Neither of my babies have been great nursers. Both of them went on a nursing strike between 7-10 months. If you have never gone through it, it is the most stressful, painful, annoying part of breastfeeding that I have at least experienced so far. My current baby went through a long one. Almost 2 months of squirming on the breast, biting, scraping (yes, and it hurts!), and screaming when my tater was near his face. Despite all of the tears from both of us, we made it through. I stopped my baby’s nursing strike. I don’t know why he refused or why he went through the strike, but I am going to share with you how we (because he and I are a team) made it through.
What I did:
- Kept offering the breast after naptime and throughout the daytime
- Pumped when he didn’t empty my breasts
- When he showed that he was frustrated, I took him off and didn’t force
- I gave him something to be distracted with (a blanket, a small toy)
- I followed up with a bottle of formula or breastmilk
- He needed time and I kept being annoyingly persistent
Kept offering him the breast:
My little guy has been on a routine since about 5 months of age or so. This predictability has helped me write this blog, but also give us both a consistent routine. I feed him after he wakes up for the day, after naps, and before bedtime.
This works for us.
When he went through his nursing strike, I would offer him the breast upon waking up. If he refused, I would stop and then change his diaper. I would then try again after the diaper change. If he refused, despite feeling frustrated I would offer him a bottle and then in the middle of his playtime, I would offer him the breast. There would be times where he would refuse or he would take a few sucks, and there would be times where he would drink for a few minutes. It was really touch and go.
Pumped after feeding:
More often than not, he wouldn’t empty the breast. I kept saying to my husband, “now I know what blue-balls feel like”. It was painful. My little guy would drink before my let down and then he would come off. I often had a breast pump or my hand pump available to catch what my guy didn’t take. It was so time consuming and quite frustrating, but I had an end-goal, which was to keep breastfeeding and to ultimately stop my baby’s nursing strike.
When he showed that he was frustrated, I took him off and didn’t force:
There was nothing more that I wanted to do than smush his tiny little face into my boob and make him drink. But that is not realistic and definitely not going to happen. Instead, I would try to calm him down and offer the breast again. When that didn’t work, I would change his diaper, and then try again. If that didn’t work we would abandon ship and try again later…until then it was date time with the pump.
I gave him something to be distracted with:
As time went on, I tried to be crafty. You know, outsmart the little bugger. I would give him a small toy, get him interested and then tip him back. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it only worked momentarily, sometimes it was an epic fail. Different times, I needed different craftiness, I would say rhymes and use my fingers, or I would make really awkward facial expressions while talking to him. Literally, I tried everything to distract him. It was hit and miss with him.
I followed up with pumped breastmilk or formula:
Sure this might defeat the purpose of all of my efforts to have him nurse, but I refused to allow him to be hungry. So I made this decision. If this is not an option for you, who am I to say it is wrong. This worked for me, so this is what I did.
He needed time and kept being annoyingly persistent:
This is where the success happened. Sure it took 2 months, I could have easily thrown in the towel, but just like anything, consistency is key to success.
Feeling like I tried a million things, something just clicked in his head and he’s back, he’s nursing. With help from a lactation consultant, my own research and persistence, we did it. It was a long and at times; stressful two months but we’re back baby!!
I hope that some of the strategies my experience of how I stopped my baby’s nursing strike can help you and encourage you not to give up!
I am a small business owner, mompreuner, blogger, and mom, these are only a few of my titles. So, I need my baby to nap. Because I am a busy lady and having my child nap or go to bed early or on-time is super-duper important to me and my sanity. Creating a consistent and predicatble naptime schedule was important for my productivity, and like previously mentioned….my sanity. I am going to tell you why naptime saved my sanity.
Before I started this journey I made a promise to myself and my children that I would work on MY time…
I promised them that they wouldn’t see me head down. I promised myself I wouldn’t miss them growing up.
Will this set me up for burnout? Maybe. But I have a goal. I have boundaries, and I know my limits.
Naps are consistent and predicatable for me and my baby.
Luckily for me, naps are consistent and predictable. Naps and sleep are super important in my house, not only to ensure for my kids; but this is the time when I can get all the things done. My oldest child has a bedtime of 7:30pm and my baby is in bed between 5:30-6pm. Sometimes I grind, sometimes I wine…
Right now, my oldest is in school and my baby is almost a year old. While my youngest still has two naps, I still have 4 hours in my day to get the things done. Those four hours are broken down into two naps. Morning nap is usually for me. I shower, drink my coffee (hot), and sometimes I read (including Instagram, Facebook, books, etc). The second nap is when I try to get stuff done. I write, I plan, I schedule meetings, I work. Sometimes naps don’t go to plan and I adjust.
To those who struggle with naps, I am sorry and please know that I have been there. Getting your child on a predictable and consistent nap schedule is tough. For me these naps are imperative for my own well-being, plus these are the times where I can get ANYTHING done. I am writing, I am researching , cooking, planning, emailing, eating, etc…doing what I can for the short span I can.
Can I just say, if I didn’t have those naps, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love….write. This is my happy place. This is where I can lay out all my frustrations. Naps are the time where I can reflect. I can think. I can take a few hours of not being touched, not having to wipe a nose or a butt, not having to feed someone other than me…a chance to drink my coffee HOT. This time is important to me. Like mentioned before, naptime has saved my sanity.
How do I get those naps to save my sanity?
Here is what I do…
First, you need consistency. Naps happen at the same time every day. If he wakes up earlier in the morning, he stays in his crib until his “wake up time”, usually that’s 6:30am. In the beginning, he would cry, squeal, and fuss. As time went on he would happily play and often would resettle.
Of course, there are those days where he doesn’t fall back to sleep. My plan of action is to keep him up until his first scheduled nap. I always gave him two hours in his no matter what. This ensures that he has the chance to fall back to sleep if he wakes up midway through his nap.
If for example, he wants to sleep longer, I go in and gently wake him up. FYI, it’s a myth that you can’t wake a sleeping baby. Of course, you can (especially if it is to protect his afternoon nap or bedtime). Then I repeat for the second scheduled afternoon nap. This ensures that I can fill my metaphorical cup (…and my coffee cup).
So can I give you a tip? If naps aren’t the best and you feel antsy…it’s OK to turn off the monitor. You know that your child is safe. You know your child is ok. Another tip… make sure that you put your babe to bed earlier. An earlier bedtime will not only prevent your child from being overtired, but it also gives you an opportunity to catch up on that work you may have missed.
I know that you have a deadline. I have a deadline. We are just trying to make it through the day in one piece and in case you haven’t heard it today….You are doing awesome!
So going forward, schedule those naps and watch your progress grow!!
Nap poops are real….also really annoying and super common. So if you’re reading this, I bet you are going through the same thing. I am going to tell you how I got my baby to stop pooping during naps.
Not that long ago my little guy went on a nap strike so he could fill his pants and not sleep. That time in his tiny life was fun….NOT! I needed naps to happen for my own sanity
I was pretty annoyed because I felt like he just waited until I poured that hot cup of coffee, then he would begin to wail. He was such a Grumpy Gus while in his crib. I would go in, change his diaper, and put him back down to sleep….without luck. He was even grumpier. He would stay awake for that entire nap. So that made things fun when it came to me keeping him awake until his next naptime. It was uber frustrating for both of us.
Naturally, when I am frustrated, I wanted to talk to everyone about it. A girlfriend of mine said “put him down earlier”. She continued by telling me that she has gone through this and she has a “trick” that is fail proof.
I was listening…
She told me to put him in his crib about ten to fifteen minutes before his naptime. Leave the window curtains open, turn on the light, throw some toys in the crib, and leave him in his clothes. She said I could put away laundry, stock diapers, or go downstairs and leave him to play for that time (remember the hot coffee?).
I thought she was nuts and that this was some sort of pipedream that I could get my infant to poop on demand. But I gave it a shot….
BAM! A big doodie on day one!
Seriously, what kind of witchcraft is this? I believed this to be some sort of fluke. So I tried the next day, and the next day, and the next day…all with the same result of having a big full poopy surprise waiting for me. I was so excited to show my husband our baby’s new trick! He was mind blown!!
I have now penciled “poop-time” into our daily routine. Right after breakfast, it’s time to have a poop party. After about ten to fifteen minutes, I clean him up and put him back down for his nap (his scheduled nap time) with clean and empty pipes. He wakes up fresh, rested,and ready to take on the rest of the day!
Of course, there are going to be times where we miss the mark, like he may not want an audience (I know how precious bathroom time is solo), or he just toots away without any poop production, or he has a small little smear after naptime. That’s ok because I usually cake on some bum cream before he naps anyway to avoid any sort of bum irritation.
If you are having any sort of pants-filling challenges with your child, give this a whirl. making these simple changes is how I got my baby to stop pooping during naptime, bringing back restful sleep for him and self-care time for me.
Let me know how you fair out. Enjoy those naptimes, the hot coffee, or trashy TV while your little one slumbers, because you know, it’s exhausting after a big poo-poo-a-choo.
