1 year old, he just flat-out did NOT like breastfeeding and would actually yell/grumble and slap/push my boobs away. BUT, he was still hungry and basically ONLY wanted bottles. He'd indicate that to me. Bottles are just easier to drink from and much quicker. By 12 months old, my son had completely weaned himself. (actually it would have been sooner, but I was still trying to have him nurse from breast).

Just some quick possibilities.
All the best,
Susan