help - breastfeeding strike?

[lisame]

Gosh I seem to be bouncing around the different boards at a great rate!  Unexpectedly I now have a feeding problem. 

My little girl has just reached 5 months.  I've had to start back at work 2 days a week, working from home.  We have someone who is coming in to our home to look after her while I'm working.  I am still breastfeeding her, but once I'm finished feeding, she goes to her carer who plays with her and then puts her to bed for her naps. 

We've just finished our second day.  She's been dealing with it all very well and her naps haven't been affected but I have noticed that she's been getting fussy with feeding lately.  I couldn't say if it was just these last couple of days or if it started before that - she's always been fussy from time to time with wind or, I think, sometimes just being impatient. 

For her afternoon feed today, she screamed and would nurse for a few seconds and then pull off and scream again.  She was really worked up and couldn't seem to calm down even with just cuddles or sucking a finger or her dummy.  Eventually after changing her nappy and giving her something to play with on her change table, she calmed down.  But when I tried nursing again, she screamed more. 

We ended up giving her a bottle of formula (which she has had before, mixed with EBM for her dream feed) and she guzzled it down.  She then also ate quite a bit of sweet potato (we have been trying her with small amounts of solids after her feeds for a few weeks now) so she was obviously very hungry. 

Is this a breastfeeding strike because she's not with me throughout the day?  Or is my milk slowing down and she's just becoming too impatient with it?  Or a combination of the two?  or...  something else I haven't thought of yet?!  Teething? She had only had 45 minutes sleep, and 2.45 since her last feed - unfortunately her carer went in and got her up, thinking that it was time, whereas I would have tried to extend her nap for longer. 

[~ Vik ~]

Dylan used to refuse feeds when he was OT, so that could have been a factor... Is this the only feed she's refused? Keeping my fingers crossed that it's a one-of for you

Forgive me, I'm just on my iPod so can't do a really long reply, but here's a link that will be very helpful if you get more refusals: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html

(((hugs))) and let us know how the rest of the day is going xx

[lisame]

thanks Vikki. 
She refused her bedtime feed as well, and her DF is always from a bottle...  I hoped she might be better after a good night's sleep, and she was - she fed quite well first thing this morning. 
FX it was just a brief thing but we're going to have to watch that carefully next week on my working days again, in case that had something to do with it. 
I'd read the kelly's mom thing, and the FAQs on here - should have said - but none of that seemed to work in the short term. 
Maybe she was just OT.  She didn't have a nap before her bedtime, which she normally would do being up that long, which also suggests she was seriously OT, right?

[~ Vik ~]

Definitely sounds like OT to me, especially if she had a good morning feed.  Dylan did that to me a few times, and always caused a panic when he did I'd definitely watch when you work again just to see if there's a pattern but I wouldn't get to worried about it - she might pick up on your stress and fuss at the feed which is exactly what you don't want I would just carry on as you have because it really does sound to me like OT was the cause