why do I even bother

[ted]

My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too. Last
night she hardly nursed and kept whimpering and moving a lot whole
through the night because I think she's hungry. As a result neither of
us slept. We both woke up cranky. She asked her grandma for a bottle
as soon she saw her in the morning(ya ya I know she can't talk yet but
they have a means of communication.)

So I thought since things are getting out of hand I should do
something. I took the afternoon off. I took her upstairs to the
bedroom and attempted a cuddling time. She was relatively full at that
time because I didn't want to try and nurse when she's hungry. She'll
throw a fit. I tried to play with her toys. She played with me for
sometime and never took to nursing. After half hour or so she got
bored and started yelling. Then finally cried. After an hour of this,
we came downstairs and she's back to grandma and I'm back to web
browsing.

Oh! well..

[Rob and Laura]

Well from all your posts I have read I seem to remember you saying shes been
getting the bottle for some time now. I dont mean to be rude though about
it, but now she seems to prefer this route of getting milk. I mean why try
to get her nursing again when you are working full time and you will only
end up giving her a bottle any how? Its too bad that there is not enough
time in the day for you to be able to just nurse and nurse her all day when
shes hungry. Its also too bad you could not take a lot more time off work to
do th is. Good Luck

--
Laura
Mommy to Izabella Gertrude **Feb 10th, 2003**
And 2 felines *Ashes(2) & George (4)*
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/i/izabellawelburn/

"ted" > wrote in message
om...
> My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
> day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too. Last
> night she hardly nursed and kept whimpering and moving a lot whole
> through the night because I think she's hungry. As a result neither of
> us slept. We both woke up cranky. She asked her grandma for a bottle
> as soon she saw her in the morning(ya ya I know she can't talk yet but
> they have a means of communication.)
>
> So I thought since things are getting out of hand I should do
> something. I took the afternoon off. I took her upstairs to the
> bedroom and attempted a cuddling time. She was relatively full at that
> time because I didn't want to try and nurse when she's hungry. She'll
> throw a fit. I tried to play with her toys. She played with me for
> sometime and never took to nursing. After half hour or so she got
> bored and started yelling. Then finally cried. After an hour of this,
> we came downstairs and she's back to grandma and I'm back to web
> browsing.
>
> Oh! well..

[Nancy P.]

"Rob and Laura" > wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
> Well from all your posts I have read I seem to remember you saying shes
been
> getting the bottle for some time now. I dont mean to be rude though about
> it, but now she seems to prefer this route of getting milk. I mean why try
> to get her nursing again when you are working full time and you will only
> end up giving her a bottle any how?


Just wanted to add my 2 cents...if you can pull it off, nursing in the
mornings/night is a great way to stay connected to your daughter while
you're nursing (and IMO, is definitely worth the effort). I don't have any
advice on this particular challenge, but I wanted to wish you the best of
luck.

Nancy

[iphigenia]

ted wrote:
>> My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
>> day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too.

Well. I don't want to say I told you so, but I sort of did...
You've been having problems with nipple preference for a long time and
haven't gotten her off the bottle, so it's hardly surprising that she's
refusing the breast more and more.

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net

[Dawn Lawson]

ted wrote:

> My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
> day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too. Last
> night she hardly nursed and kept whimpering and moving a lot whole
> through the night because I think she's hungry.

If she's hungry, what does she do if you offer her to nurse at night?
Does she latch at all?

> So I thought since things are getting out of hand I should do
> something. I took the afternoon off.

I'm expecting Larry to say something, but by now, things are out of hand,
and an afternoon off doesn't seem like a big effort, after posting here
for ages on the road to this point.

> I took her upstairs to the
> bedroom and attempted a cuddling time. She was relatively full at that
> time because I didn't want to try and nurse when she's hungry. She'll
> throw a fit. I tried to play with her toys. She played with me for
> sometime and never took to nursing. After half hour or so she got
> bored and started yelling. Then finally cried. After an hour of this,
> we came downstairs and she's back to grandma and I'm back to web
> browsing.

Why did you play with toys if you were trying to get her to nurse? Why if
you took the afternoon off to be with her did grandma get her after only
an hour??? Why try to get her to eat if she's full? Why not try when she
is likely to even WANT to eat?

> Oh! well..

I think this statement pretty much sums up your perspective.
No one here is likely to give you the permission you seem to be seeking to
stop nursing, but you really don't seem very motivated to DO anything to
get your daughter back to the breast. You've been advised by several
people on this list that continuing to give bottles will interfere with
your attempts to nurse. You made some half hearted attempts to offer
other methods of feeding, but I just don't get the impression at all that
you're putting much effort into solving the problem.

If you want her back to the breast, which I'm not convinced you do, you'd
have to go back and re read the good advice others have given you about
how to go about doing that.

If you don't....you'll have to decide what your next step is going to be.


Dawn


--
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤ »¥«¤»§«¤»

[KC]

IIRC you tried a soft sippy cup instead and she didn't like it. My
suggestion is limit milk to sippy cup and breast even though she is
preferring a bottle. At this age I believe it only takes 2 or 3 days
to forget things, so if you go through the pain of ditching the
bottle, she might prefer the breast to the sippy cup and then you'll
be back in business. Grandma will probably not like having to give
her milk with the sippy cup because the baby won't like it much, bt
that is the point. You want it to be less good for the baby than the
breast.

KC

(ted) wrote in message >...
> My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
> day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too. Last
> night she hardly nursed and kept whimpering and moving a lot whole
> through the night because I think she's hungry. As a result neither of
> us slept. We both woke up cranky. She asked her grandma for a bottle
> as soon she saw her in the morning(ya ya I know she can't talk yet but
> they have a means of communication.)
>
> So I thought since things are getting out of hand I should do
> something. I took the afternoon off. I took her upstairs to the
> bedroom and attempted a cuddling time. She was relatively full at that
> time because I didn't want to try and nurse when she's hungry. She'll
> throw a fit. I tried to play with her toys. She played with me for
> sometime and never took to nursing. After half hour or so she got
> bored and started yelling. Then finally cried. After an hour of this,
> we came downstairs and she's back to grandma and I'm back to web
> browsing.
>
> Oh! well..

[Bruce and Jeanne]

ted wrote:

> My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
> day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too. Last
> night she hardly nursed and kept whimpering and moving a lot whole
> through the night because I think she's hungry. As a result neither of
> us slept. We both woke up cranky. She asked her grandma for a bottle
> as soon she saw her in the morning(ya ya I know she can't talk yet but
> they have a means of communication.)
>

I'm sorry your daughter has lost interest in nursing. It seems like
you've had a rough ride of it (from what I could get from your previous
posts). The only thing I could suggest has been suggested before -
nurse as much as you possible can: first thing in the morning,
immediately after work, and nighttime - but you seem to have a brutal
daily schedule making morning and after work nursing difficult.


> So I thought since things are getting out of hand I should do
> something. I took the afternoon off. I took her upstairs to the
> bedroom and attempted a cuddling time. She was relatively full at that
> time because I didn't want to try and nurse when she's hungry.

?? Why didn't you want to try and nurse when she's hungry? That's
exactly when you *should* try. Yes, she'll cry but she may also take
the breast.

> She'll
> throw a fit. I tried to play with her toys. She played with me for
> sometime and never took to nursing. After half hour or so she got
> bored and started yelling. Then finally cried. After an hour of this,
> we came downstairs and she's back to grandma and I'm back to web
> browsing.
>
> Oh! well..

While it would be nice to nurse for six months, a year (whatever), you
gave your daughter a good start with breastfeeding for 4 months. Don't
beat yourself up on the weaning.

Jeanne

[Alphawave]

Dawn asks:

> If she's hungry, what does she do if you offer her to nurse at night?
> Does she latch at all?

I haven't read all of what ted has tried/not tried or done/not done, but
I'm curious. If you're dealing with a baby of that age who's refusing the
breast, does the oral-syringe-of-ebm-or-formula-in-the-corner-of-the-mouth
trick work to get baby to the breast?

-- Alpha
alphawave at earthlink dot net

[Lisa Besko]

ted wrote:
> My four month old dd has totally stopped nursing from me during the
> day and slowly showing no interest in nursing during night too. Last

Four months is a tough time. Babies can see more of the world and are
interested in what's around them. You can't see much w/ a breast in
your face.

Go someplace quiet dark and uninteresting and try and nurse there.

I don't know how many people have told me there babies have quit nursing
at 4 months so they quit. Things will get better again.

Why don't you call one of the lactation consultants in your area to help
you. Insurance will often pay for it. The one I used came right to my
house.

LB