My baby is not sucking! 6

Attending Physician Anıl Yeşildal and Lactation Consultant Tijen Eren recommend that babies should not be bottle fed in the first month. If your baby refuses to suck, try to feed her with a syringe with needle removed, medicine dropper, coffee cup or spoon. Never give up on trying breastfeeding. Continue to pump your milk so that your milk production does not decrease.

Lactation consultant and childbirth educator Esra Ertuğrul explains the nursing strike performed by some babies on the 6^th month

It’s not always possible to find the reason behind nursing strike. You just have to be patient.

• Deodorant, soap or perfume that you use may be the cause of this change.
• If you were stressed (family problems, travels etc.), your baby would feel it, too. You might be treating your baby differently without noticing. However babies are very sensitive, even to the smallest changes. Just know that you can run, but you cannot hide.
• Your baby would refuse to suck in case of a condition that would affect nutrition negatively (otitis, nasal discharge, wound on the lip etc.).
• Your baby may refuse to suck as a reaction to any changes in nursing conditions. (Starting a new job, leaving the baby with the nanny longer than usual, stop nursing due to being tired etc.…)
• If the mother reacted harshly to the baby without realizing and if your baby got stressed due to that, he may go on a nursing strike.
• If your baby has some physical pain of any kind, for example he may be teething, he might go on a strike.

It is best to be patient at times like these. So sit back and enjoy some top notch Winnie-the-Pooh wisdom, as you’ll soon be reading to your beloved baby: “…there is no worry. We shall get there some day!” Therefore during those days, you should breastfeed your baby every 3-4 hours to maintain milk production. Check each one of the possible conditions above and consult your pediatrician if the reason isn’t any of those.

Esra Ertuğrul
http://bebeimgeliyor.blogspot.com