8.5 months old turning away from breast after a few secs of sucking

[1xmom]

I am a bit lost of what to do since my DS who was nursing 4-5 times a day is refusing to nurse on and off for a week. He is having 3 meals a day and he does not take a bottle or sippy cup. We can sometimes get him to drink out of a cup or a soup spoon but lots of it ends up on his bib.

It started last Monday, he refused his afternoon and before bedtime feed as well as his solids dinner. ( He was also extreamly fussy, nothing hubby and I have ever seen before and went to bed at 6:45 as opposed to 7:30 normally) He wouldn't even try latching on that day and just turned his head immediately.
 
Tuesday - he refused to nurse in the morning, took solids breakfast ok. I took him to a children walk in clinic just to rule out ear infection as a possible cause and the dr said there wasn't anything wrong that he can see. Finally at 4:00pm he took a good nursing session and had solids dinner.

Wednesday and Thursday - everything was back to normal routine

Friday - Didn't want it first thing in the morning and also refused the last feed before bed time. Solids meal continues to be fine.

Saturday - Continued refusing in the morning, now he actually tried to latch and suck and then after a few sucks he turns away sobbing, out of desperation, hubby tried to bottle him in the morning and to our surprise he took it and drank around 4oz of expressed breast milk. Again a fussy day for us.

Sunday - Still not nursing and also will not drink from bottle, he had a bath that night and I thought maybe I will try feeding him a different position so I tried side lying and he took a good feed at 5:00pm

Yesterday - I thought it can't last this long, but once again, he tries to nurse but then pulls away crying. Tried offer bottle again turns his head away.

I am not really sure what is going on? His bottom 2 teeth broke through 2 weeks ago but he had no problem nursing then.
Yesterday I saw him break away and right away put his fingers in his mouth... so this morning after he broke away I gave him my finger and he bit on it. I rubbed his gums a bit and put him back on the breast and he managed to drink for 2 minutes before pulling away again. I repeated this a few times but I think he got maybe 3 minutes of nursing on each side only.
I am also trying to pump at least 2-3 times a day but it is hard and I feel my milk supply is already dropping rapidly

Has anyone experienced something like this, I am not sure what is the root cause of this since it seems out of the blue.
Is there anything else I can be doing to maintain my supply? I am pretty sad about this but hubby keep telling me that this is ok and we will need to stop nursing eventually. I am worried that he is not getting good enough nutrition from solids alone ( I am mixing breast milk in ).
Should I just forget about our routine for now and offer the breast more frequently and see if he will take it even if it is just a few sucks?

Thanks for reading this long post!

[eva026]

We had the same thing when DD was teething. It went on for about a week I think.
 Have you tried giving him teething gel a bit before you BF?
About your supply, just pump till empty after the feeds or when the feeds should be and then for another 10-15min even if nothing is coming out. Also try to relax (easy to say I know), I found that the more I stressed about my supply the more it dropped.
Fenugreek helped me tons and DD managed to nurse my supply back to normal within a day or two.

[1xmom]

Thanks eva026.
I haven't tried any gel yet since this is his first two teeth but will try that next.
I tried to feed him at 1.5h into his morning nap while he was still half asleep, it worked for about a minute then he turned away crying. 

I will try to pump longer after nothing is coming out too.
It is good to know it is still possible to regain supply at this point. I feel more relaxed already.
 

[Fiver]

At 8.5m your supply is well established.  I'd be wondering about teeth as well.

[Anmarnad]

I just wanted to add that my DD who is the same age as your DS is doing exactly the same! She has been teething for quite a while now cutting 4 teeth and every now and then she just refuses to nurse after a couple of min. I panic every single time. And then she picks it up again and I'm surprised how well she is eating. And then she stops again. I guess its just to make sure I don't get bored or something. :-) But I do think its teething and it goes away.

[Erin M]

You could give her something cold to suck/chew on before she nurses as well so she's a little numb.

[1xmom]

Thanks for the support everyone! So glad to know others have experienced this since other moms I talked to said their los wanted to nurse more during teething. Anmarand, it is so true what you said about our baby making sure we don't get bored.

He had two good nursing session last night and this morning. I am still a little anxious at the start of each breastfeeding thinking in the back of my mind is he going to refuse me this time. I am sure I will shake that soon enough. I did try to give him frozen wash cloth but he didn't chew on it just played with it and tossed it aside. But letting him bite down on my finger or teething toy did help him carry on nursing a bit longer. I will keep these tips in mind if teething strikes and impact nursing next time. Thanks again