Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 5/3/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello Michele,
My one year old son is doing great with solids. However, he is losing interest in breast milk. He turns is face away as soon as he is offered a breast to nurse. What can I do to sustain his interest as I would like to nurse him until he is two.

Thanks
Sofia

ANSWER: Dear Sofia,

First, congratulations for giving your son the best start in life by breastfeeding him!

Some babies of this age, like your son, simply lose interest in nursing and can't be coaxed back no matter how hard you try. However, I am attaching an excerpt from my book (see below) that offers some suggestions for things you might do to woo him back to the breast. Don't worry if he doesn't respond -- he's just reaching a point in life a little earlier than you would have desired, but you can show your love for him in so many other ways!

Regards,

Sally
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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters. Now in revision for a fourth edition, with Laura M. Marks, M.D.
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When an Older Baby Refuses the Breast
• Has your baby turned against the taste of your milk? It may have changed because of a cream you’re using on your breasts, a new food you’re eating, a new medicine you’re taking, a new strenuous exercise program you’ve begun, a developing infection in your breast, or because you are pregnant. Explore these possibilities, one by one. Keep a log of what you eat and what your baby’s reaction is, so that you can identify and eliminate an offending food. Schedule nursing sessions before exercise sessions, as suggested in Chapter 7. If you feel a lump in your breast, first treat it as a clogged duct; if it has not healed in three days, see your obstetrician.
• Is she teething? If her gums are tender from the pressure of new teeth coming in, it may hurt her to nurse. If she bit you, she may have been startled by your cry of pain and be afraid to nurse again.
• Is he wildly hungry? If he can’t seem to wait for the milk to let down, try picking him up about fifteen minutes before you would ordinarily feed him, or express a little milk first to give your let-down a chance to work.
• Does she have a cold? She may be having trouble breathing through her nose. Use a vaporizer in the room where she sleeps or ask your doctor whether nose drops would help.
• Does he have thrush? This mouth infection, described earlier, can make nursing painful. If you suspect it, treat it immediately, first to relieve your baby and also since the infection can spread to you.
• Does she have an earache? If so, she may find nursing painful.
• Is your baby consistently refusing only one breast? If so, see your own doctor, since this may signal a medical problem that should be explored.
• Are you under tension? If you’re going through a particularly difficult time emotionally, your feelings may be coming across to your baby, who in turn becomes too upset to nurse. Make a conscious effort to forget about your cares, at least while you’re nursing. You’ll enjoy these oases in your life and your baby may be calmer, too. See the suggestions to help you relax in the box on page 192.  


• If you want to continue nursing, don’t substitute bottle-feeding for the times you would ordinarily nurse. Doing that may make the problem worse. Chances are that this “nursing strike” may last only a day or two, and your baby will then go back to being an eager nurser.
• If your baby has begun to eat solid foods, increase her portions of these for a few days to tide her over. If she has been eating large amounts of solids, however, this may be causing the problem. She may be too full of food to be interested in nursing.
• Express or pump your milk and give it to him in an eyedropper, a teaspoon, or a cup until he resumes taking the breast.
• Keep offering your breast. The most effective time to do this is to pick him up while he’s asleep or very sleepy; he won’t remember to reject the breast, and once he’s back in the routine of nursing, he may decide it’s pretty good, after all.
• Vary your nursing positions. Your baby might prefer one you haven’t used yet.
• Nurse in motion—in a rocking chair or walking around.

  If none of the possible reasons listed in the box on page 308 to explain why your baby might be refusing your breast seem to apply to your situation, if none of the suggested remedies work, if after a week she’s still refusing to nurse, and if she’s more than six months old, she may be signaling her readiness to be weaned. While some children want to nurse long after their mothers had thought they would, others surprise and disappoint a mother by wanting to give up the breast earlier than she wants to herself. For suggestions on making the weaning process as comfortable as possible, with the least amount of emotional upset for mother and baby, see Chapter 18.




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Sally
I wanted to vote for you as the expert volunteer of the month but I forgot to select that option. Please send me a reply so that I can do so now.
Thanks


Answer
Thank you, Sofia!

What a great way to start my day!

Best regards,

Sally
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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters. Now in revision for a fourth edition, with Laura M. Marks, M.D.