Baby losing interest in nursing

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Baby losing interest in nursing

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Baby-led weening is loosely defined as the time when the baby no longer needs to nurse for nutritive reasons and/or emotional reasons. This is very rare in the infant under 12 months of age. Nursing strikes, however, do occur in the younger infant and may be misconstrued by the new mother as, "Oh my baby's weening." Instead of letting the baby ween, it might be helpful to consider perhaps there's an underlying cause to the breast refusal. The baby might have an ear infection, the baby might have the first cold with a stuffy nose that forces them off the breast, they're not comfortable nursing, they might have a sudden separation from the mother, the baby might be feeding too much in replacement feed bottles, and there might be too many pacifiers in use. So once you rule out all of the possible considerations, if you wish to bring your baby back to your breast, it's pretty simple. First, you would really eliminate any replacement bottle feeds. When the baby's refusing the breast, trust your baby and simply increase the time that you wear them and carry them between feeds. Don't replace the feed and be ready to feed on the baby's cues to help bring them back to the breast. You can also offer the breast to the baby at what we call a dream feed, which is your bedtime. You simply bring them to the breast very quietly when they're in a sleepy state and they often relatch right then and take a good deep feed and get right back on track. Another technique is to offer the breast after the end of a good nap, when the baby's happy and sleepy and waking up and very commonly would go to the breast.

Watch Video: Baby losing interest in nursing by Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC, ...

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Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC

Infant Feeding Specialist

Cynthia Epps, MS, IBCLC holds a master’s degree in nutritional biochemistry and is a board certified lactation consultant in private practice in Los Angeles, California. She specializes in home and internet consults for new mother/infant couples from birth through two years of age. She covers early breastfeeding questions such as learning to trust the breast, establishing a good milk supply, sore nipples, colic and reflux; as well as “back to work” protocols for the working mother and “transitioning to solids” at six months per the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization guidelines, plus food wars and gentle weaning guidelines for the older infant. In addition, she has written for LA Family Magazine and Mothering Magazine, and leads infant feeding workshops throughout the community. With the wisdom of motherhood still largely negated or ignored, she specializes in combining ancient matriarchal traditions with modern science to help the new mother transition into the time-honored role of nurturing her baby with body and breast. She continues to pursue the goal of redefining the human infant feeding norm as breastfeeding or breastmilk for all children.

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