Is my son self weaning at 7 months? I can't get him to nurse during the day. He struggles with me and whines. But, he will down a bottle. He doesn't have a problem nursing in the morning. I'm in LLL and I've looked at the Kellymom.com site too. I wanted to get other mom's opinions and experiences. My first 3 1/2 months of nursing was pure hell. I was so proud of myself for sticking it out. I hate for it to end after all of the hard work and tears. Thanks for your help.
Thanks so much for everyone's advice. I made the "booby bead necklace" as suggested per a private message. And, I've been nursing in a quiet darkened room. That has really helped. The necklace I made has a break away magnet clasp and the beads are giant hideous plastic beads. But, it's working! He is focused on the necklace and doesn't have any other distractions. It's a pain for me as I'm banished to a room quite often. But, I'm so relieved that he isn't self-weaning.
call or email your LLL leader. Self weaning at this age is uncommon. Chances are there's something else going on. Evening fussiness is quite common and is just a phase. It could also be a growth spurt. Hang in there and try and avoid the bottle if you can.
It was the same for me. I had a heck of a time for the 1st month or 2 & FINALLY... we got it down. Then by 8 months my daughter just turned her face on me & wouldn't take my breast. I tried a couple of times, thinking maybe she just wasn't hungry. I gave her a small bottles & kept trying her on my breast for 2 days. She would take the bottle, but wanted nothing to do with the breast. I was planning on breast feeding until she was 1yr, but NO such luck!
I was soooo sad, but everyone around me was like "look @ the bright side" - at least you don't have to wean her". I understood where they were coming from it was hearbreaking knowing that I wasn't going to reach my goal of 1yr.
Oh' well - she's a strong health 2yr old now!
~S.
It doesn't sound like weaning, it sounds more like a nursing strike. Contact a local LLL leader and see if they can give you some advice! Keep going mama! It will get better!
He's likely at the age where he's more interested in what's going on in the world around him than nursing - he'd rather take a bottle because then he can back to watching and interacting with the world sooner. When my son was 5 months old, he would not nurse unless we were in a quiet place (i.e, no way could I nurse in the family room any longer while his brother played). So, I had to start taking him into the bedroom where it was quiet and it did take some persistence on my part for a few days to his interest back to nursing during the day. I had no choice because he would not take a bottle - he was just ready to forgo nursing altogether until he reached extreme hunger. It is also possible that you've recently added something to your diet or your hormones are changing and the milk tastes different (he may just be less aware in the morning).
Seven months is great! If he quits now, he'll only need formula for 4 or 5 months. Great job!
My daughter self-weaned at about the same time. I think it was 6 1/2 months. I was working, so she did get bottles of pumped milk during the day, but I also managed to nurse sucessfully morning and evening. At this age she was just done with nursing. The morning nursing was the last to go, so even after she'd quit nursing in the evenings the morning time lasted another couple weeks, but she literally turned her head away one morning and never looked back.
