Nursing strikes

What is a nursing strike?

A nursing strike is when a baby, who was previously happily breastfeeding, suddenly and abruptly refuses to breastfeed. This can be a distressing and upsetting time for you and your baby, but there are many reasons why this may have happened and it’s rare that a baby under 6 months doesn’t go back to the breast. Read on to learn the common causes for a nursing strike and how to gentle encourage your baby to return to the breast. If your bottle fed baby has suddenly refused to feed, this article will also help you!

Please note: this article contains advice for older babies – if your newborn is not feeding at all or enough, please seek skilled feeding support immediately. View my services here.

Common reasons for nursing strikes

Cause: Teething – this can cause their gums to become sore

Solution: Soothe their gums before a feed to make it more comfortable for them. Wetting and freezing a clean cloth can provide some cold relief for your baby to chew on.

Cause: Illness – blocked sinuses or sore mouths from viruses such as hand foot and mouth can make feeding difficult or painful

Solution: Upright positions such as the Koala can help with blocked sinuses, and the laid back position can give your baby more control over the latch. Painkillers can help to soothe their sore mouth and make it easier to feed. Know it is just a phase and should improve as they recover from their illness.

Cause: Physical pain – besides teething, if they’re hurt it any way this can make breastfeeding in certain positions uncomfortable or painful for them.

Solution: Try to identify the injured area and, if needed, change positions to ensure nothing is pressing on or squashing their injury.

Cause: If they’ve been scared whilst feeding, perhaps if they bit you and you involuntarily yelped or screamed, they may have developed a negative association with feeding.

Solution: Make feeding a calm, happy experience again, have lots of skin-to-skin cuddles and try to feed them when they’re sleepy as they may be more accepting.

Cause: If you’ve made changes such as a new moisturiser, deodorant, perfume or laundry detergent, this may mask your natural smell or be such a big change to your ‘old smell’ that baby is unwilling to feed.

Solution: Change back to what you used to use or stop using the new thing, and see if this makes any improvements.

Cause: If you have started taking any new medication or vitamins, this may change the taste of your milk.

Solution: Of course it may be medicine you actually need to take for your own health, but if it’s vitamins or perhaps a short course of medicine, once you stop taking them check to see if your baby comes back to the breast.

Cause: Unclean pump parts can contribute to bacterial contamination. I sometimes see advice saying that you don’t need to clean your pump after every pumping session, but a build up of non-sterile milk droplets can cause bacteria to grow. This could be making your milk taste or smell strange, as well as make your baby unwell.

Solution: Clean your pump thoroughly between pumping sessions.

Cause: High lipase in expressed milk - lipase is an enzyme found in all milks and both aids digestion and protects against intestinal infections. When lipase activity is unusually high in expressed milk, it can result in a soapy or fishy aroma which leads many people to think their milk has gone off, but it’s actually still safe to consume – however your baby may start to dislike this taste and refuse to drink your expressed milk. For some people, their milk’s taste and smell changes due to lipase activity a few hours after expressing, and for some it could take days or no change is detected.

Solution: You could firstly try to use freshly pumped milk instead of refrigerating or freezing your milk (freezing does not prevent lipase activity). To prevent lipase activity occurring in the first place, you can scald your milk and La Leche League have a helpful step-by-step guide on how to do this.

What to prioritise during a nursing strike

·         Hydration – despite the nursing strike, your baby still needs to drink fluids to avoid dehydration so you could try offering expressed milk via an oral syringe, an open cup, a sterile teaspoon. If they’re older than six months and solids have been introduced, you could try a sippy cup or a straw. You could also mix a little water or breastmilk into their food and focus on liquid meals such as soup, smoothies or porridge. A bottle isn’t necessary if you don’t wish to introduce one to your breastfed baby, but if you’d like to try that is absolutely your decision! If you are concerned about dehydration please contact your GP or call 111.

·         Protect your milk supply – the less milk you remove, the less your body will continue to make so, to ensure your supply doesn’t reduce during a nursing strike, use a pump or hand express as often as your baby would usually feed.

·         Avoid blocked ducts/mastitis – if you ever feel engorged, respond by removing milk, lymphatic massage and cold compresses to help reduce swelling, and continue to remove milk as your baby would usually feed.

·         Look after your wellbeing – it’s inevitably a very stressful, worrying time when your baby isn’t feeding. But try to keep calm and focus on finding the cause and protecting your milk supply.

·         Skin-to-skin and breasts available – if your breasts are out and available to your baby, with no pressure to feed, they may well surprise you and want to feed all of their own accord! Skin-to-skin can also help to encourage your baby’s natural breast-seeking behaviour and make them (and you) feel more calm and relaxed – and therefore more accepting of the breast/bottle. Closeness and connection may be exactly what they need to return to the breast.

If you feel you need further support with a nursing strike, get in touch and we can work through it together. Email me hello@nurturewithlydia.com.