Nursing Strike?????

[cmckenna]

Hi,

I posted a question last week about my DD who is refusing to nurse.  Unfortunately switching her to a 3.5 EASY hasn't resolved the problem.  She is still refusing to nurse in the day and up eating all night.  I can't "tank up" as she screams at me.  She is an Angel baby and rarely cries.  Right now if I put her in a position to nurse she squeals and tries to get away.  In order to feed her today, I basically feed her while she was napping and woke her up after.  Any suggestions on how to get her to eat in the day?  I breastfed my 2 yr old without issues for a year and would love to do the same with my LO.

[Samuel's mum]

It sounds as though if she's 'reverse cycling' (eating at night not day) she may simply not be hungry during the day and doesn't want to feed. You could try reducing the length of her feeds at night and see if you can reduce the amount of calories she's taking and then she may be hungrier in the day. Or even have someone else try and settle her a night without a feed (may not be easy!). A helpline or the LLL will also probably have some good tips on how to deal with 'reverse cycling'.

However it's surprising she reacts so strongly if she simply isn't hungry - could she be uncomfortable in a particular position? My only other thought is to try and get some help with positioning and see if a change of 'scene' (e.g using the football hold instead of the cradle) helps.